Solved Taskbar - Notification Area Issue

[Fakeplasticspoo]

Hello,

After waking up, as per usual, I turn on my computer. Let it boot up, and login to my user (who is administrator). After walking away, I sit down, and notice I have no icons in my notification area on my task bar. I proceed to restart my computer, thinking maybe my computer is loading rather slow - I was wrong.

I then began searching for help through Google and I found others with the same issue - most of which had been resolved. I decided to try each of these solutions, unfortunately, none of them seemed to work in any way. (If you're wondering, I tried Reset_Notifications_Icons_List.reg, Notification clear [program] and manually removing the 'explorer.exe' process and adding it again through the Task Manager).

Also, my pinned taskbar programs seem to be a lot large than they previously were. Which I'm not happy about.

Images below show changes in my task bar;

Before:

Now:

As you can tell in the picture now, I am also no longer able to change settings.

If anyone could give me a solution to this issue; much would be appreciated.

Thank-you in advance.

 

[Oaken]

Also, my pinned taskbar programs seem to be a lot large than they previously were. Which I'm not happy about.

To change this right-click the Start Orb and go to properties, then click the Taskbar tab and change the "Taskbar buttons" option to you preferred setting (mine is Always combine/hide labels).

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/496-taskbar-button-grouping-enable-disable.html

Hope this helps...

 

[Fakeplasticspoo]

Thanks for that Only need the last thing to be fixed.

 

[Oaken]

Any time.

Have you tried restarting Windows Explorer, and/or checked the settings for the notification area?

To restart Explorer type "TSKILL EXPLORER" in the Start/Search box and hit return.

To check the notification area settings, right-click a blank area of TaskBar, select Properties > Notification Area tab > Customize, and see if these are all blank? If so try hitting the "Restore default Icon Behavior" link there?

Have you run any third party cleanup software very recently?

 

[Brink]

Hello Fakeplasticspoo, and welcome to Seven Forums.

The tutorial below can help show you how to enable your system icons again from your second screenshot above.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/19085-system-icons-enable-disable.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Fakeplasticspoo]

The restart advice was pretty much the same thing as when I manually did it through the task manager.

When I click "Restore default Icon Behavior", it does nothing. It all continues to stay grey. Other than the clock.

I did run clean-up-software just yesterday; I installed it to my portable hard-drive and ran it. It wouldn't let me continue through the 'cleaning' process, as it wanted me to register. I decided not to do it, and uninstalled it - I also use Tune-up Utilities often, is this the same sort of software ?

 

[Shootist]

The restart advice was pretty much the same thing as when I manually did it through the task manager.

When I click "Restore default Icon Behavior", it does nothing. It all continues to stay grey. Other than the clock.

I did run clean-up-software just yesterday; I installed it to my portable hard-drive and ran it. It wouldn't let me continue through the 'cleaning' process, as it wanted me to register. I decided not to do it, and uninstalled it - I also use Tune-up Utilities often, is this the same sort of software ?

tune up Utils, I have never trusted that program.
What other software dod you run that wanted you to register? I suspect that may be part or all of the problem.

Next time try Crap Cleaner (CCleaner).

 

[Oaken]

The restart advice was pretty much the same thing as when I manually did it through the task manager.

When I click "Restore default Icon Behavior", it does nothing. It all continues to stay grey. Other than the clock.

I did run clean-up-software just yesterday; I installed it to my portable hard-drive and ran it. It wouldn't let me continue through the 'cleaning' process, as it wanted me to register. I decided not to do it, and uninstalled it - I also use Tune-up Utilities often, is this the same sort of software ?

Ending/restarting using the task manager is not the recommended way and does not always do the required job cleanly.

As I suspected it's likely the cleanup software has nuked your Tray notifications cache.
What do you see in the Tray settings? Try checking any of the items there and/or restoring the defaults again, and reboot (which I should of said earlier, sorry). And of course check out the tutorial above.

A tip for cleanup software is to use something well respected such as CCleaner, and be sure to check out what the implications of different setting are - CCleaner has detailed documentation on their site for this purpose...

 

[Fakeplasticspoo]

Hello Fakeplasticspoo, and welcome to Seven Forums.

The tutorial below can help show you how to enable your system icons again from your second screenshot above.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/19085-system-icons-enable-disable.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Thank-you so much ! It worked perfectly. I changed a few other things that seemed to help out also.

I must say, excellent response time. Thank-you again.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome. I'm glad that we were able to help.