Solved Suspicious Icon in Taskbar!

[Wayfarerman]

Hi to all.

Sometimes when I take a look at taskbar, I could find a suspicious icon which when I try to point to it with mouse, it disappears immediately! I attached a picture to this post about this damn icon. I appreciate if any one could aware me about its identity and about how to remove it if it is harmful.

Thanks.

 

[Layback Bear]

That looks like Windows 7 Magnifier. If so it's not harmful.
That little Icon is also part of the selection of Icons that come with Windows 7.
Have you applied that Icon to any program?

 

[boohbah]

i dont think magnifier puts a icon in the systems tray.
i just tested it and could only see one on the taskbar, also ,it is similar but not the exact same icon.

may be a third party magnifier though.

what about checking in task manager to see what is running. if any kind of magnifier is mentioned.
or look in msconfig too

 

[Layback Bear]

You are correct boohbah.
I have been trying to get the Icon on the Tray and can't.

Update:
If I give a program that Icon I can put it on the System Tray.

 

[Wayfarerman]

Layback Bear & boohbah,
Thanks for your comments.

It doesn't seem to be a magnifying program. I checked the task manager several times, but I couldn't find any thing in this case. The odd things about this icon are:

1- It is hidden at about all times!
2- Sometimes when it barely appears in system tray, it disappears immediately when I try to point to it with mouse!​

 

[UsernameIssues]

Work thru this tutorial
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ation-conflicts-performing-clean-startup.html

 

[HAVOC]

Have you clicked on customize to see if it's listed there?

 

[Mysterious]

right click on it & see what happens even if it disappears !!

 

[Wayfarerman]

@ HAVOC: Yes, I previously have done this, but it was not listed there.

@ Mysterious: The last time when this icon appeared, I tried "right clicking" on it (on its vacant place!), but nothing happened.

 

[NoelDP]

I was thinking that the Icon looked like the Windows Search one?

 

[Mysterious]

Hmm...do one thing..type msconfig in search bar & hit enter.
In services tab check hide all microsoft services & disable all the rest.then in startup tab disable all & click apply,then ok.then it'll ask u for reboot,reboot u'r computer.to know which is the culprit,enable them one by one

 

[Wayfarerman]

@Mysterious,
Yes, I also think that it may work. But there is still a problem: The issue that this icon is almost hidden all the time! So if I do what you say I would not be so sure that if the program related to this icon is running or not.

 

[UsernameIssues]

Work thru this tutorial
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ation-conflicts-performing-clean-startup.html

Hmm...do one thing..type msconfig in search bar & hit enter.
In services tab check hide all microsoft services & disable all the rest.then in startup tab disable all & click apply,then ok.then it'll ask u for reboot,reboot u'r computer.to know which is the culprit,enable them one by one

The difference between what I mentioned in post #6 and what Mysterious mentioned in post #11 is the scheme used to re-enable the apps that are starting. "Half splitting" is more efficient than re-enabling each app one at a time. Especially since you will have to run the computer for a while to see if the icon appears.

That said, I agree with Noel, so this troubleshooting method might not work at all.

@Mysterious,
Yes, I also think that it may work. But there is still a problem: The issue that this icon is almost hidden all the time! So if I do what you say I would not be so sure that if the program related to this icon is running or not.

I would suggest showing all icons all of the time while you are chasing down this issue.




It also sounds like the app is crashing* - so you might look in the Windows event logs for a clue.

*e.g. leaves an icon in the system tray (notification area) that goes away as soon as you mouse-over it.

 

[UsernameIssues]

You can try running Process Explorer for a while.

Download the zipped (compressed) file
Open the zipped (compressed) file (folder)
Copy the files somewhere
Run the exe as admin
Agree to the EULA

Change this setting:
Select Options from the Menu Bar
Select Difference Highlight Duration... from the menu
Change that to 9 seconds
"OK" your way out of that settings window.

Then just watch processes start (green line) and end (red line) for a while and see if you can find the app of interest.

Personally, I would turn off all columns except these:



For this issue, you could even do without the columns named Integrity and Image Type.

 

[Wayfarerman]

@UsernameIssues,

Thank you for your solutions. I'll test these and will inform you about the outcome.

 

[alan10]

This appears to be simple and obvious - no need for guessing games.

Immediately below the cluster of icons shown in the first post is a LINK, the blue word CUSTOMIZE

When I click that link a window pops up with 20 different items

On the right is a Behaviors column which allows me to configure whether and when an icon is shown
On the left are 20 names of applications together with any icon which the application may be using.
Of my 20 items, 11 have icons because the application is running,
and 9 have no icons because then have not been launched since Windows was last booted.

Regards
Alan

 

[boohbah]

alan10, simple as it is it has been asked and tried already which has led to the original post and the subsequent guessing,
http://www.sevenforums.com/system-security/316087-suspicious-icon-taskbar.html#post2635027

 

[alan10]

alan10, simple as it is it has been asked and tried already which has led to the original post and the subsequent guessing,

I saw the question but was not satisfied that by subsequent answers.

Out of 20 items, only 11 had icons.
I clicked desktop shortcuts to 2 of the items without icons,
and the customize Window showed 2 more icons for these 2 running applications.
I closed those two applications and their icons remained
I closed the customize window and relaunched it and the 2 late arrivals persisted.

Is it possible that the customize LINK is not working for Wayfarerman,
and perhaps he did not know what it should do ?

Perhaps something in Windows is broken - possibly unrelated to the strange icon.

Regards
Alan

 

[UsernameIssues]

Wayfarerman,

At your convenience, please consider posting a screenshot of the Notification Area Icons screen

Control Panel > All Control Panel Items > Notification Area Icons

It might take a few screenshots to show the entire list.

My list does not act exactly like alan10 describes...
...9 have no icons because then have not been launched since Windows was last booted.
I have Task Manager running - but it has no icon listed beside it in that list. This probably has to do with the way that I launch Task Manger at startup with elevated privileges. If I exit Task Manager and start it again, it will be listed with an icon. A few other things act like this too.

If (as I suspect) this app is starting and then immediately crashing, I would not expect it to make it to the Notification Area Icons list.

 

[Wayfarerman]

Thnaks every one. At last I found what is this icon for:

Winzip Driver Updater