PRB: Closed Application Appears As Gray Box in Taskbar

• Microsoft Win32 Software Development Kit (SDK), on platform(s):
  • Microsoft Windows 95
  • Microsoft Windows 98
  • Microsoft Windows NT 4.0

SYMPTOMS

After an application closes, the taskbar is not updated and it still contains a gray box (without the window caption or icon). If you click the gray box, it disappears.

CAUSE

This problem occurs because the application has changed the window styles that affect the visibility in the taskbar.

For example, if the window changes its extended style to include WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW style and fails to reset the extended style before closing the window, the taskbar shows a gray button.

RESOLUTION

If you experience this behavior, reset the styles of the window or call ShowWindow with SW_HIDE for the application's main window while processing WM_CLOSE or WM_DESTROY to fix the problem.

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

Additional query words:

Keywords          : kbNTOS400 kbSDKPlatform kbWinOS95 kbWinOS98 kbWndw 
Version           : WINDOWS:95
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbprb 

Last Reviewed: February 26, 1999