Coherence and the windows start bar

My apologies if this has already been posted, but I just started using coherence yesterday. Everything works fine except the start menu bar won't go away. Sure, I have hidden it, but when I drag my mouse down to the dock it triggers it everytime! Any hints, tricks etc?

Thanks - BTW I am running the latest Beta 3106.

 

you don't have to hide it. just let it stay there. somewhere in the parallelsmenu you can switch it off for the coherance mode. so if you switch to coherance it's it automatically hidden.

 

View-->Customize-->Coherence

You that man! Thanks

 

yes, BUT

This works if you start all your windoz apps in OS window view and then switch to Coherence, but if you want to launch another windoz app, then you have to switch back to OS window view to get the task bar (ie start or app launcher) back. Seems that Coherence mode should honor the hide task bar setting in windoz so that the task bar retracts at all times except when the mouse is moved to where ever the task bar is set to reside (assuming that OSX focus is on Parallels).

david

 

I can't get it to stay hidden either.... there is a dark blue LINE either above or below the dock. I want the dang thing GONE totally unless I ask for it back which I never will.

 

UH, that's the way it works on my system. I've got Autohide enabled in Windows and the Task Bar is "parked" at the left side of my screen. Unless I'm in a Windows app AND drag the cursor to the left edge of my monitor, the Windows Task Bar stays hidden.

 

Yep - that's what I did too - I moved the Windows Task Bar to the left hand side and set it for 'auto-hide' - I didn't want the task bar and the dock over-lapping each other. everything seems to be working just fine. If you are working with a windows app in coherence mode, you might notice a very very thin line on the side of the screen that is the task bar - but it works that way in normal windows anyway. In all Rachel, that should solve your problem.

 

Hey thanks....

Its a good work around... but Id really like it if thay could just get rid of it totally. We can bring it back or get to it with anything floating in the dock.

 

I don't think that's the responsibility of Parallels -- it's a Windows feature that, as far as I know, can't be "gotten rid of" in any particular Windows native fashion. I don't think it's even possible for Parallesl to do what actually can't directly be done in Windows.

 

Within XP you *can* actually make the taskbar invisible. In OS window mode, move the mouse over the top edge of the taskbar it will turn into a pair of arrows. Click and drag the edge of the taskbar in this position. If you first drag it to *increase* its height, then drag it back down to the bottom of the window, then it takes up residence as a hidden bar. When you then switch to coherence mode it will then remain invisible.

 

I think that, even if you do THAT, you'll still see the "thick blue" line that other posters have mentioned. I took the thread to mean that ALL TRACES of the Task Bar should be "erased"...

 

It would of-cause be nice if we could get rid of the Start menu altogether and instead get a Start menu icon in the Mac OS X dock from where the items in the Windows Start menu could be accessed. A dockling or whatever it was called in the early Mac OS X days.

If I remember correctly this is how Virtual PC solved it in some of the last versions of that application.

//megus

 

Picky!

I checked using Pixie - it's one pixel high. I use the silver theme, which works better with OS X, so my "thick blue line" is a very thin white line.

 

Yes I also use the silver theme -- so I also have just a very, very thin white line -- and it's perfectly OK with me!

 

Just thought I'd add that my Taskbar is hidden completely. In Windows I've placed the Start menu at the top of the screen. In Parallels, switch to Coherence view, then from the Parallels menu go View > Customise (I think) and there's an option to Show (or not) the start menu. Untick 'Show' and it should then hide the taskbar.

You may need to switch off 'Autohide' in Windows as this may conflict with the setting above - I've not tried it with autohide enabled (but can't see any reason you'd need autohide enabled if you're hiding the taskbar anyway!)

Good luck,

Tom

 

How hidden task bar works in OS Windows mode

I have used a hidden task bar in Windows for years. When you have it hidden it vanishes at ALL times unless there is an application requesting attention or the mouse is moved to where ever you placed the task bar. It DOES work properly in the OS Window mode of Parallel.

Now here is how it is working in Coherence Mode. The task bar at first hides as expected. I can locate the bar at any of the four edges and it works the same. I then open up an application and the task bar hides again. So far so good. I then minimize the app which puts it back on the task bar and the task bar becomes visable again, which is NOT what it does in OS WIndows mode. It is at this point that the task bar is not functioning properly. It should NOT reappear just because an app is minimized. If I don't have at least ONE Windows app showing in the main screen, the task bar refuses to hide. Now I do have the screen real estate to allow the task bar to show up, but I don't want to see it UNLESS I want TO SEE IT. This is NOT a Windows issues as the task bar in real Windows and In OS Window mode hides properly. It is Windows under Parallel Coherence that th task bar misbehaves.

I have tried all the combinations of the View options in Parallels along with the task bar properties for hiding and have yet to find any combination that makes the task bar behave in Coherence mode the way that it does in REAL Windows operation OR in OS WIndow View under Parallel.

if anyone has found a way to make this work, please post.


david

 

My response was more to the people above that wanted the taskbar GONE completely, which my method above should accomplish.

It sounds like you want the Windows 'autohide' function to work properly, and it doesn't sound like it does at the moment.

One alternative to using autohide is to hide the taskbar completely as per my previous post, then when you need the start menu just right-click the Parallels dock icon and click Start menu and it should reappear on demand. Note that this only shows the start menu, NOT the taskbar for some reason.

Whether this works for you depends on why/when you need to see the taskbar.

Cheers,

Tom

 

Task bar using quick start icons

using the start button and the programs list is a way, but I use the task bars ability to display all my applications in quick start mode. This way I don't have to mess with using the start button except on rare occasion. Maybe I am the exception to my use of the task bar, but I use it a LOT. I like Coherence but at this point having the task bar work properly is more important than having windows apps run without the windows window showing. At the same time, I would like to have the task bar function identically in Coherence as it does in OS Windows mode.

david

 

One further option that might work for you then... if you start the Windows application(s) you use frequently, then right-click them in the dock and 'Add to Favorites' you can just launch them from the Parallels 'Applications' menu in future. It essentially works the same as the 'quick launch' menu in the taskbar.

 

My Task Bar use reacts in an identical manner in OS Mode and Coherence. When a Windows ap is minimized my Task Bar does not "appear", but remains hidden due to being set to Autohide. If I access the Task Bar (by gliding my cursor over to where it "lives") then it remains present until I make SOME kind of Windows selection. This is the same behavior that I see on all of my "pure" Windows systems.

BTW I do not use Quick Launch -- perhaps that is the source of the different behavior that is being reported by some?