Notification area not working properly

[Tosca]

Hi everyone

I have XP Pro SP2 and noticed recently that my MSN Messenger icon wasn't
shown in the notification area. The arrow head in the circle doesn't show
either. I've been into Properties of the Taskbar and unticked Hide inactive
icons, rebooted and then re-ticked it prior to rebooting, with no effect.
All of the icons are set to Hide when inactive so I tried changing MSN to
Show always - it didn't show after a reboot!

The only thing that I've done recenty is to install the MSN toolbar which
I've had before without any problems on this laptop before I reinstalled the
OS from the recovery disc.

Any ideas - could it be a setting in the Registry that's been changed by
something or is there some other cause of this behaviour?

Thanks for your time and patience.

 

[Taurarian]

Troubleshooting the Notification Area - for more information
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_n.htm#na

Courtesy of Kelly
"Notification Area - Hidden Chevron Missing
For some users setting the very first icon to Always Hide, restores the arrow. "

 

[Tosca]

Thank you Taurarian (and Kelly). The trick of setting the first icon to
always hide did work - but WHY????? What bizarre behaviour!

 

[Taurarian]

Glad it worked for you, why it behaves that way I don't know.
You should bookmark Kelly's site as it has quite a bit of information which could
come in handy.
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp.htm
and also this site
http://www.dougknox.com/index.html

Kaylene

 

[Tosca]

I spoke too soon - I logged off then rebooted and the chevron is missing
again! The icon that I'd set as being hidden always was the Java one. I've
just looked at the Taskbar>Notification Area properties and the icon's been
moved from the Current Items to Past Items. All of the icons in Current
Items are set to Hide when inactive. If I set the first of them to Hide
Always, I suspect that the chevron will return - until I reboot!

Any other ideas? In the meantime, I'll google.

 

[Taurarian]

Troubleshooting the Notification Area - for more information
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_n.htm#na