I’ve had an annoying problem for a while now and finally got around to looking into it. My Task Manager was missing all it’s tabs. In fact, it was getting displayed without being hosted within its usual Windows Form. I had no idea what I did to deserve this. See below.
Anyways, it’s an easy fix. Simply double-click anywhere around the border to viola! it’s back!. Double-click again and it goes back into this minimalist mode.


Thanks.
Got the same problem, but you fixed it !
By: Pax Romana on March 27, 2007
at 4:50 pm
OMG…thank you so much – something so simple, this was bugging me to death!! My tabs just disappeared one day, and as you said “voila” double click and they’re back! Thanks!
By: Dori on July 11, 2007
at 9:16 am
yeah me too. stupid over-active touchpad! thanks millions
By: James on July 22, 2007
at 6:59 pm
It’s a “dagh”, very good fix!
By: John on July 23, 2007
at 12:22 pm
I don’t know how I missed such a simple fix, but I’m glad it’s fixed!
By: Shaun on September 1, 2007
at 12:38 am
This happend right after an install of a internet suite and I thought that it did made the tabs go away Dude you rock for shareing the info!
Thanks
By: Calvin on January 6, 2008
at 12:46 am
Thank you kindly, I thought one of the pieces of spyware I got on my machine disabled my tabs so that I couldn’t see which processes were running. I also saw this occur on my dad’s machine after installing lots of different types of media players. Its good to know I didn’t permanently screw things up (at least not as far as the task manager is concerned).
By: Jake Lumin on January 9, 2008
at 9:39 pm
It’s amazing the little “features” MS built into Windows that we never use. Your brief article helped me resolve this nuisance on a client’s PC while I was on the phone with him working out another issue with some proprietary software. He thought I was the master, but I gave you due credit.
By: Kevin Brandon on February 2, 2008
at 5:55 am
Thank you so much for sharing this information!
I did something one day and all my tabs disappeared and I didn’t know how to fix it.
Thank you!!
By: Joyce on February 23, 2008
at 10:26 am
Thanks a lot. I thought something was messed up when it didn’t go back to normal after a re-boot and now I finally took the time to look into it and it was designed that way?
Thanks again for sharing !
By: Francois on February 29, 2008
at 8:47 am
thanks
By: same problem on March 12, 2008
at 5:48 pm
So simple and so obvious! Thanks for preventing me having a sleepless night, and goodness what else tomorrow!!!
By: David on March 31, 2008
at 5:49 am
WOW THANKS ALOT! IT WAS REALLY BUGGING ME ALOT,AND IT WAS SO SIMPLE LOL THANKS AGAIN!
DAWN
By: dawn on April 9, 2008
at 8:52 am
Awesome….this was bugging me for the past 2-3 weeks and it was so simple to fix. Thanks to you!!
By: ashish on April 15, 2008
at 12:17 pm
Thanks.. What a stupid problem. How stupid I havent been able to figure it out until now.
By: Sean on May 7, 2008
at 1:33 am
Oh God!!!
Some time we miss out simple things to learn or find.
Thanks
By: girish on May 12, 2008
at 3:40 pm
while having the tabs hidden, one can switch between them by pressing ctrl+tab
By: pierre on May 15, 2008
at 2:38 am
Having same problem.. Not sure how it happen…Cannot delete it from screen bcoz not tab.
But now understand by… clicking the side n…VOILA
Tab appear back
TQ.
By: Michael on May 17, 2008
at 7:37 pm
Awesome! Thank you so much!
By: Nana on May 20, 2008
at 12:53 pm
That didn’t work for me. I don’t have the second box around it where you’re supposed to click. Do you have any suggestions?
By: Rebecca on May 24, 2008
at 1:24 am
Sometimes, things are much simpler than they first appear – thanks a million.
By: Jamie on May 24, 2008
at 3:54 pm
So glad I found your website. Why is this a feature anyway? I’d say it’s a bug.
