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Fix Windows Task Manager With Missing Tabs and Menu

Posted By Raymond In Category: Computer

Nov
2
2009

Many of you should be familiar with Windows Task Manager. Since Windows 98, the combination of Control+Alt+Delete key is the probably only thing to do when a program hung. You are presented with a “Close Program” window to terminate the application that is not responding or you can just hit the same combination again to soft reboot the computer. In NT based Windows, pressing the hotkey would directly invoke the Task Manager. The Task Manager is a program used to provide information about the processes and programs running on a computer, as well as the general status of the computer. It can also be used to terminate processes and programs, as well as change the processes’ priority.

As useful as it is, there’s a very weird feature built-in to the Windows Task Manager and it makes some users thinks that their Task Manager has an error or corrupted. The normal Windows Task Manager comes with a few tabs such as Applications, Processes, Performance, Networking, Users and it also has a menu bar such as File menu, Options ,View, Windows Shut Down and Help. If you’re not careful, you could end up with a Task Manager WITHOUT the tabs and menu bar.
Task Manager missing menubar and tabs
So far I’ve seen this question being asked 3 times in forum by LunarWolf, yexist and gwa-53 reporting the same problem and I thought I should write an article to inform everyone that the Task Manager is not corrupted or caused by virus when you see such behavior.


Normally when you press the Alt key it should highlight/select the File menu which shows the menu bar. An example is the latest Windows Live Messenger 2009 which by default the menu bar is not shown and you can make the menu bar appear by pressing the Alt key. However, this won’t work in Windows Task Manager when the menu bar and tabs are missing.

To fix this problem, all you need to do is to double click at the edge of the Task Manager and the menubar with tabs will re-appear.
fix task manager menubar and tab disappear

Yeap this is a really weird feature of the Task manager and I bet many users don’t even know about this. Not sure why Microsoft implemented this because I could never find a chance or any reason to use the compact version of Task Manager.


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    • shaheen

      coool

    • Gaurav

      Great Ray !!!!!!
      i have faced this problems so many times..but never was able to correct it
      thanks it will help in future

    • duckne55

      it was implemented because some users wanted a clean interface with no extra stuff stucking out. for example if you just want the processes tab and not the rest, wouldn’t it be nicer if it just had that?

    • Chirag

      I was so scared when this happened to me the first time. It didn’t even fix itself after the computer restarted. I figured out how to fix it after a couple of months, and I too am still wondering whether this is a bug or some feature :-/

    • Joshua

      I remember I came across this “problem” a few weeks after buying Windows XP in 2001. I went and posted for help on a tech support forum. My thread received at least 20 replies before someone found out all I had to do was double click the outer area of the taskmanager.

      Now I have switched from Windows XP to Windows 7, this “feature” is still included. I really don’t understand why, it causes more bad than good.

    • ritchi

      Learning alot from you Ray!!! Thanks!!!

    • Vokned

      Thank you for your congratulations

    • Kishan

      This tips was valuable.

    • http://beliamuda.com beliamuda

      the truth is, i have faced this too b4. at first, thought it was because of virus.. luckily, i accidentally double click at the edge, and everything return to normal.. (^_~)v

    • http://shadowabyss.in williard

      Actually, I’ve been using this feature when at the performance tab for quite some time. It makes the graphs taller and longer, so if I don’t want to maximize task manager and cover the whole desktop just to see cpu usage history.

    • ahmad maher

      very weird !!

      thanks for the info Raymond

    • roy rayy

      another cool one mate, cheers!

    • xera216

      good information Ray !

    • ayush

      thnxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    • knm

      Thanks. Did face this problem a couple of times.

    • HM

      If you’re not using the welcome screen, the official way to get task manager up is CTRL-SHIFT-ESC

    • SB

      My friend had encountered this problem years ago…He was scared it might be because of a virus…I donno he formatted or not but later informed me that “double clicking”"was what was required !! :)

    • The Lion

      Amazing , Actually I had this problem so I started to use an software for managing processes, but actually even with that you can go to processes or to services by Right clicking on the columns.

    • animesh1ly4u

      thanks for the info Raymond

    • Merlin_Magii

      Thank you Raymond – I didn’t know this one. Well done.

