PC Doctor March 15, 2013

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Dear PC Doctor,

I recently had to use Task Manager to end a program that had frozen up on my computer.  Unfortunately, I guess I accidentally clicked the wrong task to end because the task bar on my computer disappeared and I could not figure out how to bring it back.  I eventually just rebooted my computer and everything seemed fine.  If this ever happens to me again, how do I fix it?

            Dan

Dear Dan,

It sounds like you accidentally ended the task called “explorer.exe”.  It is a pretty crucial user interface program that you definitely do not want to end!  It runs the task bar, desktop interface and file explorer.  There are times it may use a lot of memory but you should refrain from ending it.

If you ever run into a time where explorer.exe was accidentally ended or otherwise accidentally closed, there is a way to get it running again.  Open up your Task Manager (fastest way is to hold down CTRL + Shift while pressing ESC), make sure you're under the Applications tab and then click “New Task” and type in “explorer” and hit Enter on your keyboard.  This will reload your Task bar and File Explorer windows that you may have had opened.  Depending on your computer, it may take a few seconds to fully reload.

Good luck!
          PC Doctor

Until next time… happy computing!