Hello, I'm having a strange problem...  The task bar on my windows keeps going invisible periodically, and there is nothing I can do to get it to it's origional state besides restarting...

This isn't anything like the "auto-hide" FEATURE, it just stays invisible.  If I press the "windows" start button, the start menu will come up, but the task bar is still invisible.  

I think it might be because I downloaded a program the other day that was supposed to do things like MAKE desktop icons invisible, and things like that.  I've SINCE unistalled the program, and run an anti-virus and ad-aware scan.

Any suggestions?Why would you want icons to be 'invisible' ?

Did you go to Start -> Settings -> Taskbar and Menu Start to untag and retag "Hide Taskbar automatically"? I suggest you fiddle around with these options to see if they have any effect.

Cleaning your REGISTRY with a program such as Advanced System Optimizer V2 may remove any faulty registry entries that could be caused by the program.Also, if you're an XP or ME user, try using system restore to revert to a date prior to you installing the software.http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;318027