Notification Area Icons - Hide or Show System Icons and Notifications

How to Hide or Show System Icons and Notifications in Windows 7 and Windows 8​

   Information

The notification area is a part of the taskbar that provides a temporary source for notifications and status. It can also be used to display icons for system and program features that are not on the desktop. The notification area was known historically as the system tray or status area.

By default, the only icons that will be visible in this area are some system icons. However, you can select which icons appear on the taskbar, and which icons hide in the overflow section.

This will show you how to hide or show your choice of the system icons and their notifications on the taskbar in Windows 7 and Windows 8.

   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.

   Tip

Microsoft has made available a hotfix that will resolve a problem where the taskbar customizations are lost and reset to defaults when automatic logon is enabled in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. More details are available at:

FIX: The Taskbar is reset to the default settings when you use the "Automatically Log On" feature in Windows 7 and in Windows Server 2008 R2.

EXAMPLE: Show All System Icons and Hide System Icons on the Taskbar
NOTE: To view icons that are hidden, click on the arrow in the notification area on the taskbar. (Right screenshot below)

OPTION ONE

Through Notification Area Icons Settings

1. Do step 2, 3, or 4 below for what you would like to do.

2. Click on the arrow in the notification area on the taskbar, and click on Customize, and go to step 5 below. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: You will not see this arrow unless you already have hidden system icons.

3. Open the Control Panel (icons view), click/tap on the Notification Area Icons icon, and go to step 5 below.

4. Right click or press and hold on the taskbar, and click/tap on Properties.
A) Click/tap on the Customize button to the right of "Notification area". (see screenshot below)

B) Click on Cancel to close the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties window, and go to step 5 below.

5. To Always Show All System Icons and Notifications
A) Check the Always show all icons and notifications on the taskbar box, and go to step 11 below. (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.

6. To Show a System Icon and its Notifications
A) Uncheck the Always show all icons and notifications 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/tap on the Behaviors drop down arrow menu to the right of the icon you want this behavior for. (See screenshot below step 11)

C) Click/tap on Show icon and notifications to select it.
7. To Hide a System Icon and its Notifications
A) Uncheck the Always show all icons and notifications on the taskbar box. (See screenshot below step 5A)
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/tap on the Behaviors drop down arrow menu to the right of the icon you want this behavior for. (See screenshot below step 11)

C) Click/tap on Hide icon and notifications to select it.
8. To Only Show a System Icon's Notifications
A) Uncheck the Always show all icons and notifications 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/tap 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/tap on Only show notifications to select it.
9. Repeat steps 6 to 8 until you have set the system icon Behaviors to how you want them for each icon.

10. To Restore the Default System Icon's Behaviors
A) Uncheck the Always show all icons and notifications 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/tap on the Restore default icon behaviors link. (See screenshot below)
11. When done, click/tap on OK. (See screenshot below)

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

OPTION TWO

Using a REG File Download

NOTE: This will only turn on or off Always show icons and notifications on the taskbar.
1. To Turn On Always show all taskbar icons and notifcations
A) Click/tap on the download button below to download the file below.
Turn_On_Always_show_all_taskbar_icons_and_notifcations.reg


Download


B) Go to step 3.
2. To Turn Off Always show all taskbar icons and notifcations
A) Click/tap on the download button below to download the file below.
Turn_Off_Always_show_all_taskbar_icons_and_notifcations.reg

Download


3. Save the .reg file to the desktop.

4. Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg to merge it.

6. Click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), 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 file if you like.

OPTION THREE

Manually in Registry Editor

NOTE: This will only turn on or off Always show icons and notifications on the taskbar.
1. Press the Windows+R keys to open the Run dialog, type regedit, and press Enter.

2. In regedit, navigate to the location below. (See screenshot below step 3)
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
3. In the right pane, double click/tap on EnableAutoTray to modify it. (See screenshot above)

4. To Turn On "Always show all taskbar icons and notifcations"
A) Type in 0 (zero) and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

B) Go to step 6.
5. To Turn Off "Always show all taskbar icons and notifcations"
A) Type in 1 and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot above)
6. Close Regedit.

7. Log off and log on, or restart the computer to apply the changes.
That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• Add or Remove OneDrive Notification Area Icon in Windows 8.1
• How to Turn System Icons On or Off in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Create a "System Icons" Settings Shortcut in Windows 7 and Windows 8
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• How to Turn On or Off Action Center Messages in Windows 8
• How to Change How Long Windows 7 Notifications Stay Open
• How to Change How Long Notifications Stay Open in Windows 8
• How to Enable or Disable Windows 7 Balloon Notifications
• How to Enable or Disable "Found New Hardware" Balloons During Device Installation
• How to Reset and Clean Out Old Windows 7 Notification Area Icons
• How to Enable or Disable System Icons in Windows 8 and Windows 8
• How to Add or Remove the Notification Area from the Taskbar in Windows 7
• How to Create a "Notification Area Icons" Shortcut in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Customize the Notification Area Icons in Windows 7
• How to Create a Taskbar Properties Shortcut in Windows 7
• How to Enable or Disable Changing "Notification Area Icons" Settings in Windows 7
• How to Create a "Volume Mixer" Shortcut in Windows 7 and Vista
• How to Create a "Volume" Shortcut in Windows 7 and Vista
• How to Add or Remove NVIDIA Taskbar Notification Area Icon in Windows
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• How to Lock or Unlock Taskbar Settings in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Turn On or Off Bluetooth Notification Area Icon in Windows
• How to Hide or Show Intel Rapid Storage Technology Notification Area Icon in Windows
• Enable or Disable Automatic Promotion of Notification Area Icons to Taskbar in Windows 7 and 8

 

[Sunimar]

Sunimar,

If you haven't already, right click on the tray icon to see if there may be a setting or option to not display the tray icon.

