My taskbar does not show the active program shortcuts, although it shows QuickLaunch bar, Time etc correctly. When I start a new program, nothing is shown in the taskbar so to switch to a another program I have to go through Alt+Tab combinations. Any help appreciated.

Ender, Try right clicking an empty part of your taskbar and unlock the taskbar. It's possible that your quicklaunch is extended far to the right near the clock. If this is the case you will see a dotted verticle line on the right of your quicklaunch. Put your mouse pointer(cursor)over that dotted line until it turns into a 2 sided arrow, then hold your left mouse button down and drag it to the left towards the start button, release the mouse button. Now see if your open programs appear in the taskbar. If they do you can then lock the taskbar again. Tufenuf

Tufenuf, unfortunately that is not the case. I dont see any dotted vertical line at the right of the quicklaunch. Even I close the quicklaunch I stil dont see the open programs and the task bar automatically hides itself in that case.

I actually noticed that the dotted bar of the quicklaunch is on the left hand side, between the quicklaunch and Start, although it should be on the right. it seems that it can be moved, but as soon as I drop it, it gets back to its initial place. very strange. any ideas?