XP Taskbar
 

Until last week my Taskbar was, as it has always been, one line deep, in other words the same depth as the Start icon on the extreme left.
Suddenly the Taskbar became three lines deep, as shown below.
(I have only shown the right hand side, the left is similar)
I have no recollection of doing anything which might have caused it to change this way.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...n9/taskbar.jpg

Help says unlock the taskbar, take hold of the top sizing bar, and move it to the size required.
The problem is that I can move the sizing bar up thus increasing the depth, which makes it worse, but I cannot move it down without the whole taskbar moving off the screen at the bottom.

How can I return it to the way it used to be, one line deep ?

Untick "Autohide the Taskbar" perhaps?

SD

I think I've sussed it. In the screenshot, you have a dotted vertical line next to the notification area. This is the limit of the area reserved for the quick launch icons - you need to drag that vertical line back to the left hand side of the taskbar where it belongs & you should be right - I have reproduced the same problem by dragging my quicklaunch area over to the right.

If the taskbar is not locked it is possible to drag it to different depths or even to different edges of the screen.

To re-size it move the cursor to the edge of the bar closest to the centre of the screen. The cursor should change to a double arrow when you are in the right place - then left-click and drag to the size you want.

Taskbar
 

Just Google "Taskbar Repair Tool" and run it. Worked for me!

Parapunter: Before I posted my question I tried that to no avail, maybe I was moving it too far or in the wrong direction.

Since reading your reply I have tried again and the problem is now fixed, many thanks