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How do I stop the taskbar from showing when I watch a video on full screen?

  • 16 replies
  • 53 have this problem
  • 1060 views
  • Last reply by kaidox

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When I watch a video with Mozilla Firefox on sites like YouTube, Google Video or Bing Video in full screen the taskbar shows at the bottom of my screen and doesn't disappear like it does in Internet Explorer. How do I watch videos in full screen without the taskbar showing? It's not a website problem, it's not a Windows problem, it only does this on Mozilla Firefox's browser. All three websites play perfect full screen video on the Internet Explorer browser with no taskbar showing at the bottom..

When I watch a video with Mozilla Firefox on sites like YouTube, Google Video or Bing Video in full screen the taskbar shows at the bottom of my screen and doesn't disappear like it does in Internet Explorer. How do I watch videos in full screen without the taskbar showing? It's not a website problem, it's not a Windows problem, it only does this on Mozilla Firefox's browser. All three websites play perfect full screen video on the Internet Explorer browser with no taskbar showing at the bottom..

Chosen solution

Hello Tomcost,

I was experiencing this issue myself and was able to find this solution while searching the forums.

Right click on your Firefox icon (not the one in your task bar), if it's not on your desktop, find it in the Mozilla Firefox program folder.

After right clicking, select Properties, then the Compatibility tab, then check the box that says Disable display scaling on high DPI settings.

Please let us know if this works for you.

Cheers, Patrick

Read this answer in context 👍 4

All Replies (16)

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<snip>

Modified by Andrew

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Did you check the Windows Task bar setting via the right-click context menu (Properties) to make sure that the task bar is not set to be visible all the time?

Do you otherwise have the task bar visible?

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cor-el,

If you mean "Auto-Hide the Taskbar", I have it unchecked. I don't think it's a Windows 7 OS problem anyway because my full screen works great on YouTube videos as well as other sites on my Internet Explorer browser.

It could be an Adobe Flash problem, I noticed the full screen video opens up in a Adobe Flash separate window when I click on YouTubes full screen mode in the Mozilla Firefox browser. I'm posting screen captures of the problem I'm experiencing with Mozilla Firefox and comparing it to what I see when I play the same full screen video on Internet Explorer below.

Notice how the taskbar covers YouTubes control bar on Firefox.  FYI, actually even better the YouTube control bar disappears after a few seconds on Explorer browser leaving only the full video (not pictured).
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I had the same issue with Firefox. After searching forums and trying to find an answer, i simply went to tools>add-ons and disabled shockwave flash. I then opened a video that was playable without flash, fullscreened successfully without the taskbar on top, enabled shockwave flash again, and tadaa no more taskbar hiding issues with any streaming video sites. Hope this works for you too.

a simple disable and enable might do the trick but i figured i might as well tell you what i did from beginning to end just in case.


edit: i spoke too soon. it worked once but does not work anymore for me. still looking for a solution myself.

Modified by kashida3

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Kashida3,

Thanks it worked like a charm! I knew the flash player was causing the problem but wasn't sure how. No more taskbar on full screen video in Firefox.

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kashida3,

FYI, I decided not to enable Shockwave Flash.

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kashida3,

Disable the "Shockwave Flash" plugin in Firefox and then download the latest "Adobe Flash Player".

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tomcost,

once i disable Shockwave Flash I am unable to play most videos and it tells me to download the latest flash player. Arent shockwave flash and adobe flash player the same thing? Disabling shockwave flash and then installing the latest adobe flash player has not allowed me to fullscreen without the task bar. Only the one time when i originally replied to your post.

Am I missing something?

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kashida3,

You are right, today when I turned on my computer and looked up videos it wanted me to download Adobe Flash player also. Any ideas?

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Chosen Solution

Hello Tomcost,

I was experiencing this issue myself and was able to find this solution while searching the forums.

Right click on your Firefox icon (not the one in your task bar), if it's not on your desktop, find it in the Mozilla Firefox program folder.

After right clicking, select Properties, then the Compatibility tab, then check the box that says Disable display scaling on high DPI settings.

Please let us know if this works for you.

Cheers, Patrick

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Patrick,

I went directly to the Mozilla folder in program files and right clicked on firefox.exe and did what you instructed, the taskbar is still present while watching video sites.

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I got it :) (I tried using Google Chrome but the same problem occurred, by the way).

a) Right-click on the desktop area, click on "Personalize" then on "Display" (bottom left), "Set custom text size (DPI)" (left) and check "Use windows xp style DPI scaling".

or

b) Right-click on the desktop area, click on "Personalize" and change the Windows 7 Aero theme to Windows 7 Basic or a High Contrast theme.

Modified by friophip

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Switching from the Aero themes to either Windows basic or High Contrast themes did not work for me. Thanks for trying friophip.

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patrickmc your solution worked perfectly for me :) Thank you!

Quote: patrickmc I was experiencing this issue myself and was able to find this solution while searching the forums.

   Right click on your Firefox icon (not the one in your task bar), if it's not on your desktop, find it in the Mozilla Firefox program folder.
   After right clicking, select Properties, then the Compatibility tab, then check the box that says Disable display scaling on high DPI settings.

Please let us know if this works for you.

Cheers, Patrick

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Thanks Patrick!

That worked, I even rebooted my computer to see if the settings would stay the same and it did.

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The answer is very simple, reset your internet browser, there a option in youtube call : DO NOT SHOW HD VIDEO, when you click on the gear for video resolution this option appear

and i think you click the checkbox by mystake. after i reset windows internet explorer 10, all was perfect, i can see my video in full screen with no task bar and none of the top bars

Voila !! Dominik, IT RBC tech TSC

Modified by kaidox