Lynn I think the keep the taskbar on top of other windows means to not let them cover it up, not to move it to the top of the screen. To move the taskbar in xp place your cursor on an empty spot on the taskbar then click and drag it. If I remember right sometimes you have to drag it to one side before it will go to the bottom.
As far as being three bars wide I've never encountered that but it seems like if the taskbar is unlocked you might be able to move the cursor on the top of the top bar until it turns into a double ended arrow and try to collapse it. I know you can't do that until the 'dots' are aligned but you say you can't see the dots.
May be easier (and best) to try a system restore to the day before this problem started.

By the way on some monitors I guess the 'dots' are hard to see. You may know exactly what 'dots' I'm talking about but in case it's not clear, here's a picture where they are lined up so you can collapse the bar:

{{gwi:1477034}}

Thanks, Bob. I do see dots - but not near the notification area. It's in the quick launch area and task bar (which shows I have firefox opened) - just to the right of the start menu.

So thanks to you instructions, I was able to drag it all back to the bottom. Good to know that keep task bar on top means showing.

Now I'm down to just one problem. the notification icons are displaying in three rows. These rows are taking up 2 regular sized bars. I can get the start, firefox open browser tab and quick launch icons on the top line - but I can't make the bottom line disappear because the notifcation icons are taking up 3 small rows. There are no dots there - and I can't find a way to collapse them into a single line.

Also - interestingly, the whole reason i started this venture was to get the safely remove hardware icon back. Even though I went to properties - and selected customize, and always show safely remove hardware icon, the icon is still not showing. And the clock is now displaying on three lines as well.

Thanks.
Lynn.

The dots should be somewhere on each of the bars and you have to click and drag them so that they line up with the dots near the quick start area before the bars will collapse.

I've done that - and I can get the start menu, tab for opened firefox and quick launch icons all in one line. But I don't think they're collapsing (a blank bar is on the bottom - it's blank all the way up until the notification icons squeezed into the far right area - in three rows which seems to be why it won't collapse further).

Lynn.

I got lucky. I looked at the bar - and it seemed as though it was almost overlapping another blue bar. I just moused over it - and Voila? collapsed to single line.

So now I'm back to my original quest - to get the safely remove hardware icon back on there.

Thanks.
Lynn.

I googled and found this on another forum Lynn. Hope it helps.
hi

by bernaldo101 - 9/25/10 4:58 AM

In Reply to: Hidden Maybe? by Anonymous

Here's a cheat. From a command window run:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll

This will bring up the add remove wizard. When I did this, it put the icon back in my task bar as soon as I removed my USB drive.

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Thank you

by jennchurch - 10/10/10 8:56 AM

In Reply to: hi by bernaldo101

Thank you so much for your post. I went to the run window and copy and pasted what you had, and now I have the icon back and it works!!

be sure you then right click on the taskbar and LOCK it in place so that does not happen again.

I assume of course you have tried rebooting a few times to see if this resets things?

From a command window run:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll
see if that puts your icon back, if not try it with something plugged into your usb port also like a flash drive.

I will give that a try. I've been missing the remove hardware icon for a long time now (months - perhaps longer). I'd searched for an answer before and not seen one. Then recently saw suggestions to retrieve it. So that's why I went trying now to get it back.

Raven - it's so obvious now, but it didn't occur to me that the other trouble was from unlocking the taskbar. It's locked good and tight now.

Thanks.
Lynn.

Lynn, I got these instructions from another thread here, but I'll repeat for you so that you can keep your "Safely to remove" icon always visible.

Right click the taskbar by the clock. Click Properties. Make sure Hide inactive icons is ticked. Click the Customize button. Scroll down until you find Safely remove and click to highlight. You will have a choice to "always show". Choose that. Okay. Apply. Okay. That should keep it always visible in your taskbar.