The most common cause is corrupted system files, but background programs or recent Windows updates can also contribute.
Method 1: Restart Windows Explorer
Method 2: Run an SFC Scan & DISM Scan
SFC & DISM scans are built-in utilities provided by Microsoft, these utilities look for corrupted system files and try to repair them. You can learn more about SFC & DISM scan on Microsoft’s official page about them.
Method 3: Enable the User Manager
A disabled User Manager may result in a frozen Windows task bar. Try re-enabling the User Manager with these steps:
Method 4: Uninstall Classic Shell (if applicable)
Certain applications have been identified by some users as causing the taskbar to malfunction. These applications are Dropbox and Classic Shell. If you suspect there are any applications causing this, you can remove them as well.
Method 5: Disable Recently Opened Items
Recently opened items can slow down the list launch. Disabling them makes it faster and prevents any freezing. Follow these instructions to disable recently opened items:
Method 6: Create a New User Account
In some situations, the error might be triggered if your user account settings or configurations have not been properly set and also if there is any corruption in this configuration data. Therefore, as an alternative, you can try to create a new user account on your Windows 10 machine and then import the data from the older account later if it fixes the issue. If doing so fixes the issue on your computer, make sure to import the user account data from the previous account onto this new one and continue to use it normally.
Method 7: Perform System Restore
Some users found that performing a simple restore to an earlier working date fixed their issue, but you will have to carefully select the restore point to which you will be restoring. It is recommended that you manually go through this process instead of using automatic restore.
Method 8: Toggle System Icons
In some cases, the system icon setting might be glitched on your computer, causing this issue. Therefore, in this step, we will toggle these icons and then check to see if doing so fixes the issue. For that:
Method 9: Perform an Update
The frozen taskbar issue was a very famous topic on most Microsoft forums, and apparently, a lot of Microsoft officials took note of it. Therefore, it is possible that this issue might have been fixed for some people in recent updates released by Microsoft. In this step, we will check for any available updates from Microsoft and install them on our devices.