By: Mike on May 28, 2008
at 6:14 pm
you’re the best dude.
By: andy on June 7, 2008
at 7:59 pm
Wow- thanks. Seriously.
By: mc360 on June 19, 2008
at 5:55 am
oh man!!!! here i was looking for fixes n tools to correct this bug… and what a simple way to do it…
i can’t thank you enough for writing this as a post…
thanks a ton buddy!!!
By: Andy on July 6, 2008
at 2:30 am
Thanks so much. My tabs went missing 5 minutes ago . So when I booted my comp and realized they were still gone, I had a mini freak out. Thankfully, I found your site very quickly with this simple solution and I’m back at ease
By: Erica on July 23, 2008
at 8:02 am
Such an easy fix. It was driving me crazy and I’m pretty computer literate – or at least I thought I was. Thanks so very much
By: Peter Berkman on July 26, 2008
at 9:22 am
Not only do I get them back I can get rid of them again! A complete lesson!
What fun.
Thanks very much
By: Alfred Simon on August 3, 2008
at 3:24 pm
THAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNKKK YYYYYYOOOOOOOUUUUUUU
The tabs went missing after i remowed the XP antivirus mumbo jumbo
By: Duffman on September 13, 2008
at 2:26 am
Thanks a lot !
By: Jeka on September 23, 2008
at 1:00 pm
Well Thats not my problem… i am missing the Tab USERS
maybe someone is logged on my computer and didnt see wich user is logged in. anyone got a idea how i can “Show/See” my tab Users?
By: Nicky on September 30, 2008
at 1:38 am
Thank you so much for this information; it was also bugging me. I can’t believe it was something so simple. I love it when it’s something that simple to fix.
By: nhnonna on October 21, 2008
at 6:22 am
thanks for this simple update to bring back my task manager tabs which took me so long trying to correct this problem.
By: Reni on October 23, 2008
at 6:33 am
thnks for the solution on the missing tabs of the task manager. It was so simple
By: Reni on October 23, 2008
at 6:34 am
thankyou so simple boy do i feel stooooooopid ! !
By: feelsdumbnow on October 28, 2008
at 1:28 am
Another fix is to reinstall Windows.
Kidding!! Thanks a bunch for this. I was starting to get a bit annoyed! The fix also explains how it happened in the first place, which I also dig.
By: A_grateful_dude on November 20, 2008
at 12:33 am
wow.. i was agreably surprised.. double click.. voila.
By: rajiv85 on December 27, 2008
at 7:37 am
Wow… so easy,
The Tab appears back.
Many thanks.
By: Mesriady on February 3, 2009
at 10:15 pm
Thanks dude, you are the man!!!
By: calvados on March 4, 2009
at 7:39 am
so hard to find! but if you find! its so easy to get! your the man!! lOl
By: el on March 4, 2009
at 4:33 pm
WOW.. thanks so much!
By: Raymond on March 20, 2009
at 1:18 am
Wah~ thnks man. i almost format my computer lol
By: Alvin Low on March 22, 2009
at 10:01 pm
I have minimize and maximize buttons disappeard in my windows xp sp3 machine.
Doesn’t matter I open I.E. windows explorer, Chrome or firefox, notepad….anything I face the same problem
Anyone out there to help me out??
By: Dave on April 2, 2009
at 5:31 am
Woohoo! Tabs are back – & so easily! Thanks for such a simple solution that this senior can understand & do!
Many thanks
By: Margaret on April 25, 2009
at 1:09 pm
Thanks for the simple solution!
By: David on May 8, 2009
at 6:15 pm
Thanks for that. Was beginning to think something horrible was happening to my windows proggy.
By: Heather on June 10, 2009
at 10:42 pm
Damn, i never think the fix are very simple like this !! Nice post dude, thanks a lot……
By: Fadhil on June 23, 2009
at 1:30 am