All open windows iconify/

[W. eWatson]

You should take a screen snapshot and upload it somewhere, like
imageshack.us, so we can see what you really mean. I'm starting to
suspect that you are asking about tray icons and have some utility that
minimizes programs to a tray icon (rather than the taskbar button which
is present when an application opens a window and the taskbar button is
there whether you have the app's window normal-sized or minimized).

I'm leaving on a long trip soon, and don't have a lot of time to do
that. It's really simple the icons are distributed at the very bottom of
my window. The first one on the left is the Window ball and flags, then
an icon for windows media player, then internet explorer. Further along
are my icons for Word docs that are open.

I now know how this probably happened. Select Alt+tab. Icons of all the
windows will appear, but one will show the desktop only. If one selects
it, all the windows will go onto the bar at the bottom. Now press Win+D.
They all come back on the screen. I must have accidentally touched the
desktop icon and let go of the keys, as perhaps I began to search
through the field of icons displayed.

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

I'm leaving on a long trip soon, and don't have a lot of time to do

It's not difficult.

that. It's really simple the icons are distributed at the very bottom
of my window. The first one on the left is the Window ball and flags,
then an icon for windows media player, then internet explorer. Further
along are my icons for Word docs that are open.

We can all call things what we like, but it might help you get help if
you know what other people call things, so I hope this is useful:

The whole is usually called the screen, not the window.

The bit at the bottom of the screen is usually called the taskbar, and
contains three _different_ kinds of things (as well as the "start orb" -
what you called the Window ball - on the left, and the clock on the
right). [This is the default arrangement - the taskbar _can_ be on any
of the other three sides of the screen.]

First, there are shortcuts to common things like, as you say, windows
media player and internet explorer. This area used to be called the
quick launch area (or bar) in Windows XP - I'm not sure what it's called
under 7. The things in it could indeed be called icons, as they have no
text with them.

Then in the centre are what are usually called buttons, for programs you
may have open; they usually have an image plus some text. You may have
more than one of the same sort, as you have mentioned with Word docs.
Calling these icons will confuse people.

Then there is the "tray" or "tray area", near the clock, where small
symbols - again, often called icons - show (some of) the things that are
running, mostly background tasks. By default, this area is mostly
hidden, with an arrow on the end which if clicked will show you all of
them (for a few seconds).

I now know how this probably happened. Select Alt+tab. Icons of all the

Many people call those thumbnails.

windows will appear, but one will show the desktop only. If one selects
it, all the windows will go onto the bar at the bottom. Now press

"be minimised" (to the taskbar).

Win+D. They all come back on the screen. I must have accidentally
touched the desktop icon and let go of the keys, as perhaps I began to
search through the field of icons displayed.

I'm glad you got it sorted. Hope the above is useful.

 

[VanguardLH]

I now know how this probably happened. Select Alt+tab. Icons of all the
windows will appear, but one will show the desktop only. If one selects
it, all the windows will go onto the bar at the bottom. Now press Win+D.
They all come back on the screen. I must have accidentally touched the
desktop icon and let go of the keys, as perhaps I began to search
through the field of icons displayed.

Previously you said, in your reply to Stan, "Neither Win+D or -M
restored them". Now you say Winkey+D does restore them.

Your windows got minimized somehow to taskbar buttons. You claimed that
Winkey+D did not restore those windows. That's why I asked if you could
restore the window using the tasbar buttons for the apps because a
possibility was that the app's window had gotten repositioned so it was
off-screen where you couldn't see that it got restored (you would have
to use another trick of moving an unseen window that was off-screen);
however, that would have been a wild goose chase because now you're
saying Winkey+D did work to restore the app windows.

 

[W. eWatson]

I'm leaving on a long trip soon, and don't have a lot of time to do

It's not difficult.

that. It's really simple the icons are distributed at the very bottom
of my window. The first one on the left is the Window ball and flags,
then an icon for windows media player, then internet explorer. Further
along are my icons for Word docs that are open.

We can all call things what we like, but it might help you get help if
you know what other people call things, so I hope this is useful:

The whole is usually called the screen, not the window.

The bit at the bottom of the screen is usually called the taskbar, and
contains three _different_ kinds of things (as well as the "start orb" -
what you called the Window ball - on the left, and the clock on the
right). [This is the default arrangement - the taskbar _can_ be on any
of the other three sides of the screen.]

First, there are shortcuts to common things like, as you say, windows
media player and internet explorer. This area used to be called the
quick launch area (or bar) in Windows XP - I'm not sure what it's called
under 7. The things in it could indeed be called icons, as they have no
text with them.

Then in the centre are what are usually called buttons, for programs you
may have open; they usually have an image plus some text. You may have
more than one of the same sort, as you have mentioned with Word docs.
Calling these icons will confuse people.

Then there is the "tray" or "tray area", near the clock, where small
symbols - again, often called icons - show (some of) the things that are
running, mostly background tasks. By default, this area is mostly
hidden, with an arrow on the end which if clicked will show you all of
them (for a few seconds).

I now know how this probably happened. Select Alt+tab. Icons of all the

Many people call those thumbnails.

windows will appear, but one will show the desktop only. If one
selects it, all the windows will go onto the bar at the bottom. Now press

"be minimised" (to the taskbar).

Win+D. They all come back on the screen. I must have accidentally
touched the desktop icon and let go of the keys, as perhaps I began to
search through the field of icons displayed.

I'm glad you got it sorted. Hope the above is useful.

I'll use it for reference in the future. Thanks.

 

[W. eWatson]

Previously you said, in your reply to Stan, "Neither Win+D or -M
restored them". Now you say Winkey+D does restore them.

Yes, that's exactly right, but things changed as I explained above. It
had to do with The Tab key.

Your windows got minimized somehow to taskbar buttons. You claimed that
Winkey+D did not restore those windows. That's why I asked if you could
restore the window using the tasbar buttons for the apps because a
possibility was that the app's window had gotten repositioned so it was
off-screen where you couldn't see that it got restored (you would have
to use another trick of moving an unseen window that was off-screen);
however, that would have been a wild goose chase because now you're
saying Winkey+D did work to restore the app windows.

Well, there's certainly some confusion in the lingo used. Gilliver
addressed that.

I'm done..