Annoying brightness icon on desktop

[Beejoo]

My desktop (in all apps) has suddenly started showing a black brightness slider on top left of the screen. I can neither drag it or close it. Very annoying as it covers important details in Excel & other programs! How do I get rid of it please?

[MKazi]

@Beejoo

Welcome to HP Support Forums. I came across your post and would like to help. I understand that there is a black brightness slider on the op left of the screen and you are unable to drag it or close it. Maybe I can help you here. 

I recommend you to perform the following steps and check if the brightness slider disappears:

Select Start, enter Display, select Display settings from the list of results, and then use the slider or turn the automatic adjustment on or off.

Note: If you don't see the slider, or if moving the slider doesn't change the brightness, try updating your display driver. Here's how: Select the Start button, enter (type) Device Manager, select Device Manager from the list of results, expand Display adapters, right-click (or press and hold) the name of the driver (each manufacturer has a different name), and then select Update Driver Software.

If the above steps do not solve the issue then please send me a picture of the black brightness slider and I will look into it for further troubleshooting. Good luck! 🙂

[Beejoo]

Hi Kazi. Thanks for your help - tried your suggestions, but no change. Am attaching a screenshot.

[MKazi]

@Beejoo

You're welcome. 🙂 Thanks for sending the screenshot. I recommend you to further try a few more steps:

1. On the keyboard there will be the number keys from 0 to 9. Out of these, two of the keys will be to increase and reduce the brightness.

2. Press and hold the Fn key and then hit the number keys to either increase or reduce the brightness. 

3. Ideally, when we do this, the bar should appear and then disappear after we release the keys.

If this does not help then please perform a Microsoft System Restore. System restore will restore your laptop to an earlier date when the bar was not present.. So ensure that you select a date when the bar was not present. To perform a system restore review this link: http://hp.care/2c1kggM.

Hope this helps. 🙂 Good luck!

[Beejoo]

Hi Kazi. Tried both of those solutions, but no change at all. 

[MKazi]

@Beejoo

Thanks for replying to me with the results. Anyway, thanks for trying the steps. I would recommend you to reinstall Windows OS and check. But doing this will earse all data and laptop will go back to original factory condition. So it's better you backup your data first like pictures, music, etc.

To perform system recovery, please refer to "Recovery when Windows 10 does not start correctly" from this link: http://hp.care/2cf8noz. Feel free to let me know if you need anymore help. Good luck!

[Beejoo]

I think that is the one solution I really don't want!

[MKazi]

@Beejoo

Hi, I understand that it can be a time-consuming task to reinstall Windows. We could try to refresh the operating system, this will not delete any of your data. Refresh will fix any Windows OS related issues.

To perform refresh please refer to this link: http://hp.care/2ddgG2G. Though this link is for Win8, it will work for Win10 too. Refer to steps mentioned in this link: http://hp.care/2ddgG2G. 

Hope this works out. Good luck to you. 🙂