Windows 7 - Notification Area Icons - Hide or Show System Icons and Notifications

Information

This will show you how to hide or show your choice of the system icons and their notifications on the taskbar in Windows 7.

Note

Each system icon will have the choice to Only show notifications, Show icon and notifications, Hide icon and notifications, or Always show all icons on the taskbar with notifications.

• How to Turn System Icons On or Off in Windows 7
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• How to Change How Long Windows 7 Notifications Stay Open
• How to Enable or Disable Windows 7 Balloon Notifications
• How to Reset and Clean Out Old Windows 7 Notification Area Icons
• How to Enable or Disable Windows 7 Notification System Icons

1. Click on the arrow in the notification area on the taskbar, and click on Customize. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: You will not see this arrow unless you already have hidden system icons.

A) Go to step 4.

OR

2. Open the Control Panel (All Items View).

A) Click on the Notification Area Icons icon.

B) Go to step 4.

OR

3. Right click on the taskbar and click on Properties.

A) Click on the Customize button. (See screenshot below)

B) Click on Cancel to close the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties window.

4. To Always Show All System Icons and Notifications -

A) Check the Always show all icons on the taskbar box. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: This will only gray out all of the Behaviors for the Icons. It will not change how the Behaviors are set if you wanted to uncheck this box later.

B) Go to step 10.

5. To Show a System Icon and it's Notifications -

A) Uncheck the Always show all icons on the taskbar box. (See screenshot above)
WARNING: Unchecking this box will also have all of the other listed system icons act as they are set in their Behaviors options.

B) Click on the Behaviors drop down arrow menu to the right of the icon you want this behavior for. (See screenshot below step 10)

C) Click on Show icon and notifications to select it.

6. To Hide a System Icon and it's Notifications -

A) Uncheck the Always show all icons on the taskbar box. (See screenshot below step 2)
WARNING: Unchecking this box will also have all of the other listed system icons act as they are set in their Behaviors options.

B) Click on the Behaviors drop down arrow menu to the right of the icon you want this behavior for. (See screenshot below step 10)

C) Click on Hide icon and notifications to select it.

7. To Only Show a System Icon's Notifications -

A) Uncheck the Always show all icons on the taskbar box. (See screenshot below step 2)
WARNING: Unchecking this box will also have all of the other listed system icons act as they are set in their Behaviors options.

B) Click on the Behaviors drop down arrow menu to the right of the icon you want this behavior for. (See screenshot below step 10)

C) Click on Only show notifications to select it.

8. Repeat steps 5 to 7 until you have set the system icon Behaviors to how you want them for each icon.

9. To Restore the Default System Icons Behaviors -

A) Click on the Restore default icon behaviors link. (See screenshot below)

10. When done, click on OK. (See screenshot below)

11. Click on OK. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: You will not see this unless you had opened the System Icons window from the Control Panel above.

Note

This will only turn on or off Always show icons and notifications on the taskbar. This is the same thing as OPTION THREE below, but done automatically with a download instead.

1. To Turn On Always show all taskbar icons and notifcations -

A) Click on the download button below to download the
Turn_On_Always_show_all_taskbar_icons_and_notifcations.zip file.

B) Go to step 3.

2. To Turn Off Always show all taskbar icons and notifcations -

A) Click on the download button below to download the
Turn_Off_Always_show_all_taskbar_icons_and_notifcations.zip file.

3. Click on Save, and save the .zip file to the desktop.

4. Open the .zip file and extract the .reg file to the desktop.

5. Right click the .reg file (On Desktop) and click on Merge.

6. Click on Run, Yes, Yes, and OK when prompted.

7. Log off and log on, or restart the computer to apply the changes.

8. When done, you can delete the downloaded .reg and .zip files on the desktop if you like.

Note

This will only turn on or off Always show icons and notifications on the taskbar. This is the same thing as OPTION TWO above, but done manually through the regedit instead.

1. Open the Start Menu.

2. In the search box, type regedit and press Enter. (See screenshot below)

3. In regedit, go to: (See screenshot below step 4)

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

4. In the right pane, right click on EnableAutoTray and click on Modify. (See screenshot above)

5. To Turn On Always show all taskbar icons and notifcations -

A) Type in 0 (zero) and click on OK. (see screenshot below)

B) Go to step 7.

6. To Turn Off Always show all taskbar icons and notifcations -

A) Type in 1 and click on OK. (see screenshot above)

7. Close Regedit.

8. Log off and log on, or restart the computer to apply the changes.