Minimized windows suddenly disappear in Linux Mint Taskbar

First of all I am not a Linux user. I work on Windows 7. So I will try to explain this in more simple way. Like Windows, there is a taskbar below in Mint. This is the gray bar which lies at the bottom of screen. When we minimize something like Firefox browser or any open document it lies on the task bar. When we click on it the window maximize back again. I do not know what happen suddenly everything disappeared. When I minimize something it goes to the lower right corner where the clock is. I can open that by pressing Atl + Tab, but I want the same thing restored. How I can bring the old stuff back.

It looks that the Desktop is not tablet on Linux Mint. I face issue related to Cinnamon where my mouse rightclick is not working. I had removed that moved to Mate. Logout and click on Session and change your desktop to Mate or Cinnamon just to test whether it is working or not.

The bar below is called as Panel. This panel has number of different settings. When you minimize a browser or document it goes on the panel with the help of addon called as Windows List. If this service fails or not working you will not see anything on the panel. You restore that back right click on Panel and click on Add to Panel. In the box type Windows List an item to add to the panel box. You can see Windows list there. Click on it and then click on Add. You can see all minimize stuff back. This occurs due to some buggy issue in Linux Mint desktop. The show desktop button will also disappear. You can add it in the same way through Add to Panel.

If you want to move a icon then right click on icon and then click on move. Now just move your mouse and click where you want the icon. This are common bugs and you will face this in Mint. You must try to learn the interface. It is much easier to understand and configure. I am not sure what happen but if you face this issue check carefully you will see Windows List fail message. And the Explorer.exe that runs in Window is replaced by Plymouth in Linux Mint.

Thanks for that info. I was struggling to restore many items on panel. Like adding a shutdown button or pidgin icon. I was not aware that Add to Panel option is available. The story in Cinnamon is very different. The panel does not work like how it works in Mate.

There is quiet a big difference between both the desktop. What I found after working for a month on Mint that it is best for performance. You must not do major changes to it. Those who are new to Mint will face issue related to a number of configuration. Like connecting the Linux Client to Windows Server and other stuff.

I thought that this will have many similarity compared to Windows. In Windows your web browser or document can easily minimize on task bar. When you terminate Explorer.exe then your entire desktop, icons, task bar, system tray, etc disappears. This is not the scene in Mint. In this everything works independently in co-ordination with each other. If Windows List fails then you will not be able to minimize windows. The Mint Menu will be still accessible. I found Mint very smoother and better, all you need is a bit of practice in using it. It is secure, safe and faster. If you face such issue do not panic. Just try to find the way to restore it. It will give you more knowledge about various component used in Mint.

It is right. I had stopped using Windows for over a year now and I am today quiet comfortable with web server configuration. In Windows you will never understand the structure of a operating system or program how it works. Linux offers you a various way to learn number of things.

One thing that I want to highlight here is Cinnamon is a bit different that Mint Mate. In Mate to add a icon on Panel you have to right click and click on Add to Panel while in Cinnamon you will need to enable Panel Edit mode. This confuses me a bit. Second when you install Cinnamon over Mate, the system goes unstable. I am sure that those who are facing such crashing issue is because of other desktop installed.

I am also using Mint Mate, and I tried to configure Cinnamon over it. It installed but on reboot a number of keyboard shortcuts were not working, desktop was dead and there were number of issues. No doubt Cinnamon is a good desktop, but it is not compiled when you install it manually. Adding each and every keyboard shortcut one by one manually is a good waste of time and also generates number of errors.

This is a bit matter of worry that there is no System Restore app available for Linux Mint or any other Linux distro. In Windows if any major issue appear I just run System Restore and get back my old settings. But in Mint I have visit a number of site to find answers.

It is right, there is no such app present in Mint. Because this is not needed. Mint does not operate on hundreds of serves. Windows List is one of the most common service that work nicely. You can search for Startup Application on Mint Menu and check for those apps which launches on boot. You can add them if there is no desktop related app selected. Second best thing about using Linux Mint is that it gives you a better transfer rate among network and between partitions. I had not seen this in Windows. It is much slower when you move a good amount of data from one part to another. While it is much easier to get minimum 7mb per second. Within minutes you can move GB's of data on a older system.

Mint is good to many extent. I am using the same and the performance that I had notice is much better. Luckily the software manager is updated and there are all related package that you usually look for.