I was just playing one of my games and when I came back here to check in, my task manager on the bottom of my screen disappeared. Can't see my start button or any of the windows I have open.

Anyone have any ideas for me?

Try a little fix it tool, Task Bar Plus. Most of the features work in the free version, and $5 unlock the whole program if you want.

Read about it here and download at the bottom of the screen.

Taskbar Repair Tool Plus! (http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm)

Also, if your keyboard has a Windows Logo key on it (my keyboard has this key between Ctrl and Alt to the left of the Spacebar), if you have the Windows key, just tap it. That makes the Start menu popup on my computer.

If you don't have a Windows key, press/hold CTRL-SHIFT and then tap ESC to do the same thing.

I think I mean the task bar that should be at the bottom of the screen at all times.

Sounds like explorer.exe might of crashed.
A simple reboot will fix this ;)

Do the old three finger shuffle (Ctrl+Alt+Del) and select shutdown.

Ctl +Alt + Del brings me to the task manager. I can't even get to the start button!

Well, got it back by trial and error. I tried a simple reboot earlier, didn't work. This time I had to power down all the way, wait a couple of minutes, then restart. Took a little to get going, but it's back!

I can breathe easy again!

Sorry, brain is mush after 2 days of ACLS classes and two exams. I thought I was done with school. NAH!!