Windows 10 Task Bar Not Hiding: Using full screen mode in Windows 10 is simple. You don’t want interference and want to focus on the thing in front of you.
People usually choose full screen mode when playing games or watching videos. You can do both activities in your favorite browser like Chrome, or some video players like VLC on your PC.
How to Fix Windows 10 Task Bar Not Hiding
Some users face this problem where the task bar does not hide in full screen mode. It fades up the experience, especially when you can see all the icons with notifications that make it flicker. But we don’t want that.
Let’s see how we can resolve the Windows 10 taskbar not hiding in full screen errors.
1. Renew and restore windows
Make it confirm that your PC is running with the latest version of Windows. Press Windows Key + I to open Settings and click Update & Security.
If there is an update, you should see it there or you can retrieve it manually by clicking the Check for updates button. If there is, I recommend that you install the update immediately and then try full screen mode again to see whether the taskbar is hiding or not.
2. Try autohide
Windows 10 provides many ways to personalize your PC, and one of them is the ability to automatically hide the task bar when you are not using it. This means the task bar will only appear by itself when you hover the mouse cursor to the bottom of the screen. This is what the desktop looks like when the taskbar is hidden.
To do this, open Settings by pressing Windows Key + I and clicking Personalization.
Select Taskbar in the left window pane and activate the option Automatically hide the taskbar in desktop mode. Now, point your mouse at the bottom of the screen to reveal it in any window. If you use tablet mode, there are separate options for that.
Check that you can still see the taskbar in full screen mode while watching videos or playing games on your computer. You can also try the taskbar settings quickly by right-clicking on the taskbar and selecting Taskbar Settings.
3. Use F11 keyboard shortcut
Here is a simple way to resolve it quickly. Just press the F11 key on your keyboard, and the application window you are using will go directly into full screen mode.
The F11 shortcut works on all versions of Windows. So if you have VLC and File Explorer open, both will be full screen hiding the taskbar. In most of laptop keyboards, you must press the Fn + F11 key. It depends on the layout of your keyboard and the making and modeling of your PC.
NOTE: If you are curious, F means function, and you can change the function key to perform different tasks.
4. Notice Badges
When you receive a notification, a badge appears on the respective application icon. Ideally, this will not affect full screen mode. But sometimes, it hides the taskbar. Quite often, if you check the notification and close it, the taskbar will hide again in full screen mode, but that doesn’t always happen.
Windows 10 has solved the problem with the Action Center, but errors still often arise. You can also restart the application that sent the notification to check if it works. If you find a particular application that often causes this problem, try reinstalling to see if the problem disappears. Or, you can turn off notifications for the application.
5. Restart Windows Explorer
Restart Windows Explorer is much faster than restarting Windows 10. It takes a while but being able to complete the taskbar does not hide errors in Windows 10. Right-click on the taskbar and select Task Manager. You can also use the CTRL + SHIFT + ESC shortcut keys.
Scroll a little to find Windows Explorer under the Application column. Right-click on it and select Restart. When you do that, your windows will disappear briefly, and some applications will be turned off. It is okay. Windows Explorer provides a GUI (graphical user interface) to help us navigate and interact with the Windows file system.
Another way to do this without entering the task manager is to press and hold the CTRL + SHIFT key and right-click on the taskbar. You will now see a new option at the bottom named Exit Explorer.
6. Chrome: Uncheck Hardware Acceleration
The taskbar also seems to pose problems for Chrome users. When watching YouTube videos in full screen, do you see the taskbar? If yes, here are some solutions.Open the Chrome menu and click Settings.
Scroll to the bottom of the screen and then click on Advanced.
Under the System heading, uncheck the ‘Use hardware acceleration when available’ option. You will be asked to relaunch Chrome.
Now open full screen in Chrome to check whether the task bar is hiding or not.
7. Chrome: Use Canary or Other Browsers
Chrome is a great browser but not without flaws. If the problem persists and you are aware of Chrome specifically, maybe now is the time to examine alternatives. Canary is a browser by Google that is intended for developers and early users. It is known to pack a few bugs but it works well most of the time.
If you can get rid of Chrome, there are several interesting alternatives such as Firefox, Safari, and Opera. Give them a chance.
8. Chrome Reset
Finally to hide the taskbar in the Chrome browser in full screen mode, you can reset your browser setting. Open Settings in Chrome again and click Advanced button at the bottom same as in step 6. Under Reset and clean, select Restore settings to their original defaults.
Click on Reset settings in the next pop-up. That will reset all settings you might change after installing Chrome. You can always adjust it again.
Watch With Peace
Interference can be annoying and not being able to do something about it can be even more frustrating. Fortunately, there is a way to resolve the taskbar not to hide problems in Windows 10.