Windows 7 - Placed my task bar at top of screen and now there's a problem

I have my task bar placed at the top of the screen and auto-hide is OFF. This is what it normally looks like and should always look like



As you can see indicated by the red line, there is a space between my web browser and the task bar.

However if I restart my computer or if I open up a full screen game this is what happens:



As you can see the space disappears. I prefer the look with the space but the only way to get it back is move the taskbar back to the bottom, then move it back to the top. The space comes back if I do that.

However I should also mention that if I keep the taskbar on the bottom and turn off autohide, the space will be there as well but when I restart the computer the same problem occurs down there as well.

No idea what could be causing this, any ideas?

This is a very strange taskbar. Where is all your other stuff - Notification area, Clock, Start button, etc.

I cropped the image so all that stuff is on the right and left which you can't see.

LOL, you are sneaky. I have no idea though what the red line problem could be. I have never seen such a red line on my systems.

hahahaha no man I put added the red line there to show how there is a space between the browser and the taskbar, it's not actually there.