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In some cases, the only simple way to get rid of a Tray Icon is to kill it off each time it shows up.
   technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

T e c h n o f i l e
Those pesky icons at the bottom right in Windows, Part 2


Nov. 11, 2003


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2003, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2003, The Post-Standard

   Windows gets a lot of mileage out of icons, using them in many different ways. They can be launchers for programs or entryways into folders. They can lead you to configuration menus or bring you to Web sites.
   With one exception, Windows icons are easy to understand. The exception is the kind of icon that shows up near the clock at the corner of the screen. It's a mystery icon to a lot of users, for good reason.
   This kind of icon is sometimes cryptic, with no obvious function, and it might not even respond to a double click. Worse yet, your Windows PC they tend to show up on their own, without getting your permission.
   As I explained last week, icons in the corner of the screen, near the clock, were originally intended as "notification" devices. The Windows clock has that kind of function, constantly notifying you of the time and telling you the date whenever you hover your mouse pointer over the numbers.
   This is fine as far as it goes. But Windows users often find icons in that area, called the "System Tray," that don't follow the rules. An obvious example is the notorious Real Player icon that bugged Windows users for years. Whenever a Windows user installed Real.com's Real audio player, the installer would place an icon in the System Tray without asking the user if that was OK.
   It was almost impossible to get rid of the icon, which seemed to have no function except to launch the player. Even Mozilla, the Open Source Web browser, puts an icon in the System Tray. It doesn't belong there, according to Microsoft's approach, but Mozilla's programmers stick it there for quick launching. (Icons that launch programs have plenty of parking places in Windows -- the Start menu, the launch bar and the desktop itself -- and don't need a fourth location.)
   Taking control of tray icons is hard to do. Here are five suggestions:
   1. When you install a program, always choose "Custom Install" if you see that option. Read the installation instructions very carefully. Uncheck any option you don't understand. If you go through with the installation and you see an icon in the System Tray, uninstall the program and reboot, then try the installation again, looking at the options more carefully.
   2. Icons you already have in the System Tray might belong to Windows. Windows sometimes places a modem-connection icon in the tray, for example. Tray icons that belong to Windows usually do your bidding if you tell them to go away. Right click on the icon (or double click the left button if you get no response) and look for a configuration menu. Turn the icon off from that menu.
   3. Icons that programs put in the tray sometimes can be removed if you check or uncheck a setting in the program's own menus. Sometimes you'll find the appropriate menu only through a right click or left double click on the tray icon. You might have to look two or three times before you find the right setting; software engineers can be quite foxy when they don't want you to remove part of their interface.
   4. If you see no obvious way to get rid of a pesky tray icon, go to the Web site run by the company or person who designed the program and post a question. You'll usually find an e-mail address you can write to, and you might also see a forum where you can write a question that other users can answer.
   5. In some cases, the only simple way to get rid of a Tray Icon is to kill it off each time it shows up. I've seen icons that provide an "exit" option (to make the icon go away) without giving a "remove" icon (which should keep the icon from appearing again).
   Removing unneeded tray icons can boost your computer's overall speed and responsiveness by a noticeable amount. If the tray icon represents a running program, your computer won't have to work quite as hard when you get rid of the icon. Even if the icon is merely a launcher, it takes up space in memory.