    • irjan

      Thanks a lot Ray!!!

    • Sujay

      yap..!! i was aware of this.. actually I faced this a no of times & at last sorted this out. Similarly u can hide the tab area if u double click in the same place..

    • http://www.discpicture.com 1Malaysia

      Interesting. I have never encountered this before. If this ever happens to me in the future, I’ll know what to do.

    • Bigun

      Raymond, the first time that I encountered this problem I clicked and double-clicked all over the image taking that the file menu was hidden. Like a fool, I kept doing this for months and the problem never went away. The problem fix in my case did not work. I was bound to have clicked in the correct area a dozen times or more with no positive results. What fixed it? A reinstall of Windows XP Pro.

      It seems that the method that you gave in this post work for many others – but didn’t work for me. This type of thing happens to me all of the time.

    • Fred Smith

      If the Windows Task Manager has been disabled you can enable it by using notepad and making a file called

      TaskManager_Reset.reg

      Then place the following text in that file:-

      Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

      [-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\TaskManager]

      Then save it and run it.

      This works for XP but I don’t know if it works for Vista or Windows 7.

    • navneetcsingh

      I too faced this problem some time ago… got fed restoring tskmngr,reformatted my computer….Q.E.D Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity. ..but..
      I am wiser now.

    • http://www.thephantom23.com thephantom23

      This also occurs quite frequently when a system is robbed of remaining resources, and other programs begin to drop off key pulldown menu commands, having to constantly clear the screen with a right-click clear the desktop (because the minimize buttons fail)

      An example: You are on your 14th rar install with 25 browser windows open and firefox has nearly shutdown..

    • VY

      Thanks a lot the info. I couldn’t understand wtf was going on with a Task Manager. Problem is solved now

    • redskys

      Thank You Raymond for this awesome information. No, one would think to click there…

    • http://www.adityacomputer.com Anil

      My god, thanks… after a long experience of computers since 15 years… i don’t know this feature… thank you very much dear

    • http://borgesdegaruva.blogspot.com Borges de Garuva

      Obrigado pela dica. Segunda vez que me serve!
      Bj

    • fred

      windows 7 user. thank you very much. i thought i did something or worse a virus. i scanned only to find all clean.
      thanks again :)

    • vekat

      Hi Very very thanks for this useful info.
      Infact I was little worried about this behaviour of task manager.

    • paul

      Thanks a Bunch! This has happened to me before and I was going absolutely nutz. I tried rebooting, right clicking for a submenu. etc. It’s little things like this that can really drive someone crazy. Again, really appreciate the time you took too explain this.

      Cheers! :D

    • Ron

      Thanks for that info.Thought my New HP Win 7 laptop was corrupted.

    • Kellye

      THANK YOU!! You just saved me what was getting ready to be, I am sure, hours of “troubleshooting” in the wrong direction!!

    • http://www.hamedshaik.webs.com hamed

      thanxs ray

    • d

      nice. easy fix for a change!

    • http://www.myboni.co.cc Boni

      that easy tricks… i am laughing to my self, how i was not realize that thing… i used to think it is because viruses…
      ha2…,, thanks for tips…

    • peter mac

      Brilliant tip Raymond, many thanks from me as well! I’ll try to glue my hair back in. P

    • william

      I’ve never seen that before but I’ll remember it thanks for that. Btw I noticed that ctrl+tab works for switching the tabs while in that view.

    • Anchal

      thanks a ton.

    • Dani

      It work man , thanks , your great man , double click .. yes works … thanks , thanks :)

    • Dani

      Romania say THANKS , MERSI , Mucios Gracias :)

    • Gilbert

      thanks man,

      desculpe eu não falo inglês muito bem, mas gostaria de agradeçer porque mesmo nos foruns de meu país (Brazil) não consegui encontrar essa informação, somente aqui

    • Renjith

      thanks alot ..it worked .was worried with ths 4 a long time.happy ending

    • rd

      thanks……yaar…keep good job going…bye

    • cdnflag

      thanks lifesaver thought i had a virus

    • mike

      thnx! i was scared

    • tauseef

      hey thanks it worked for me

    • Genna

      This was useful, well written and I got my solution very quickly. Thank you!!

