Can't Right Click Programs on Taskbar SFF PC

[steaky360]

Hi folks having an issue with the PC I've got in my living room. About a week after a recent clean install of Windows I'm now unable to right click on any items on the task bar, another symptom is that the task bar itself will remain 'on top' even when I've got some media playing in full screen mode (the window goes to full screen but the bottom section is actually behind the task bar).

So the issue first arose a little while ago and was remedied by a reinstall of Windows (my googlefu suggested it was due to some Windows update causing a problem) so no issues, can easy re-install windows. Its now happened again and I'm not really sure what I have done. Its used mostly as a media centre an easy way to access Netflix/Amazon Prime etc.

Any ideas on what could cause this kind of a problem? I'm most likely going to reinstall Windows again to remedy the issue as this does work, but its come back again now so figure it won't be overly long till it 'comes back' after any future clean installs.

Specs for anyone who needs them. Only thing I changed on the PC is that the WD Green drive has been swapped out for a SSD.

Case
BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Case (Black)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4770 (3.4GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® H87I-PLUS: Mini-ITX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
16GB Kingston DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 770 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - (Special!)
1st Storage Drive
480GB KINGSTON V300 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (450MB/R, 450MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
1TB WD GREEN WD10EZRX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE <-- Now a SSD
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ MODULAR TXM-650 V2-80 PLUS®
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster Seidon 120M High Performance CPU Cooler
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS

 

[ubuysa]

I think that sounds much more like a software (or driver) issue than a hardware one.

I would do another fully clean install (deleting partitions) and allocate a big chunk of drive space for system restore. Then, when you see the problem crop up again, use system restore to back out individual Windows (and driver) updates and any third party installs, in a structured and step by step way to see whether the problem resolves.

You'd then have some idea of the cause and could focus on investigating that update/driver/third party product.

 

[steaky360]

Cheers @ubuysa I'll give that a go and see how I get on. Cheers for the reply. Weird that its only just recently started, the computer is not new by any stretch.

 

[ubuysa]

If it's only started recently, I wonder if it's a Windows Update somewhere messing with it...for the last 3 major Windows Updates, there have been a plethora of strange and widly varied issues cropping up (most plainly shown by the fact that a large number of people can't even install some updates...I am still trying to install the August update over a month later!)

I've been seeing this on here a couple of times (about difficult updates). No updates have given me any trouble at all and I'm up to date of course.

 

[steaky360]

I’m pretty sure it’s a windows update as that is the only thing that gets updated on this PC - or perhaps I’m more correct saying an update provided via Windows Update rather than specifically an update for windows.
Will go for the clean install and partition creation see how it fares and see if I can narrow down the update causing the problems

cheers again!