Solved Macrium Reflect 7 free version - update notification image persists

[sam2iam]

Hello. A year or so ago, I installed the free version of Macrium Reflect for evaluation. I use FBackup for my data files, and I wanted to supplement that with a product that could image my Windows system. I intended to go to the paid version of I found it useful. I never found time to evaluate it. I had update notifications on, and would periodically see new version notices in the taskbar, which I ignored. A couple of months ago, I began to see a strange, always-on-top (AOT) image consisting of an outlined globe with meridians, with three stars on the LH side, and an "X" in a circle on the lower RH side, all grey over a white background. If I move the cursor around that image, I can see a rectangular, white text on darker grey (or black), "OK" button centered near the bottom. That button, and all other elements of the image, are completely inactive. Mouse button clicks on any part of the image do nothing. The image isn't huge, but given its AOT characteristic, it's seriously in the way sometimes. I spent a couple hours trying to associate the image with some application, with no luck. As a last resort, I opened Macrium Reflect, and sure enough, the image closely matches the application identification symbol, except for colorization (it's sort of a skeletal version of it). As a test, I downloaded and installed the available updates, and when I rebooted, the image was gone. I successfully repeated this sequence for three or four update cycles, the last one about two weeks ago. Yesterday, the image showed up again, but Macrium Reflect indicated I was up to date. So, I tried disabling/ending the program components (such as I could identify them) and rebooting, but the image persisted. I then uninstalled the program and all of its components. The icon remains. This is beginning to get frustrating. Macrium won't even allow anyone to register for their support forum without a paid license key. I understand not giving major support for what amounts to a trial version of a paid program, but I think they have at least some minimum obligation to provide answers when that trial version breaks a system through no fault of the user. Any advice from Macrium users or others here on making this image vanish permanently? Thanks in advance.

 

[sam2iam]

And, this morning, the image is gone. Four power cycles and at least eight reboots later, during which nothing has been changed (by me) on this system. Very odd. Good that it is gone, but the how of it is a mystery, and mysteries involving computers and/or software are never good things...