Can no longer minimize windows in KDE

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1

I’m running Suse 11.1 with KDE (4?) on my desktop computer. It
used to be that if I minimized a window (by clicking on the
inverted ^ at the top left), that the window minimized and
and could be recovered by clicking on a box in the panel at
the bottom of the screen. Alternatively I could minimize/restore
a window by clicking on the box in the panel (one click to minimize, another to maximize, etc)

But I have done something (I’m not sure what) and I no longer
have the boxes for open windows in the panel. Apparently when
I minimize a window, it is now gone. How do I get back to the
behavior I had before?

Thanks

2

You will need to add a panel to your desktop. Not at my linux machine currently, but IIRC right-click on desktop and select ‘Add Panel’. (You may need to ‘Unlock Widgets’ first). Have a look at this getting started tutorial:

KDE 4.2: Ten Tips for Getting Started

3

NO, I already have a panel at the bottom of the screen. Adding
a panel just gives me another (empty) panel at the top.

I have a similar setup on my laptop and have discovered that
these “boxes” are in an area controlled by the “task manager”.
But how do I get to the task manager in the first place if
it’s not available?

4

Are you using KDE 4.1 or 4.2? I remember KDE 4.1 toasting itself once for me. Not happened again since upgrading though. You could try starting over by renaming or deleting ~/.kde4 directory.

5

Hi,

You must right click on your panel and hit Add Widget. Search for Task Manager. Click it then click Add Widget and you should be good.

Good Luck,

Ian

6

That did it. I had seen the add widget option, but didn’t
realize that the task manager is one of the widgets that you
can add to the panel.

Thanks very much.