11 Easy Ways To Solve Windows 10 Taskbar Not Hiding In Full Screen Issue

Windows is one of the most popular and, at the same time, is also the most disliked version of Windows. The main reason for this is due to a variety of problems users face. One such problem that we're going to discuss in this article is the Windows 10 taskbar not hiding in the full-screen issues.

Now, imagine you're back home after a tedious day to watch your favourite web series or YouTube creators finally, and this issue appears out of nowhere. It'd definitely be annoying while consuming multimedia from YouTube or any other video player application on your computer.

In this article, we'll be looking at some of the potential fixes to this problem.

ADVERTISEMENT

Share this article:

Share this article:

Solve Windows 10 Taskbar Not Hiding In Fullscreen Issue

In the below figure, I have tried to showcase all the 11 ways by which you can solve the windows 10 taskbar not hiding in full screen.

Read on to get more insights into each way.

windows 10 taskbar not hiding in full screen
Copyright © Techie Trickle

1. Restart Your PC

We’re pretty sure you’ve heard this popular phrase that the IT crowd uses, “Have you tried turning it off and on again?”

While this is often taken as a joke, trust us, it does solve many problems, including problems that sometimes you’re unaware of.

Have you tried turning it off and on again - Windows 10 taskbar not hiding in fullscreen

Restarting your PC essentially turns off everything, including the kernel, and you get an immaculate start when the computer boots up again.

This also helps clear up the graphical glitches or any problems like apps refusing to open or Windows Explorer unexpectedly stopping.

By Windows Explorer, we don’t mean the OG Internet Explorer browser; instead, we mean the graphical user interface that helps you access the files on your computer.

How To Restart Your Windows 10 PC?

  • On the bottom-left in the taskbar, find the Windows’s Start icon and click on it
bottom-left start button
  • Find the power-off icon about the start icon in the start menu and click on it.
windows 10 restart
  • In the list of options that appear, find and click on the restart option, and your device will reboot/restart. Check if the issue persists. Move on to the next method if it does.

2. Restart Windows Explorer

Windows Explorer in Windows 10 manages the GUI of the OS and it might need a refresh sometimes.

Windows 10 taskbar not hiding in full screen could be due to an issue with the same and you might need to restart it. To do so.

  • Hold the key combination Ctrl+Shift+Escape on your keyboard and the Task Manager window will pop up.
restart windows explorer
  • In the Processes sub-window, scroll all the way down to find the Windows Explorer. You’ll find it under the Window Processes sub-menu.
  • Click on Windows Explorer and click on Restart.
  • Now, don’t freak out if you see the taskbar and other little components disappear. They’ll eventually come back depending on the computing speed of your computer.

Here’s another way to restart Windows Explorer.

  • Hold the Ctrl+Shift keys on your keyboard and right-click with on the taskbar.
exit-explorer
  • Now, from the list of options, find and click on Exit Explorer.
  • The Desktop UI and Task Manager will disappear and all you’ll see is the accent colors in place of the same. Again, don’t freak out.
  • Fire up the Task Manager using the Ctrl+Shift+Escape key combo.
create new process
  • Now, on the top right corner of the Task Manager window, find and click on File and click on Create a new task option.
  • Type explorer in the text bar and click on OK. The UI will return to its usual state.
  • Check if the issue has been solved.

3. Check For Windows Updates And Update Your PC

Believe it or not, Microsoft doesn’t have a good history when it comes to pushing updates to its OS.

If something in your PC looks off a few days or hours after the update, it might as well be the issue caused due to the same.

However, the chances are, another update to fix the issue that you’re facing might be out as well.

Hence, you can try updating to see if the issues have been solved. Here’s how to check for updates on Windows 10.

  • Go to the start menu and start typing updates. You’ll see something like this. If you do, click on the first option.
windows updates start menu
  • This will open up the updates Window where you’ll see all the updates that’re available. If no update’s available, click on Check for Updates button.
download and install updates windows 10
  • Finally, click on download and install updates and restart your computer.
  • This should, most of the times, solve the Windows 10 taskbar not hiding in fullscreen issue.

4. Don’t Forget To Use The Good Ol’ F11 Key

If you didn’t know already, the F11 key is used to toggle full screen on your computer. Often, when a lot of system resources are being used while multi-tasking, the GUI elements of the OS struggle and a lot of glitches appear.

That might as well be the reason why the taskbar doesn’t disappear.

press f11 to exit

Pressing the F11 key to get out of the full screen and pressing it again to get into full-screen mode can also sometimes do the trick.

5. Use A Different Browser Or Reinstall The App

If you’re facing the Windows 10 taskbar not hiding in fullscreen issue, chances are, it might be an issue with the app in which you’re trying to use the fullscreen mode.

If you’re facing the issue in a browser, try opening other apps to see if the issue persists in them.

If it doesn’t, try Reinstalling the application in which you’re facing the issue.

If Chrome is your daily driver and reinstalling it doesn’t fix the Windows 10 taskbar not hiding in full-screen issue, it is safe to assume that the problem is with Chrome.

In that case, you can reinstall it, or there are many Chrome alternatives that you should definitely check out.

One great Google Chrome alternative that I’d suggest is Brave browser because it lets you earn Cryptocurrency by pushing “Not too annoying Ads” and later redeem it for real money!

Some of the honourable mentions are the OG Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft’s new Edge Chromium.

brave browser download

Also, the fact that it’s based on Chromium (An open-source version of Chrome), you can have all your bookmarks and passwords by just signing into your Google account and syncing.

Great, right?

Additionally, it also blocks pesky trackers and Ads to give you a clean and secure browsing experience.

6. Try The “Auto-Hide” Taskbar Option

“Automatically hide the taskbar in desktop mode” is an option available in the settings. This essentially makes your taskbar disappear unless you glide your cursor to the bottom.

While this might not be a permanent fix, it could help you solve the annoying problem. To enable the auto-hide feature, all you need to do is.

  • Hold the Windows + I key combo to open up the Settings app.
windows settings
  • Click on Personalization and in the left menu, find and click on Taskbar.
personalization taskbar
  • See that second option there? Yes. Toggle that on and your taskbar will not slowly slide down. That’s pretty much it.
windows 10 auto-hide taskbar

7. Reset Chrome

If you find out that the Windows 10 taskbar not hiding in fullscreen issue is only in Chrome, perhaps resetting the same might help.

Resetting Chrome will bring it back to default settings and will clear the Cookies and pinned tabs. The process to reset Chrome or any Chromium-based browser is.

  • Open Chrome settings by clicking on the three-dot icon at the top right corner, below the close option. From the list of options, find and click on Settings.
chrome three-dot menu
  • Now, scroll all the way to the bottom and find “Advanced” with a tiny downwards arrow at its right. Click on it.
chrome settings advanced
  • Again, scroll all the way down and click on the “Restore settings to their original defaults” option.
restore to default settings
  • Now, before you click on Reset settings do make sure to uncheck the checkbox below it (Visible in the above image) unless you want Google to know your current settings.
  • Check if the issue still persists.

8. Disable Hardware Acceleration In Chrome

For starters, Hardware Acceleration uses your computer’s GPU to take care of the graphics-intensive tasks.

The chances that Chrome’s Hardware acceleration is causing the Windows 10 taskbar not to hide in full screen could still be high.

To disable it.

  • To disable Hardware acceleration in Chrome, follow the same steps as shown in the 7th method and find the “Use hardware acceleration when available” toggle and disable it.
chrome hardware acceleration
  • Relaunch Chrome and check if the issue still persists.

9. Turning Off Notifications

Usually, app notifications that are not visible but sit in the taskbar could also be the culprits.

To see which app is causing this issue.

  • Click and open the Start menu and start typing “select which icons ..” and click on the first option that says “Select which icons appear on the taskbar.”
choose which apps appear in windows
  • Toggle on the “Always show all icons in the notification area.” Now, in the taskbar, you’ll see the icons that were previously hidden reveal themselves.
  • This way, you’ll know which app notification is causing the Windows 10 taskbar not hiding in fullscreen issue. Now, you’ll need to disable that app’s notifications.
app notifications windows 10
  • Fire up the Start menu and start typing “app notifications ..” and click on the first suggested options on the list. Now, scroll down and disable individual app notifications and see if the issue has been resolved.

10. Wait For A Few Minutes. Have A Cup Of Coffee.

Yes, we’re dead serious.

Thousands of users on the Windows forums report a humongous amount of issues that, sometimes, even the moderators and experienced Windows “evangelists” have never heard of and cannot solve.

On a lot of these forum threads, active users often report that the problem vanished like magic. Perhaps, that’s what makes Windows special?

Have a Coffee

Just like how we humans have an upper working limit, machines too have a limit. Give them a little break, and they’ll be up and running again in no time.

11. Try Clicking On The Taskbar Or Maximizing And Minimizing The Chrome Window

The last method on our list might sound cliché but, it has often worked for most users, while they didn’t even realize that they faced the Windows 10 taskbar not hiding in the full-screen issue.

Maximizing and Minimizing the Chrome window should clear/refresh any issues related to the GUI in the background.

The same goes for clicking on the taskbar.

So What’s Your Take

Still, facing the issue? At this point, it’s safe to assume that something’s wrong with your PC.

You might need to reinstall Windows 10 to get rid of the issue. Would you like us to brew an article about how to install Windows 10 from scratch?

Let us know in the comments section below.

If this article helped you get rid of the Windows 10 taskbar not hiding in full-screen issue, please share this article before pouncing on the sofa and enjoying the web series again.

Do share this article and help others enjoy the content because sharing is free.

Recommended posts

ADVERTISEMENT

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Recommended posts

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT