Windows volume icon disappeared and no longer accessible

[pintree3]

Windows volume icon has disappeared from the taskbar (rebooted) and is no longer accessible even when I went to --> 'System Icons' -- ''Turn System Icons on or off'' it is greyed out. I am assuming some sound.media software has done this. Does anyone have any clues?
Media/Sound Software I have are:
DFX Audio Enhancer, AC3 Filter
VLC Media Player, Media Monkey, Gom player, Windows media Player (almost never use it)
Windows Live ID (almost never use it)
Audacity (almost never use it)
Foobar (almost never use it)
and my browsers have adobe and apple stuff

Thank you

 

[archer]

1. Click Start , type regedit in the Start Search box or the Serach programs and files box, and then press ENTER.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\TrayNotify

3. In the Details pane, click the IconStreams registry entry.
4. On the Edit menu, click Delete, and then click Yes.
5. In the Details pane, click the PastIconsStream registry entry.
6. On the Edit menu, click Delete, and then click Yes.
7. Exit Registry Editor.
Restart the Explorer.exe process. To do these, follow these steps:
Press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC.
On the Processes tab in Task Manager, click the explorer.exe process, and then click End Process two times.
On the File menu, click New Tasks (Run), type explorer, and then click OK.
Exit Task Manager.


a. Click Start, type Customize icons and then click Customize icons on the task bar.
b. Click Turn system icons on or off, and then set Volume, Network, and Power System to On.
c. Click OK, make sure that the behavior for Power, Network, and Volume are set correctly, and then click OK.