Wrong icons in taskbar

[yosh]

Since I upgraded to Windows 8 I have the following problem:

Sometimes the wrong icon of a running program is shown in the taskbar.
Seems like this is caused after switching to a different desktop.

It is pretty annoying as you have to guess which program each taskbar item is.

[Marc van Meer]

I have the same issue here. Does someone has a solution?

[Patrick]

We haven't encountered any issues with wrong taskbar icons on our Windows 8 test systems. Can you please give some more information?

Which icons are wrong? Which icons are showing instead? When does this happen exactly, every time you switch desktops? Does restarting an affected application return the correct icon? Which taskbar settings do you use (Right-click on taskbar > Properties)? Could you post a screenshot?

[dlage]

Hello Patrick,

I'm also experiencing this behaviour on Windows 8.
Basically some applications icons "randomly" get mixed with the active application icon.

As you can see in the screenshot attached, an explorer task and a putty terminal have the Firefox icon.
This gives me some headaches identifying the application I'm looking for.
Tell me if there's any log files I can try to get and attach to help you identify the issue further.

[Patrick]

Thanks for the screenshot.

Can the wrong icons come from any application or does it only happen with Firefox? Could you set the taskbar to "Always combine, hide labels" (i.e. the Win 8 default) and test if the problem still occurs?

[dlage]

This problem occurs with any other application. The example was with firefox but moments later the same happened but with the explorer icon getting associated with other apps (firefox included).

By changing the taskbar to "always combine" the problem does not occur.
I'm attaching a couple more screenshots with the effect of changing the Combine setting for the windows taskbar.

[Patrick]

Please try this version:

dexpot.exe

(1.38 MiB) Downloaded 265 times

[dlage]

No luck, at first it all seemed to be better but after a while the mixed icons came back to haunt me.
Btw, I'm running Win8 x64 and to confirm: I just have to exit dexpot and start with the executable you posted or must I "replace" (saving a backup) the current executable in the install dir?

Thanks.

[Patrick]

Either should work. You can check which version is running in the About dialog.

[dlage]

1.6.9, Build 2285-redraw - correct?
Also tried loading the default config file but did not help, same issues.

[Patrick]

Correct. To clarify, this is a Windows Explorer bug. We can't actually fix it. What this build does is force a redraw of all taskbar buttons after a desktop switch, which does mostly solve the issue here.

[dlage]

It seems to help a bit, but probably sometimes the redraw "request" is made too soon (before the switch is complete) which makes some windows get the mixed icons.
Probably a factor that makes your tests pass and make me still have the problem is the number/weight of applications running.
Thank you for your clarification.

[phromo]

I'm having this as well. Tested switching the exe with the same result. The workaround *should* work. If I force a redraw by switching back and forth between large and small icon, the icons are fixed (until the next desktop change).

I guess the obvious solution is to refresh the taskbar icons after a certain delay after desktop switch.

[Patrick]

I guess the obvious solution is to refresh the taskbar icons after a certain delay after desktop switch.

That's what the version posted above already does...

[dlage]

I guess the obvious solution is to refresh the taskbar icons after a certain delay after desktop switch.

That's what the version posted above already does...

Is it possible to increase the delay before the "redraw action" after the desktop switch.

Btw, I have Windows 8 I use regularly, with mostly the same software running/installed and it has no issues whatsoever. Of course the hardware is completely different but can you tell me how else can I help you? Logs and so on?

[phromo]

I haven't been able to resolve this.

I'm running dexpot on Windows 8.1 with a Intel HD graphics card in a multi-monitor setup. I note the graphics card because I'm not experiencing the same issue with an nvidia-based card at home.

I've temporarily resolved this issue for myself by disabling the multi-monitor taskbar support in Windows 8 and started using the DisplayFusion's multimonitor taskbar instead.

[dlage]

I haven't been able to resolve this.

I'm running dexpot on Windows 8.1 with a Intel HD graphics card in a multi-monitor setup. I note the graphics card because I'm not experiencing the same issue with an nvidia-based card at home.

I've temporarily resolved this issue for myself by disabling the multi-monitor taskbar support in Windows 8 and started using the DisplayFusion's multimonitor taskbar instead.

The issue is probably related with the Multi-monitor taskbar option in Windows 8.
Had never tried it but by disabling it I no longer have the described issue. I can live without a taskbar on the secondary monitor.

I have an ATI Radeon HD graphics card and experienced this issue, so, I don't think the issue it's card-related.

@phromo - Thank you for sharing your fix.

[rdog]

Hi All,

I also started experiencing this problem once I added a second monitor. Thanks for the tip above. I will disable the second taskbar and see what happens.

[perfectsine]

I am also experiencing this, with version dexpot_1611_r2394, while using dual monitors with a start bar per monitor. Any way to fix it? Btw great product, thank you.

-Paul

[Patrick]

As per this thread: disable the additional taskbars for secondary monitors, or switch to large taskbar buttons, or complain to Microsoft.