The taskbar and all File Explorer windows will vanish for a second, then reappear. This clears temporary glitches, frozen icon caches, and minor hung processes. It’s the “turn it off and on again” of the Windows shell. If your problem returns after the next reboot, you’ll need something deeper.
If you see a simplified view, click at the bottom. Under the Processes tab, find Windows Explorer in the list. Right-click it and select Restart . reset taskbar
Best for missing icons, search bar errors, or persistent glitches. The taskbar and all File Explorer windows will
Remove-Item -Path "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\IconCache.db" -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue Remove-Item -Path "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\iconcache*" -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue then reappear. This clears temporary glitches
After a hard-won reset, you’ll want to keep the taskbar healthy. Follow these preventive measures: