Permanently hide the taskbar through the registry change.

You need a program to do this for you....If you know Delphi then you can modify this code to accomplish the task:

https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/20314630/Hide-the-Taskbar.html?query=Hide+taskbar&searchType=topic

The problem is that if it done through a program the task bar will stil appear until the program is run.

Even if it is put in the "Run" registry setting I still do not have control over when it will run.


 

This may be a rather mundane response, but have you tried right clicking on the taskbar, click properties.  Then uncheck the "Keep the taskbar on top of other windows" and the "Auto-hide the taskbar" boxes.  Then click OK.  Then right click on the taskbar again making sure the "Lock the Taskbar" box, which should have been unchecked from your previous actions.  Then shrink it to just a bar on the bottom of your screen.  As long as the window you have opened is maximized, the person(s) using the kiosk should be unable to unleash the power of the taskbar.

Or, try this:

http://oldlook.experts-exchange.com/questions/21038102/Hiding-the-taskbar-in-WindowsXP.html

The problem is that it leaves a blank space in place of the Taskbar. Drag and minimize the Taskbar and then use this app.

Thanks all for your posts.

The programmatic method will not work for me because as I mentioned there is a time when the computer boots up and before the program executes in which the task bar is available.

r-thur, about your suggestion of using the group policy editor, couple of questions.

- Will this work only for xp professional or even for the home version ?
- Is there a way of automating these changes that the group policy editor will make so that they can be imlemented on other computers?

gemarti, I tried your sugestion and I see possibilities. but... what do I loose by not having explorer running?

Will all commercial apps still function the same?
Are File associations, (like txt being opened in notepad) a function of explorer?
Anything else that might not work?

Thanks

MH

>>what do I loose by not having explorer running?

You loose the ability to browse your hard drives.
You loose the ability to browse the internet.

Any function that requires explorer.exe in your KIOSK will not work.

You are asking a pretty tough question here since explorer is a major component to the OS.

Thanks so far gemarti, but I need to somehow figure out what my exposure will be if explorer.exe is not running.

- Will this work only for xp professional or even for the home version ?
I am pretty sure it would work for the home version, but I wouldn't know for sure since I have no experience with the home version

- Is there a way of automating these changes that the group policy editor will make so that they can be imlemented on other computers?
Yes, and it is in fact fairly easy. To do so, you would go to the group policy editor to the set of options, already described above, you would set the ones you want, then open regedit, go to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer. Then you'd go to the File menu choose export/save. When the Export dialog appears you get a choice between exporting all or only the highlighted branch, make sure you choose the highlighted branch. Now save it somewhere.

The saved file is a .reg script, just doubleclick it and, viola, the settings have been set. Port this file to any computer you need to set the settings on and doubleclick.

Will all commercial apps still function the same?
yes, if explorer.exe isn't running all commercial apps still function the same.

Are File associations, (like txt being opened in notepad) a function of explorer?
No. The file associations are not affected.

Anything else that might not work?
Everything should work. If you wish to test it try doing as gemarti suggested in his second post. Once finished testing you may press Ctrl+Alt+Del, select Files | Run, type "explorer.exe"

Gemarti said earlier you would not be able to browse the internet if Explorer wasn't running, that is not entirely true. Explorer.exe is a file manager, it browses your computer. If Explorer isn't running, you may have a hard time finding your Internet browser or other files and programs, but the fact that explorer doesn't run does not make browsing the internet impossible.

By closing explorer.exe you limit the options of the user, not those of the running programs.

Just my two cents...

Remember that Explorer and Internet Explorer are two separate programs as already eluded to.  File Explorer is explorer.exe located in the %systemroot% (usually either C:\Windows\ or C:\WINNT\) and Internet Explorer is iexplore.exe located in C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\.  Both programs can be run independantly, so you could have a link in your kiosk menu to run iexplore.exe.  Then again you may prefer to run a different browser, like Netscape, Opera, etc.

If you use sramesh2k's method (http://oldlook.experts-exchange.com/questions/21038102/Hiding-the-taskbar-in-WindowsXP.html), make sure you disable the "put taskbar on-top of other windows"-option. Then you won't have the white space.

Might try replacing the shell with taskman.exe

See this article "Different Shells for Different Users" for more info

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnxpesp1/html/tchDifferentShellsForDifferentUsers.asp