Icon disappeared from notification area: Motoring Computer Related forum

Computer Related > Icon disappeared from notification area	Miscellaneous
Thread Author: L'escargot	Replies: 20

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Tue 26 Oct 10 07:24

Icon disappeared from notification area - L'escargot

When I downloaded an uodated version of my antivirus, the modem (SpeedTouch 330) icon disappeared from the notification area. How do I get it to return? My computer runs XP Home.

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Tue 26 Oct 10 07:48

Icon disappeared from notification area - smokie

I don't have XP anywhere that I can refer to, but if you right click the Task Bar and go to Properties you can configure the Notification Area there - maybe there is something you can change? ("Hide Inactive Icons?")

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Tue 26 Oct 10 08:02

Icon disappeared from notification area - Focusless

Control Panel / Network Connections - find the connection that is connected, right-click, Properties, 'Show icon in notification area when connected'.

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Tue 26 Oct 10 09:46

Icon disappeared from notification area - L'escargot

>> Control Panel / Network Connections - find the connection that is connected, right-click, Properties, 'Show
>> icon in notification area when connected'.
>>

The "Show icon ...." box was already checked. Previously the modem icon was shown right from boot-up, so there's more to it than that.

Last edited by: L'escargot on Tue 26 Oct 10 at 09:50

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Tue 26 Oct 10 11:12

Icon disappeared from notification area - Focusless

>> so there's more to it than that.

As smokie said (sort of), if you right-click on the Taskbar at the bottom of the screen and select Properties, is 'Hide inactive icons' ticked? Try unticking it if it is.

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Tue 26 Oct 10 11:44

Icon disappeared from notification area - Iffy

These are just type of frustrations which have led me to try a Mac.

Nearly every time I tried to change something in Windows, I got into some sort of pickle or other.

What annoyed me most was often it was not possible to undo what I'd done simply by re-tracing my steps.

It's like you turn the kitchen light on using the light switch, but to turn it off, you have to go to the bathroom and run the hot tap while standing on one leg.

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Tue 26 Oct 10 15:25

Icon disappeared from notification area - John H

>> What annoyed me most was often it was not possible to undo what I'd done
>> simply by re-tracing my steps.
>>

System Restore. Simples. ;-)

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Tue 26 Oct 10 14:41

Icon disappeared from notification area - L'escargot

>> As smokie said (sort of), if you right-click on the Taskbar at the bottom of
>> the screen and select Properties, is 'Hide inactive icons' ticked? Try unticking it if it
>> is.
>>

I did that as well. "Hide inactive icons" was already unticked.

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Tue 26 Oct 10 15:51

Icon disappeared from notification area - Tooslow

System tray icons in XP seem to come and go as they please. Ignore it, it will come back eventually. My battery status icon shows on high days and holidays. I usually have three network icons showing (Bluetooth, wired and wireless), today I have two. Yesterday the wireless icon was a radio mast instead of the usual screen and it would not show the connection speed if I hovered over it. Today it's back to normal. Don't worry about it.

John

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Tue 26 Oct 10 16:05

Icon disappeared from notification area - John H

>> System tray icons in XP seem to come and go as they please. Ignore it,

>> John
>>

It is a timing problem as explained here by tasmanian
winhlp.com/node/16?page=1&cs=2302#comment-406

There is a similar problem in Vista and W7 which can be corrected using MS's "fixit"
support.microsoft.com/kb/945011

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Tue 26 Oct 10 16:11

Icon disappeared from notification area - Tooslow

Thanks John, it's nice to have an explanation even if the problem is so trivial that it doesn't bother me.

John

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Tue 26 Oct 10 15:04

Icon disappeared from notification area - L'escargot

I found this, but chickened out because of my inexperience. winhlp.com/node/16#comment-406

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Tue 26 Oct 10 15:34

Icon disappeared from notification area - John H

>> I found this, but chickened out because of my inexperience. winhlp.com/node/16#comment-406
>>

Try system restore, or failing that the following three solutions if they apply to XP. solutions taken from
social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/itprovistadesktopui/thread/abb7e07f-8d8a-40cf-a654-7f41f91374a8

Rt click on Task Bar > Properties > Notification Area Tab > Check Network System Icon Box > Apply > OK.

or

Step 1: CTRL + SHIFT + ESC (brings up the task manager) ctrl+alt+del in XP
Step 2: On processes tab find "Explorer.exe"
Step 3: Click End Process
Step 4: Click File--> New Task
Step 5: Type Explorer.exe

or

Even quicker (no reboot or registry editing required):
Obatin Process Explorer
technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx
Right click on Explorer.exe, and click Restart
(same as Process menu selection, then Restart)

Last edited by: John H on Tue 26 Oct 10 at 15:34

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Tue 26 Oct 10 17:34

Icon disappeared from notification area - Iffy

...notification area...

Are we talking about the line of icons in the bottom right of the screen?

If so, I remember reading that in Vista, they appear and disappear according to the amount of use.

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Tue 26 Oct 10 18:25

Icon disappeared from notification area - Tooslow

Yup, previously known as the "System tray". I don't recall them behaving as you describe in Vista iffy. W7 manages them much better, you're not flooded with the little devils.

John

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Wed 27 Oct 10 07:45

Icon disappeared from notification area - L'escargot

>> >> I found this, but chickened out because of my inexperience. winhlp.com/node/16#comment-406
>> >>
>>
>> Try system restore,

Isn't that likely to take my antivirus back to its previous version? I don't want that to happen.

Last edited by: L'escargot on Wed 27 Oct 10 at 07:46

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Wed 27 Oct 10 08:21

Icon disappeared from notification area - John H

>> Isn't that likely to take my antivirus back to its previous version? I don't want
>> that to happen.
>>

Yes, and since it was your AV that was the trigger for the fault, it is worth doing a system systore.
Now, your AV will likely have been updated since then at least twice a day. So if you restore system to a date/time before your problem yesterday and then allow your AV to update to the latest version, you could find that either the AV vendor has corrected the fault, or if not corrected then you are still without an icon. Who dares wins.

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Wed 27 Oct 10 14:03

Icon disappeared from notification area - L'escargot

>> Now, your AV will likely have been updated since then at least twice a day.
>> So if you restore system to a date/time before your problem yesterday and then allow
>> your AV to update to the latest version, you could find that either the AV
>> vendor has corrected the fault, or if not corrected then you are still without an
>> icon.

My current antivirus is completely different from the previous version and had to be downloaded.

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Wed 27 Oct 10 07:57

Icon disappeared from notification area - L'escargot

Fool that I am, for the time being I'm going to wait and see if the SpeedTouch 330 icon re-appears of its own accord.

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Wed 27 Oct 10 14:28

Icon disappeared from notification area - L'escargot

Since the problem is clearly associated with the latest version of my antivirus, I've put the ball in their court and asked them for a solution. Their policy is to reply within two days.

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Sat 30 Oct 10 10:11

Icon disappeared from notification area - L'escargot

Problem solved, thanks to advice from John H in another thread, by reinstalling the modem software. D'oh!

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