If not, then you may have one of those programs that will override this setting and always will display their tray icon and/or give notification messages. It just depends on how the progam was written.

i did Shawn but i guess that's of no good...And it seems that the 2nd reason that you proposed is the reason for the icons still showing in the notification area.

 

[Brink]

That's what I was afraid of. Sorry.

 

[Sunimar]

Hahahahaha....why are you being sorry on Mr.Bill Gates behalf...you have tried to help others...Thanks again!!!

 

[rwmol]

I have a software that is shown in the List of Notification Icons. Under Behavior, I have "Show Icon and Notifacations. The Icon does not appear in the task Bar Notification area. If I select show All icons, it still doesn't appear. Of course a work around is to move the .exe file to Start Up but I don't want the program to open on the desk top.

Any work around for this or is this a quirk in the OS?

 

[Brink]

Hello RM,

What program is this for?

You might check to see if the program may have it's own set of settings for it's notification icon to always appear or not.

Hope this helps for now,
Shawn

 

[rwmol]

It's VSO Downloader. A newly developed software for downloading internet videos. I emailed the developer to intagrate in his next release a "close to task bar" but nothing related to this issue

 

[MilesAhead]

The System Tray is one thing that drives me buggy. What it needs is a toggle to either Always show all icons and notifications, or Never show them. When you toggle it should change all the individual settings. Then you would only have to change the exceptions. For instance I should be able to set Show All icons and notifications, then just scroll down to Solve PC Issues and toggle that off or whatever.

The only quick way is to turn them all on, then waste the space showing all the crapware icons like Norton Anti-theft that isn't even activated. It's crazy.

So, long winded way of asking, has anyone done a utility to makes sense of the madness?

 

[Brink]

Hey Miles,

If you like, you could remove the notification area to never see any of them.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/158852-notification-area-add-remove.html

 

[MilesAhead]

No, I need most of them. But I want to shut off those that don't give me any info. What I'm looking for is something like a virus scnner where you can check all or uncheck all, then just turn off or on the exceptions. If you have a dozen 3rd party tray programs, then the ones that come installed, you can spend 10 minutes setting dropdown boxes. It should be radio buttons anyway. Then you wouldn't have to wait for them to react. Just click to fill in the desired setting. Those dropdowns are slow and flaky. Half the time they change to a different setting after you release the mouse button. The antithesis of convenience you might say.

 

[MourningStar]

I like this - thnx.

One issue :

I have all my icon behaviors set to 'Only Show Notifications'. When restart is complete the Network and Volume icons are displayed and I always have to go in and redo the settings. Anybody else have this issue? Can fix?

-thx.

 

[Brink]

I like this - thnx.

One issue :

I have all my icon behaviors set to 'Only Show Notifications'. When restart is complete the Network and Volume icons are displayed and I always have to go in and redo the settings. Anybody else have this issue? Can fix?

-thx.

Hello Marc,

Do they hide later on there own, or only if you reset their settings?

 

[MourningStar]

Hi Shawn -

'On their own'? This is what should happen? I have always reset manually after the reboot. Are you suggesting I wait awhile? How long?

 

[MourningStar]

... Are you suggesting I wait awhile? How long?

Tried it with a 20 minute wait while I did other stuff, - still there.

 

[Brink]

Yeah, you might give it the day to see if they may hide on their own.

Usually at Windows start up, the initializing of the network and volume most likely triggers them to show. Pretty much the same behavior with AV notification icons as well.

Do you have this issue when resuming from sleep or hibernation?

 

[MourningStar]

... Do you have this issue when resuming from sleep or hibernation?

no.


I have this issue ONLY when I run this utility AND ...

CCleaner also performs notification area reset/cleanup, if the box is checked (refer to earlier posts in this thread). However, in the case of CCleaner one need only to restart explorer for reset/cleanup to take effect, a machine restart is not required. However, even this process generates this same issue.

 

[Brink]

I must admit that I'm not sure why they keep showing on you. They don't for me after a restart with the same setting.

Do they do this with any other user account?

 

[MourningStar]

... Do they do this with any other user account?

Only one account (other than factory admin) on this machine.

Having this issue reproduced via CCLeaner tells me it is not due to your utility. I can live with it. Thx for looking in Shawn.

 

[MourningStar]

CCleaner also performs notification area reset/cleanup, if the box is checked (refer to earlier posts in this thread). However, in the case of CCleaner one need only to restart explorer for reset/cleanup to take effect, a machine restart is not required.

Hi Shawn -

Can you easily modify or make a new utility that will take effect with a restart of explorer as opposed to a full machine re-boot?

-thx

 

[Brink]

Hey Marc,

Not that I'm aware of.

 

[MourningStar]

Odd - for the heck of it I thought I would re-download & run that 'reset notification area' bat file from your tutorial and rather than hit 'y' to restart I hit 'n' and would run an explorer restart instead. Behold : when I execute the bat a restart explorer dos command warning window pops up instructing to save all open programs and then hit any key. I hit any key and then the reset bat file runs with the dos window appearing as per the tutorial. I hit 'n' per the restart prompt. I go to view the Notification Area and it is clean!

I never told anyone this but I really do believe in the saying "ghost in the machine".