Question : Taskbar does not show running programs

Taskbar does not show running programs.  alt-tab works fine.  The only solutions I see are those telling me to go to kelly's corner and run a vbscript.  Is there another answer out there?  WinXP(SP2)  

Answer : Taskbar does not show running programs

Did the VBS script at Kelly's corner not work for you? One of the reasons that site is always so highly linked to is that the solutions work in most cases.

Basically that.vbs file resets all the various settings Taskbar related to default....

Most notably, it is more than likely these 4 keys responsible for the problems you are asking about....

 "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StuckRects2\"
"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StreamMRU\"
"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Streams\Desktop\"
"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Explorer Bars\{32683183-48a0-441b-a342-7c2a440a9478}\BarSize"