Restart | Taskbar

This will restart the Windows Explorer process, which manages the taskbar, desktop, and file explorer.

The taskbar often freezes due to a bug in a system update, a stuck file exploration process, or heavy system load. Will restarting the taskbar stop my open apps? taskbar restart

If it opens in compact mode, click at the bottom. Go to the "Details" tab (or "Processes" tab in Windows 10). Scroll down and locate explorer.exe . Right-click on explorer.exe and select "End task" . This will restart the Windows Explorer process, which