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i have windows xp. I have a task bar on my home page, but when I go to a window, the task bar disappears. How do I restore it?

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The task bar completely disappears when there is a window open, but it is present on my home page. How do I restore it so I have a task bar when a window is open. Thanks.

The task bar completely disappears when there is a window open, but it is present on my home page. How do I restore it so I have a task bar when a window is open. Thanks.

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why no answers?

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Hi jacksalmon, Firefox normally doesn't cover the Windows Task Bar, except in Full Screen mode. I'm assuming Firefox isn't in Full Screen, but if it is, you could try:

  • Press Esc to exit the kind of full screen websites can use, such as video players
  • Press the F11 function key to exit the browser full screen view (if that hides all the toolbars, press it again to exit full screen)

Does it matter whether Firefox is a resizable window or a maximized window?


Sometimes the settings file that stores window dimensions becomes corrupted with nonsensical values. You can rename the file and have Firefox rebuild it. Here's how:

Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

In the first table on the page, on the Profile Folder row, click the "Open Folder" button. This should launch a new window listing various files and folders in Windows Explorer.

Leaving that window open, switch back to Firefox and Exit, either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > (power button) Exit
  • (menu bar) File > Exit

Pause while Firefox finishes its cleanup, then rename xulstore.json to something like xulstoreOLD.json. If you see a file named localstore.rdf, that's obsolete, you can delete it.

Start Firefox back up again. Do windows display normally again?

That mini-reset will hide the menu bar and bookmarks toolbar. You can use one of these methods to show the toolbar list and select the desired bars there:

  • right-click (on Mac Ctrl+click) a blank spot on the tab bar (or the "+" button)
  • (menu bar) View > Toolbars
    On Windows, tap the Alt key to activate the menu bar temporarily.
  • in Customize mode > Toolbars button (see: Customize Firefox controls, buttons and toolbars)

To turn on the Bookmarks Toolbar, Menu Bar, or other bars, click it on the list.