    • vindana

      it’s cool ,thank u !

    • ME :0)

      Thank you so much!!! It worked!!!

    • tkhong

      Just to say thanks: a double click save my day.

    • flcaza

      very nice and very good

    • jsty

      Thank you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It worked!!!!!!! :P

    • pradeep

      thank uuuuuuuuuuuu vryyyyyyyyyyyyy muchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

    • http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2009/11/02/fix-windows-task-manager-with-missing-tabs-and-menu/ Batman

      Good Advice!!

    • Sami

      Thank you – it was really helpful. My task manager is back again with regular features.

    • Brutis

      Thanks for the info it was driving me crazy

    • archer

      Thanks! I got this problem for a month now and it’s good I found the solution here. Thank u so much Raymond.

    • ali

      tnx man that worked

    • Ellen

      Thanks very much – it worked just like you described.

    • Sab0nis

      Thanks a lot! I’m happy :)

    • Einar

      Thanks a lot man, you put Slayer to shame when it comes to rockin´! …it´s bloody amazing that microsoft thought this feature would come in handy lol… extreme stupidity or fuckfullness :Þ

    • Nobody

      Man that “function” freaked me out. For the past year it had been running in the full task manager mode, but for some reason windows decided to change it right after Norton warned me that they had blocked a known attack. Firefox had begun to run sluggish and so I thought I had a virus, but a full system scan and then a quick search to find your excellent article later, I come to find that it’s just windows messing with me…

    • lp

      Wow! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I thought I had a virus. Can’t thank you enough. Such a stupid thing. Why would windows do that????

    • ben

      thanks uuuuuuuuuuuuu

    • Sakti

      thanks for you….

    • ernie

      this is good . Thanks , been really helpful

    • Dennis

      Very grateful for your help re Task Manager. Like you cannot believe that this function to toggle between all the tabs and a single tabby a double click. Surely Microsoft should update it. Many many thanks now I can use TM properly again!

    • muthu

      thannnnnks a lot man

    • Peter

      Just what I wanted to know – and why didn’t Windows help tell me this eh?

    • John

      You saved me hours of work. Thanks

    • rohil

      dude u r the best…………..
      saved me……………………..

    • Irwin Zane

      I wonder if Microsoft knows how to fix this. Thanks for the help. I’ll keep coming back for more. You have made a believer out of me.

      In the business for 32 years and still learning!

    • Lance Holmes

      Thanx, that sorted me out, I was battling with this problem locked into the Services tab only, gave me no way to unfreeze misbehaving programs. Can’t believe I never tried double clicking the frame before.

    • John m

      thank you, thought I’d have to reinstall windows again, as usual!

    • Stuart Jurow

      Thanks. I love simple fixes.

    • Victorykt

      I was worry about it ! Thanks for the help !

    • koja

      I freak out.Thanks vm.

    • will

      i sat with this issue for 5 days, all a sudent this magic stik, thank you very much

    • stiffmeister

      that simple step very help me out. thanks.

    • Peter Bladon

      Thank you for the cure for this problem.
      I had already attempted to cure the lack of the tool bar by doing a system repair.!!!!!

    • Emma

      Thank you!!

    • Hamid

      very nice info..thank you

    • Justin Smith

      Thank You!

    • Javed Huq

      awesome. thanks for the help. I am also confused why this will be considered a feature.

    • Amila Neranjan

      thanx for help! ^_^

    • Onetel

      Great, thanks for your help :)

    • cheryl

      thanks mate thats been bugging me for months

    • Ricardo

      What a stupid and useless feature. Thanks for the help.

    • Sharon

      Thanks so much! Can’t believe how simple the fix was. Thought for sure I had a virus!!

    • S. Roger

      Thank you very much!

    • Jai

      Thanks, like Stu on the hangover saying “WHAT THE F*** IS GOING ON!” ROFL

    • Jai

      Thanks, I was about to freak out like Stu on the Hangover saying to myself “WHAT THE F*** IS GOING ON!” ROFL

    • JIM

      omg do I feel stupid, I have been racking my brains wonder what i did to make it disapear in 1st place. LMAO

      thx for the info

    • Mirko

      Thanks, that was helpfull.

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