Weird right click menu on task bar icons

Question

Hi,

When I right click on the icons located in the taskbar I get the following strange menu, please see attached photo. It does not matter which icon I click on its the same. I am running windows 8.1

Answer 1

Hi everyone,

Thank you all for your comments, although I found a much easier solution to the problem.

Uninstall update KB3072318 and the issue is solved.

But even a better solution is just don't work with Microsoft Windows 8.1, so far the experience has not been pleasant. Installed a Linux and happy now :)

Answer 2

Try checking Windows for corruption as follows.

1. Right click the Start button and go to Command Prompt (Admin).
2. Type (or copy/paste) sfc /scannow and hit Enter.

SFC is an acronym for System File Checker. If it finds corrupted files, it'll attempt to repair them. However, sometimes you'll get a message which says someting like, "Windows resource protection found corrupted files, but was unable to fix some of them", or words to that effect.

If you see a message like that, use the same command prompt to copy/paste the following command:

• DISM.exe/Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

Both of these can take about 30 mins each to run. Also, when SFC runs, it does so from within Windows, but DISM downloads original system files from Microsoft's servers to replace those which the other tool failed to fix. Therefore it's essential that you maintain your Internet connection while it runs.

Since both tools run from a command prompt, there's no animated graphics to watch I'm fraid, but you'll get a report when i finishes.

If you see any errors appear, please make a note of them and post those here.

Answer 3

Did you install any new software recently? According to the following thread which includes images the same as yours, the problem was caused by an app the user installed: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/422253-taskbar-icons-way-too-big-and-taskbars-color-is-black-when-right-clicking/

It seems there are several posts about this pin icon. I can confirm that it's not 3rd party software causing the issue. I just cleaned installed Windows 8.1 using a disk from my MSDN account and noticed the icon when I was removing some of the default icons that are pinned. 

*edit: I'll have to look and see what updates are included with the msdn copy of Win8.1 update 1. I havent installed any Windows updates yet so I'm not sure if the fix in the link above is relevant yet. I'm upgrading to Windows 10. If the problem persists I'll dive deeper into finding a solution.

Answer 4

Did you install any new software recently? According to the following thread which includes images the same as yours, the problem was caused by an app the user installed: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/422253-taskbar-icons-way-too-big-and-taskbars-color-is-black-when-right-clicking/