Each time I boot my computer I get (towards the end of the
boot process) an error message "Shell_NotifyIcon Fail."
This is after the hourglass appears on the desktop for 10-
15 seconds as though it is looking for something. This
may seem like a minor problem, but adding 10-15 seconds to
the boot process can be significant if you're frequently
rebooting as I have been in order to find/correct other
problems or load software (hitting restart).

I suspect that Windows is looking for something (an icon)
from a deleted program. I've done a simple search for the
phrase "Shell_NotifyIcon Fail" and Windows returns 20-30
instances of the phrase throughout my computer. I don't
want to delete all of the files since I suspect all except
the offending file are needed.

I don't know if this is a registry issue or not, but I'd
sure like to know how to remove this constant notification
short of reformatting my hard drive and reinstalling
windows!

This has been going on for about a year now. I
initiallythought that it would be a simple problem to
resolve, but have tackled it several times now and can't
find what is causing the message to consistently recurr.

A screen capture of the message can be seen at
http://beckda46.freeservers.com/llbpages/Computer%
20Stuff/Shell_NotifyIcon%20Fail.jpg

HELP!!

In microsoft.public.win2000.registry Lee Beck wrote:

> Each time I boot my computer I get (towards the end of the
> boot process) an error message "Shell_NotifyIcon Fail."
> This is after the hourglass appears on the desktop for 10-
> 15 seconds as though it is looking for something. This
> may seem like a minor problem, but adding 10-15 seconds to
> the boot process can be significant if you're frequently
> rebooting as I have been in order to find/correct other
> problems or load software (hitting restart).
>
> I suspect that Windows is looking for something (an icon)
> from a deleted program. I've done a simple search for the
> phrase "Shell_NotifyIcon Fail" and Windows returns 20-30
> instances of the phrase throughout my computer. I don't
> want to delete all of the files since I suspect all except
> the offending file are needed.
>
> I don't know if this is a registry issue or not, but I'd
> sure like to know how to remove this constant notification
> short of reformatting my hard drive and reinstalling
> windows!
>
> This has been going on for about a year now. I
> initiallythought that it would be a simple problem to
> resolve, but have tackled it several times now and can't
> find what is causing the message to consistently recurr.
>
> A screen capture of the message can be seen at
> http://beckda46.freeservers.com/llbpages/Computer%
> 20Stuff/Shell_NotifyIcon%20Fail.jpg
>
> HELP!!
>

As I understand somthing is starting and attempting to "talk" to a
System Tray objects that does not exist. If you deleted something
instead of un-installing it that might be the cause. That phrase
"Shell_NotifyIcon Fail" will not likely be found in the registry.
Instead review all your startup locations (files and reg.) for
remnants of an application. AutoRuns or msconfig would help in
that.

Above is my speculation, not fact. YMMV