Besides menu button disappearing from time to time the windows that are open are not showing in Panel. WTF thot Linux was suppose to be stable?

A tad bit more information here would be nice; perhaps a screen shot? Maybe include the window manager you're running as well as the distro and release.

And if you're running Ubuntu with Unity ... well I think there are problems, that exact problem. I think there's something wrong with workspace switcher and if you happen to place an app window on another workspace you see this phenomena. I've had that happen and I can swap to any of my workspaces and do not see the app. In that case I kill it and re-run.

You can't generalize "linux" in that way, say "it is" stable, and think it means "unbreakable", or that every program within it is equally stable. There are very stable linuces, that will hold stable if kept well maintained, that's how far the generalization can go. But no one is stopping anyone from making a mega-hacker-bleeding-edge-super-tuned-linux distro (or new applications, or desktop environments, so on) that doesn't run for two hours straight without problems. Or just messing up the installation of something that would be more stable by default. "Stable" doesn't mean that you can't break it, only that it isn't likely to break if you use it properly.

And yes, more information about the desktop environment, and also about recent changes/tweaks you could have made, may provide clues to the cause and eventual solution.

Using Mint 16 Mate,
Mint Menu button disappears on long sessions.
open windows do not show in panel [maximized or minimized]
do not know what is running unless left maximized.
herez uh screenshot fingerzx

Attached Thumbnails

 

Solved it by noticing that the Firefox bookmark [for lack of better way to explain it] in laft panel was accidentally moved to the right side of the panel across the divider and it was blocking the windows from showing. Sooooo removing the bookmark now allows opened maximized and minimized windows to show.
Seems like I've been through this before but forgot about it.
Thanx:::]]]SW