Why Does Firefox Disappear From the Taskbar?
Upgrading your computer system is an advantage in most cases because it can fix previous bugs or add more flexibly to the program. Sometimes upgrades cause problems. This seems to the case with Firefox icons that disappear from the taskbar of Windows 7.
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The Problem
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The most likely scenario for this problem involves an upgrade to Firefox. The Firefox icon disappears or is replaced with a blank icon, when you are running Windows 7. This is a quirk that can occur even if you just reinstall the Firefox browser. It is unclear why this happens. A bug in the Mozilla's program is probably the culprit. Over time, there is a possibility the company will fix the problem.You may be able to fix it yourself by deleting the icon cache for Windows.
Windows Icon Cache
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The Windows icon cache is a storage space where the operating system keeps copies of the taskbar icons. Microsoft redesigned the taskbar when they created Windows 7. In older versions, the bar held icons for running programs only. Windows 7 expanded on the process by letting you "pin" applications that you use regularly to the taskbar. This gives you a short cut for programs you start frequently. Windows gets the images for these icons from the cache database. The problem may mean a issue with this database.
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Solution
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Deleting the cache will rebuild the database and fix the problem. Windows cannot run without an icon cache. As explorer.exe loads, it searches for this folder to load the taskbar. When it is not there, the system rebuilds it. You can find the icon cache in the "c:\users\yourusername\appdata\local" folder. Open the directory and click on "IconCache.db" file. Right-click and select "rename" from the folder. Type "IconCache.old" into the text box and press the "Enter" key. Reboot the computer and force Windows to remake the file.
Other Considerations
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Another possibility is the lack of space on the taskbar. This would affect all the icons, but you may see it more with Firefox because you use it more often. The taskbar sits at the bottom on the screen, and there is a limited amount of space. In Windows 7, the running taskbar is smaller because of the pinned applications enhancement. If you have too many pinned programs, you may not be able to see the icons for running tasks. The quickest way to fix this is to unpin some of the programs on the taskbar and create some space. Right-click on the icon and select "unpin" from the menu.
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