Tech: time display went away

Subject: Tech: time display went away
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 01 Sep 07 - 11:25 PM

I accidentally hit a strange combination of powerful keys on the lower right side of my keyboard, with the result that my toolbar only appears when I run the mouse over the top of my screen, and the display of what-time-it-is has disappeared from Internet Explorer.

If I left click and open a page in a new window, the time appears again. Curiouser and curiouser.

I have tried Help and Tools. They were no help.

Does anybody know how to undo these changes?

Subject: RE: Tech: time display went away
From: katlaughing
Date: 02 Sep 07 - 01:07 AM

Try going to Control Panel, choose Appearance and Themes, then choose Taskbar and Start Menu. There is a place there to untick the 'auto-hide" task bar and also one to "show the clock." That should do it, I think.

Subject: RE: Tech: time display went away
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 02 Sep 07 - 03:43 AM

Yeah, in Safari on Mac OS X (to take just one example), Preferences/Appearance leads only to font style and size.

Anyway, what's this doing 'upstairs'? Unless, of course, we're going to get to Who Knows Where The Time Goes?'. Eventually.

Subject: RE: Tech: time display went away
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 02 Sep 07 - 10:31 AM

Traditionally Tech threads at Mudcat have been above the line. If you don't know what you are talking about, and you have never looked at the thread list before, remember

"It is best to keep one's mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt"

Subject: RE: Tech: time display went away
From: folk1e
Date: 02 Sep 07 - 11:02 AM

Subject: RE: Tech: time display went away
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 02 Sep 07 - 11:05 AM

Who Knows Where The Time Goes isn't traditional.
Sandy Denny wrote it.
And while it throws not a lot of light on the OP's vanishing time display, neither did the reply which, while it might be appropriate to one isolated browser/platform, is absolutely not a universal solution.
But the song is indubitably 'music'.
And as such it is appropriate to mention it above the line.
Unlike 'whose birthday is it?', 'who's posted for the first time?', 'why doesn't my computer work?', 'why haven't I got a life?' which frequently do remain upstairs, though I wish they didn't.
This is presumably why there is a facility to divide the forum into music and stuff you can avoid unless you have absolutely nothing better to do.
'Traditionally', it's only logic.

Subject: RE: Tech: time display went away
From: katlaughing
Date: 02 Sep 07 - 11:51 AM

Well, I haven't seen any other genuine suggestions based on the original question. Some live to slag, I guess.

So, leeneia, which operating system do you use?

Subject: RE: Tech: time display went away
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 02 Sep 07 - 12:15 PM

There was a post in between the kat's and my first one from somebody that I can't remember that explained in some detail that it was impossible to advise without knowing which browser/OS/platform was being used.

My subsequent post gave just one example of how the advice given would not apply.

Across the evening sky
All the birds are leaving
But how can they know
It's time for them to go?
Before the winter fire
I will still be dreaming
I do not count the time
For who knows where the time goes?

Subject: RE: Tech: time display went away
From: Bill D
Date: 02 Sep 07 - 01:17 PM

The 'taskbar' bar can be set in many ways...top, bottom, or sides (I prefer mine at the top)...and set to roll up until moused over...or 'pushed' up manually, (as I have had to do when a program got jammed at the top).

As kat says, going to 'start', control panel, taskbar & start menu...will give you the controls to make it ok again.

Subject: RE: Tech: time display went away
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 02 Sep 07 - 01:50 PM

I've just worked out how to do this on a Mac (never having had the need before) and even how to configure the VPN properly. And how to lock these preferences so that no-one arseing about with my keyboard can change them.

It's nothing like the above. Macs don't have silly things like 'control panels' and 'taskbars'. Can't understand why the whole world doesn't get themselves proper, grown-up computers . . .

Across the evening sky
All the birds are leaving

Subject: RE: Tech: time display went away
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 02 Sep 07 - 03:36 PM

I have Windows XP Home.

Somebody play the theme song from the Twilight Zone! Something very strange is going on here.

Following kat's suggestion, I went to Help and searched for "appearance and themes." Help said it would be on the Control Panel. It is not on the Control Panel. My control panel goes from Administrator to Automatic.

Doodle doo doo, doodle doo doo. (theme from Twilight Zone)

Following Bill D's suggestion, I went to Taskbar & Start Menu. The box that calls for showing the time is checked! The time should be displayed.

Also, there ought to be a box there that says "Let Tool Bar appear and disappear in a discombobulating manner," but there isn't of course.

Right now I am going to put my hope in Father Time. Eventually I will accidentally do something to fix these inconveniences.

Thanks.

Subject: RE: Tech: time display went away
From: Bill D
Date: 02 Sep 07 - 03:51 PM

veddy strange indeed, leenia! Ve haf der Gremlins in der 'pooter, it seems.

It don't look like this?

Subject: RE: Tech: time display went away
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 02 Sep 07 - 07:30 PM

Yes, it looked like that, but the clock still didn't show. However, the DH clicked "apply," and the clock came back. Then he spent half an hour looking for a way to make the toolbar sit still.

But! How could I have forgotten the garlic & silver cross of Windows XP, the blessed System Restore function? I went into Help and restored my system to two days ago, and voila, the toolbar is now sitting still. All I had to do was remove some silly links that Microsoft thought essential [apparently to the mass media] and I was back to normal.

I use System Restore from time to time when bigger, meaner programs come in and mess with Noteworthy Composer. For example, Microsoft updated my Windows Media Player a few days ago, and (what do you know?) Noteworthy could not make a sound or "hear" my piano keyboard. System Restore fixed that. Take that, Silicon Valley!

Subject: RE: Tech: time display went away
From: Jeri
Date: 02 Sep 07 - 09:43 PM

Right click on the taskbar
Click on 'Properties'
Make sure 'Auto-hide the task bar' is un-checked, and
'Show the clock' IS checked.
Then, click 'OK

You might have to re-boot. I don't know why re-booting should work, but sometimes it's what you need to do to make the evil spirits go out of the computer and back into the car or wherever it is they normally hang out.

Subject: RE: Tech: time display went away
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 02 Sep 07 - 11:24 PM

I don't think your tips apply to my system, Jeri. When I right click on the taskbar a menu comes up, but it doesn't have Properties or Auto-hide or Show the Clock. However, I fixed the prob by using System Restore.

You've raised in interesting question about where the evil spirits usually hang out. In my home, they hang out in the sewing room. They hide scissors and pattern pieces all the time, and they make sure a set of buttons is one button short of the number desired. I haven't seen my pinking shears in months, yet pinking shears are never needed in any other part of the house.

Doodle doo doo, doodle doo doo.