How do I keep Windows 7's taskbar icon highlighting from getting stuck?

In Windows 7, in the Aero interface, if you move the mouse over an icon it gets highlighted. This is definitely pretty, but sometimes the system gets into a state where the highlight gets stuck, and whichever button you hovered over last with the mouse cursor remains highlighted even when you move the mouse out of the taskbar. This can be very distracting if you're expecting the taskbar icons to tell you something useful, such as displaying a progress bar or turning orange if you have a new IM.

I did a bit of searching about this issue, and the only thing I came up with was this. And the response, from Microsoft support no less, could hardly be less helpful. The question was, "the highlighting gets stuck sometimes and doesn't go away until I reboot." And the answer basically says "did you try rebooting? That ought to fix it."

So, does anyone know anything useful about this issue? Does anyone know what causes it (and thus how I can avoid having it happen)? Does anyone know a way to fix it that does not require a reboot?

Mason Wheeler

Posted 2011-06-03T01:45:36.683

Reputation: 942

I would assume that restarting explorer would be sufficient, but I am not sure. – soandos – 2011-06-03T01:46:43.750

@soandos: facepalm Yeah, that works, of course. I should have thought of that. Submit that as an answer and I'll accept it. – Mason Wheeler – 2011-06-03T02:09:24.550

Too bad restarting Explorer is not an acceptable solution. It may be okay sometimes, but it has ramifications that make it less than ideal. – Synetech – 2013-11-28T21:49:00.883

I came up with was this. And the response, from Microsoft support no less, could hardly be less helpful. Likewise, this thread also laments this all-too common problem and also has a response of just reboot from a Microsoft support rep (which was accepted as the “answer” to the problem). ಠ╭╮ಠ – Synetech – 2013-11-28T21:53:36.307

Answers

Hold Shift and right click on that taskbar item.

ahelp1

Posted 2011-06-03T01:45:36.683

Reputation: 206

4Wow, that worked! Thanks! No more having to kill Explorer and restart it. – Mason Wheeler – 2012-03-01T14:48:46.183

2Here's a guy that deserves a Nobel prize. THANK YOU! – MasterMastic – 2013-01-25T17:31:22.467

How did you figure this out?! – Anish Ramaswamy – 2013-05-01T14:24:20.743

Holy c... I've been struggling with this annoying issue for almost a year. Thanks. – Sam Rad – 2013-05-20T08:55:25.437

Um, this does not work. You don’t have to hold Shift; you can simply click any of the taskbar buttons. The highlight does go away, but as soon as you hover the cursor over a taskbar button, it gets stuck again. – Synetech – 2013-11-28T21:50:04.450

After experiencing this all the damn time and doing some testing, I have found that it occurs for some unknown reason (I can’t figure out a way to reliably reproduce it), but holding ⇧Shift while right-clicking a button (or simply right-clicking the taskbar popup for a button) will fix it for a little while until it happens again a few minutes, or even just a few seconds later. It always occurs again after some minimizing and/or task-switching and/or tab-switching. – Synetech – 2014-02-25T04:30:54.220

Just restart explorer. Should fix the problem :)

soandos

Posted 2011-06-03T01:45:36.683

Reputation: 22 744

Powershell command (as admin): ps explorer | kill; explorer; has always done the trick for me. I agree, not ideal, but on Windows 8/8.1, it's a very quick process. – qJake – 2015-03-06T17:23:16.373

Being quick is not the problem; when you restart Explorer, not all of the notification-area icons will be restored. – Synetech – 2017-02-03T19:17:30.973

That is not a solution; restarting Explorer has all kinds of side-effects, so it is not always feasible. It is little better than rebooting altogether. – Synetech – 2013-11-28T21:50:45.827

Besides, like the right-click trick, it is only a momentary fix and it starts happening again very soon. – Synetech – 2014-02-25T04:29:58.727