Why does my Windows XP taskbar sometimes hide tooltips?

"Well, it looks like I found the answer to my own question (and after reviewing these answers -- none of them worked for me).

Here is what fixed my problem:

Right-click on the taskbar and
select 'Properties'
Uncheck 'Keep the taskbar on top of
other windows'
Press 'OK' or 'Apply'

Voila! Tooltips are now visible again.

Of course, this has the unfortunate side-effect of letting any of your windows cover the taskbar. If this isn't desireable, this bit of freeware can help."

"This plagues pretty much every Windows XP box. Most people just mouse around the other taskbar icons until a tooltip appears correctly, and subsequently the problem is resolved (for a time). You could also try unlocking the taskbar, and dragging it (the taskbar, not the tooltip) to another position.

Rebooting the machine is kinda drastic."

"Unfortunately this is a bug, You can reset the taskbar by either doing auto-hide then putting the setting back or by unlocking, moving it to a different side and then moving it back again.

This is the same fix as the Windows 7 clock bug I said about before."