Disappearing tray at bottom of screen

[embee]

I'm helping an old lady with her computer which she got from her granddaughter. It is an IBM pc with windows 98 installed. She has done something which has made the grey tray at the bottom disappear. It comes back when the cursor is held over it but disappears again as soon as the cursor goes elsewhere. I.ve tried dragging it back but to no avail. Please has anybody any suggestions?
Another thing. Her granddaughter is still the administrator and the lady overcomes that by signing in every time. The lady is 90 years old and I would like to make it easier for her. Is there anything I can do?

[ACtheTROLL]

I can't remember the exact wording ... but

close any running progs
get your cursor down there so the taskbar appears ...
with the pointer over an unused area of TB right click | properties | take the tick out of auto hide

[Ethel]

It is as simple as pressing F11 on the keyboard.

[ACtheTROLL]

ethel .... now you're confusing me ...
f11 hides the menu and taskbar when IE is open (fullscreen view)

but not just on the desktop .... does it?
(are you thinking linux ;-)
I can't try it at the mo - got visitors ... going out shortly ... but ....

just seen the sign on question ... enter another name in the sign on screen ... no password .. and enter.
98 looks like it wants passwords ... but it's easy to fool