Missing icons in the notification area

[Lorne]

Windows XP SP3 all updates and latest software + drivers installed.

I recently installed IE8 and ever since only 2 or 3 (instead of 13) icons
load at startup into the notification area (what used to be called the
system tray).

1. If I logoff and logon again they all come back.
2. If I turn off autologon and manually logon at the welcome screen they all
load.
3. If I search on Google I find it is a known problem but the 'solutions' I
have found do not help me. One solution (deleting the 2 registry keys in
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TrayNotify)
worked for one login but then failed after that.
4. I am not certain IE8 is part of the problem but it is the only recent
change to the computer and as it is faster than IE7 I prefer to keep it.
However it may be that explorer.exe is trying to draw the taskbar before
windows is ready for it. Google searches uncovered that Windows XP has a
built in delay to read the running services before drawing the taskbar so
maybe IE8 is too fast and needs a longer delay.

Can somebody familiar with this problem tell me if there is a known solution
as I find going through the welcome screen annoying. I also prefer not to
write some routine that auto deletes the 2 registry keys mentions above on
shutdown although it does seem that could be a solution.

 

[Gerry]

Lorne

Right click on the Start button, select, Properties, Takbar tab and
uncheck Lock the Taskbar. Next click on Customise. Locate and click on
the item you wish to always show. A scroll bar appears which enables
you to select the Always Show option. Click on OK, recheck Lock the
Taskbar, click on Apply and OK at the next Window and restart your
computer.

However, an item will only ever appear in the Notification Area if is
loaded. Thus if you make Task Manager "Always Show" it will not usually
appear as Task Manager is not normally loaded on Start Up. It appears if you
do a Ctrl+Alt+Del and disappears if you close Task Manager.

--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Lorne]

Lorne

Right click on the Start button, select, Properties, Takbar tab and
uncheck Lock the Taskbar. Next click on Customise. Locate and click on
the item you wish to always show. A scroll bar appears which enables
you to select the Always Show option. Click on OK, recheck Lock the
Taskbar, click on Apply and OK at the next Window and restart your
computer.

No this is a bug in Windows. Setting to always show does not solve it. The
processes are running in task manager but show up in the past items list.
That is why I tried deleting the past items data in the registry to force
windows to recreate it but as I said in my OP that only worked for the first
reboot.

 

[Al Falfa]

No this is a bug in Windows. Setting to always show does not solve it.
The processes are running in task manager but show up in the past items
list. That is why I tried deleting the past items data in the registry
to force windows to recreate it but as I said in my OP that only worked
for the first reboot.

This bug in XP will never be fixed. It *may* help if you force the first
icon to 'Always hide', but then you may as well just 'Always show' *all*
icons, thus disabling this unreliable 'feature'.

 

[Lorne]

This bug in XP will never be fixed. It *may* help if you force the first
icon to 'Always hide', but then you may as well just 'Always show' *all*
icons, thus disabling this unreliable 'feature'.

I found a link to the always hide trick when I was looking for a solution
but it did not work for me.

Also the always show idea does not work. As far as I can see there is
nothing wrong with the XP 'show when active' logic as it always works if I
go via the welcome screen. It is only the autologin that causes it to fail
and that seems to support what some people are saying about explorer.exe
version 8 being too fast and trying to draw the taskbar before XP has
collected all the data it needs. I assume the data collection and drawing
occur in 2 independent threads with no check to see if the data collection
thread has finished before the drawing starts. The fact that XP builds in a
4 second delay at the begining of the task bar draw routine suggests
Microsoft were concerned about this but it seems very poor that they are
unable to fix it with anything better than a random delay. Why can't the
taskbar draw thread wait for a message to say all the data is ready?

Are any Microsoft MVP's reading this and able to pass it on to those
responsible for bug fixes ?

 

[Gerry]

Lorne

Only a lesser mortal responding. No more bugs, if it is one, will be fixed
as regards Windows XP. Of course if it is in Internet Explorer then there
could be changes there. Microsoft has never been very responsive to user
comments even when transmitted by an MSVP.


--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~