Windows 7 - Solution to display minimized apps in notification area

I saw people are trying to get icons to the lower right side of the taskbar, so I played around and found this way. Starting with Windows Live Messenger 9.

1. Pin the program to the taskbar.

2. Close the program so it's not running.

3. Hold down shift key and right-click the program's icon.

4. Select Compatibility Troubleshooter.

5. Move along the selections , select "The program worked in earlier versions of Windows..." and when asked for OS of compatibility mode choose Windows XP or "I don't know" (should default to Windows XP).

6. Finish the wizard and you're done. I'm including screenshots for messenger.

7. You can now unpin the program from the taskbar. It will appear on the notification area when minimized.

The difference with this way is that instead of manually setting compatibility mode to the executable, Windows sets it to all the application's resources and dependency files.

Try it and let me know of your results.

OK- this is what I am trying to do. But, the icons that I am trying to hide appear in the Taskbar only when I start the program. So there is no way for me to close the program AND have its icon in the Taskbar so I can do Step 3. When I close the program, the icon is removed from teh taskbar.

The notification area on the bottom right side shows only running programs.

If your application can run as an icon minimized on notification area even when it's closed(which means it would be able to do that in XP and Vista too), then you should be able to do that. Otherwise , you cannot have a closed application on notification area. Only pinned on taskbar. Period.

I was able to use your steps by finding the application in the program folder and shift-right click on program. But, it opens the porgram in the Taskbar, not in the minimized area on the right (beside the TIME).

This is a RUNNING program that I simply want the icon hidden, or minimized in area at right bottom beside clock (called the System Tray I think). I could do this easily in VISTA by clicking on icon in Tasbar where there was an option to Minimize to System Tray.

Oh...then you got me here....Does the application have a selection within its inner options to do that?

Just loaded up Vista and tried 2 different apps, the first one I have never seen in the system tray and the 2nd one start on Taskbar and system tray.





So there you have it, basically the program needs to support the minimize to system tray to begin with if your going to have any chance of doing it in Windows 7

Exactly...If the program can stay in System Tray, then the above method works. Otherwise, it never worked anyway.

I was able to successfully minimize a couple of icons. Please go here to the thread that I originally started.

The given method doesn't work, instead following the procedure corrupted my outlook