Wierd Taskbar problem

Greetings!

My taskbar started acting weird last night after a game of Company Of Heroes
crashed on me. For some reason, although there are taskbar "buttons" for
each window on my desktop, when I click on a taskbar button to switch to a
program, it doesn't work right. It used to be when I would click on it, that
particular window would pop up to the front of my desktop so I could use it.

Now, when I click on it, the button will start to blink orange, but the
window will not pop to the front. If I click it again, that window will
minimize. If I click it a third time, it will restore and it may come to the
top of my desktop but it may not... I haven't found a pattern yet.

Basically, if I want to get a window that is behind other windows to the top
so I can use it, the easiest way now is for me to minimize everything else
until I get to the one I want.

This isn't the way it used to be, and I'd like to fix this, but I have no
clue how this happened or how to fix it.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

I also just discovered that if I right-click on a taskbar button, I don't get
the little menu with options to maximize, minimize, restore, close, etc. The
only thing that happens is that the button just starts to flash orange...

No ideas? Anyone?

Try this. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del on your keyboard and open Task Manager. On
the Processes tab of Task Manager, right-click on explorer.exe and choose
End Process. If it doesn't restart automatically, switch to the
Applications tab, and, from the File menu, choose New Task. Type
explorer.exe in the Run box, and press Enter on your key board.

If the problem remains, try the System File Checker, by right-clicking on
Command Prompt (Start Menu\Programs\Accessories), and choosing Run as
Administrator. At the prompt, type the following:

sfc /scannow

Press enter on your keyboard. The scan may take awhile.

Too, is System Restore an option (choosing a Restore Point just before your
problem started)?

"Akin" <Akin@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A3FF942E-648F-434E-9ADD-7B077449A102@microsoft.com...
> No ideas? Anyone?

thankyou so much dude, my taskbar has not been responding for ages, i was
considering taking my laptop back but tried what you said and everything is
back to normal.

"dean-dean" wrote:

> Try this. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del on your keyboard and open Task Manager. On
> the Processes tab of Task Manager, right-click on explorer.exe and choose
> End Process. If it doesn't restart automatically, switch to the
> Applications tab, and, from the File menu, choose New Task. Type
> explorer.exe in the Run box, and press Enter on your key board.
>
> If the problem remains, try the System File Checker, by right-clicking on
> Command Prompt (Start Menu\Programs\Accessories), and choosing Run as
> Administrator. At the prompt, type the following:
>
> sfc /scannow
>
> Press enter on your keyboard. The scan may take awhile.
>
> Too, is System Restore an option (choosing a Restore Point just before your
> problem started)?
>
> "Akin" <Akin@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:A3FF942E-648F-434E-9ADD-7B077449A102@microsoft.com...
> > No ideas? Anyone?
>
>