Program shadow?

[speedlever]

I'm not sure what the correct term is so I'm not quite sure what to search for.

I recently updated my Process Explorer from 12.03 to 12.04. In the process, the program icon shadow is no longer co-located with the program icon on the taskbar.

I had this issue before but can't remember what I did to resolve it. Any suggestions on how to fix this?

See the example below. Note the program icon in the top left corner of the taskbar and the shadow in the bottom right corner. It normally shadows itself like the Firefox icons.

 

[Orpheous]

Hi speedlever,
Try right clicking the taskbar - properties
next to Taskbar buttons, click the drop down arrow and select never combine, click apply
Then change it back to always combine, hide labels, click combine, apply and ok.

 

[speedlever]

Thanks for that tip Orpheous. I thought that would fix it, but alas, it remains split. I can see the combined windows split and recombine when I choose and apply different options. But for whatever reason, PE1204 stays split regardless.

I know I saw this when I updated to 1203, but I just can't remember what I did to fix it.

 

[logicearth]

Unpin Process Explorer (Top Left), then the one that is active (Bottom Right) pin it.

 

[speedlever]

logicearth,

I tried that and got this error msg when I clicked on the active (now pinned )icon:

 

[Orpheous]

I think I see what the problem is...
The Process Explorer download link is for a .zip archive that contains a .chm file, an EULA.txt file and a standalone executable, procexp.exe
Try this little workaround:
Go to where you downloaded the zip archive (ProcessExplorer.zip from Process Explorer)
Right click the zip file, select "Extract All..."
Browse to Computer/C://Program Files/
click "Make New Folder" (and click through the UAC windows to allow yourself permission to make a new folder)
Name the new folder "Process Explorer" (or whatever else you want to all it), click ok, and allow
Click ok to extract.
Now you should see the 3 extracted files in your newly created folder.
Double click procexp.exe to run the program and watch the folder contents... Did you see what happened?
procexp64.exe appeared. If you exit or close the program, this file dissappears!

Before we go any further, delete the procexp64.exe shortcut from your taskbar.
Now, with procexp.exe opened, right click procexp64.exe and select copy, then in the Process Explorer window, right click in a blank space a click paste. This will result in a new file called procexp64 - Copy.exe.
Exit the program and rename the copy to procexp64.exe, then drag it to your taskbar to create a new shortcut.

 

[speedlever]

Thanks Orpheous, that worked.

I know that I've never had to jump through those hoops before. I wonder what changed... or what I did to make it work last time? Oh well. I appreciate the help.

 

[Orpheous]

You're welcome
I haven't used this program for a long time, and can't remember if it used to be distributed as a standalone .exe like version 12.04 is now or an installer. If the 12.03 download was an installer, it might explain why you've been having problems with it. Anyway, glad I could help out!

 

[speedlever]

AFAIK, PE has always been a stand-alone program. I wish I could remember what I did to fix it last time.

I'd already done most of what you suggested today... except for making a copy of the PE64 file. That was a new one on me. I tried to pin the PE64 file to the taskbar, but it wouldn't do it. I'll have to bookmark this thread so I can remember how to fix it for the next PE upgrade!

 

[Orpheous]

Just had another look at it, and I owe you an apology for overcomplicating the solution!
Instead of creating the copy of the procexp64.exe file, pasting it and renaming it,
just right click the procexp.exe file, click properties, compatibility (tab), and check run as administrator,
then you can create a shortcut to the procexp.exe as per usual and it will allow the 64 bit version to run.
Sorry about that!

*EDIT* Disregard this post please, the OP found that the shortcut created using this post didn't work. Use the one in post #6 instead

 

[speedlever]

Hmm. At one point I had changed that to run as admin, but had no luck with it.

I just tried it again with no joy.

1) unpinned the PE64 bit program from the taskbar
2) RClicked on PE.exe (32 bit) and went to compatibility, checked run as admin and then applied.
3) RClicked the PE.exe file and chose Pin to Taskbar
4) Ran PE from the taskbar and returned to the original problem with the program icon in the top left corner and the active program (shadow) in the lower right corner.

Edit: After I tried the changes, I went back to my PE folder to put my copy of PE/64 bit back in use. I was surprised to find it gone! Had to go through the copy and rename process again.

 

[Orpheous]

The "shadow" file is the shortcut to the 32 bit version, which, when clicked, launches the 64 bit version named procexp64.exe. As they have different names, they have separate icons

 

[speedlever]

I wonder why your simpler, 2nd solution wouldn't work? Any ideas?

 

[speedlever]

Unpin Process Explorer (Top Left), then the one that is active (Bottom Right) pin it.

Update. Due to a(nother) HD crash, I've had to reinstall W7/64.... this time on a SSD.

I ran into the same problem as before, but using Orpheus' method, was able to get the shadow for PE to work.

However, I couldn't get the same technique to work with SIW. So I tried logicearth's suggestion and that worked for SIW. Go figure.

I have no clue why the two programs would require different techniques to get the shadow to work properly.