How to remove particular icons from notification aea?

Dwellno · 27 Jan 2010

How to remove particular program icons from the notification area? (it's not about hiding them)

I use the new taskbar (superbar) of Windows 7 primarily as an application launcher and window manager and it shows quite clearly which programs are running and which are not.
Now, in the notification area, some programs show a program icon when running, and some do not. The ones which do show an icon there used to not show a bar on the older Windows taskbar (either minimized or not), probably to save out space I guess. With the new taskbar using only icons to show, there is enough space for all programs running, and there is no use in saving out space by putting icons in the notification area. In fact, programs which put an icon in the notification area also still appear on the taskbar, because I pinned them to it. So now i have programs displaying two icons on my screen, which makes it quite bloated when running several programs at the same time.

I would like that only programs show an icon in the notification area which start on startup and run the whole time my computer is on, like Antivirus software, Firewall, Deamon Tools, printer software, stuff like that.
Programs I don't necessarily run all the time don't need to show an icon in the notification area, I just look at the new superbar to see if they are running or not, and can start them right from there if not.
Right now, there are quite some programs which show a notification area icon that seem unable to be removed / deleted from within the program, like those of Skype, Outlook, Ovi Suite, etc. Since not every program has an in-built option for displaying the icon or not, I hope this can be arranged somewhere from within Windows directly. Maybe by editing the registry or something like that.

Does anyone have any idea how to achieve this?

Night Hawk · 27 Jan 2010

Sometimes the options for an icon in the system tray are optional where you simply uncheck the box during the initial install. That's one way to cut down the ever growing number to start with. But users also have the other option to remove them entirely.

Remove the icon. Your icon may provide relevant, useful status, but even so, users may not want to see it. Windows allows users to hide icons, but this feature isn't easily discoverable. To keep users in control, provide a Display icon in notification area option on the icon's context menu. Note that removing an icon doesn't have to affect the underlying program, feature, or process.

Notification Area

Dwellno · 28 Jan 2010

Well, as your quote says, Windows allows users to hide icons, but I don't want to hide them, I want to remove them.

And some programs (like Skype, Outlook), do not have the option "Display icon in notification" which can be unselected. So how can I remove the icons for programs like that?

Night Hawk · 28 Jan 2010

That's only one step there. The next step gets a little more involved as you will see with "Remove Unwanted Icons From Your System Tray". Remove Unwanted Icons From Your System Tray

Wouldn't you know another blog by the same title can be seen at Remove Unwanted Icons From Your System Tray - PCWorld

Legacy Code · 29 Jan 2010

>>Click<<

Lots of Apps to try out. Hope it helps ?

Night Hawk · 29 Jan 2010

I don't think Dwellno is looking to add more icons but simply remove those for unused programs. The fast and easy way to simply remove them individually is the exit or close option seen in the right click menu if you haven't already disabled them in the startup tab of the msconfig utility.

To go one step further requires an edit of the system registry itself. Note modify the registry at your own risk is the advice. How to Clear Customize Notifications (System Tray) Icons in Windows 7/Vista and XP - The Winhelponline Blog

(still seeing black area to right side despite snipping tool used around the dropdown menu.)

Tepid · 29 Jan 2010

or,,, try this,.,.,,

Clear the Notification Icons list cache

Dwellno · 30 Jan 2010

Thanks for all the replies. There are some neat links in your replies, and some of them I used very thankfully.

But actually my original question still isn't answered. It's really nice to disable some useless programs in startup, and also clearing the notification icons list cache is good.

The thing I actually meant is clearing icons in the notification area from programs I do want to run, but just not all the time. And I don't want them to show up there.

Two examples: Outlook and Skype. Whenever I run them the icon of the program shows up in the notification area. But I don't want that (the icon is already on the taskbar and that is enough) and I also don't want to hide them, I just want them removed there! How to do so? I couldn't find how to do this on any of the pages you gave me Night Hawk.

I actually didn't try any third party software Legacy Code, because I hope to do this without any apps.

Tepid · 30 Jan 2010

The thing I actually meant is clearing icons in the notification area from programs I do want to run, but just not all the time. And I don't want them to show up there.

The only way this can be done is if the option to not show in the systray is an option in the software. This option would only be available in the software you are using and is not controlled by Windows. The Programmer should provide the option as MS emphatically advises on opt-in structure for notification (systray) icons, status messages, etc. for apps such as Skype. Outlook is a different story as it is an MS app and they believe (as I do) that the Systray Icon is the best solution for such app.

Otherwise, there is no way to prevent it from showing there that I know of.

The app that I posted (i created) will remove all the icons in the list and they will repopulate as opened.
So, if you want to keep it clean you can always run it before you shutdown.
Or I can make a change to the app that will shut the system down rather than just log off.

All it is, is a couple batch files thrown to an exe using iexpress.
It is easily changed.

Night Hawk · 30 Jan 2010

With the MS Office 2010 bata on here where Outlook is used there's no icon found in the system tray until being run. MS stuck a "send a smile" icon there instead!

Other then that I find having the icons present while still tucked away can be quite useful over seeing even more desktop shortcuts pinned on the taskbar or added into an optional toolbars.