Network icons in system tray 'Ariel' or 'Monitor'?

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Guest

The symbols for my wireless network adapters ( I have a usb one and an on
board back up) in the system tray, have hithertofore been presented as
pc/monitor icons. Today I notice that on renaming one, I briefly got an
'ariel' icon - which is the symbol for them on my shortcut buttons.

What is the significance of the two different symbols (may be a silly
question, but I have never thought of it before!).

Also while on the symbols, the internet connection symbol - monitor/pc
icon - (via Buffalo wireless router) seems to come and go from the system
tray at random - still working much of the time when there is no symbol.

Presumably the ariel symbol is supposed to change into a pc/monitor symbol
once an internet connection is made? Or is a wireless connection always
meant to show as an aerial?

Apologies for such a basic question, but I am curious at today's behaviour.

Cheers,

S
 
The symbols for my wireless network adapters ( I have a usb one and an on
board back up) in the system tray, have hithertofore been presented as
pc/monitor icons.  Today I notice that on renaming one, I briefly got an
'ariel' icon - which is the symbol for them on my shortcut buttons.

What is the significance of the two different symbols (may be a silly
question, but I have never thought of it before!).

Also while on the symbols, the internet connection symbol - monitor/pc
icon -  (via Buffalo wireless router) seems to come and go from the system
tray at random - still working much of the time when there is no symbol.

Presumably the ariel symbol is supposed to change into a pc/monitor symbol
once an internet connection is made? Or is a wireless connection always
meant to show as an aerial?

Apologies for such a basic question, but I am curious at today's behaviour.

Cheers,

S
Click to expand...

I am pretty sure you are talking about the area on Task Bar to the
left of the system time. This area is called the Notification Area
and is configurable based on your preferences. The Notification Area
has configurable properties that are easy to understand.

Instead of trying to describe everything, please read this short
article from Microsoft first so you will no how it works and how to
change it to work the way you want.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/279771

Some programs come with icons built in. Some icons are easy to change
and some not so easy. For your network stuff, it is probably more
trouble than it is worth to try to change any icons, but you should
understand them. Some sound like built in Windows icons, and some may
have been installed with your wireless setup.

I suspect that your Notification Area is set up to always hide some
icons or hide icons that are "inactive". Read about this in that
article and how to change it, how do display hidden icons temporarily
or permanently. The ones that appear and disappear for no apparent
reason are probably set to hide when inactive and then when something
happens they become active and show up for a short time and then hide
again. This is normal.

You can set these icon displays up the way you want. I only have my
Windows network and Wireless icons showing. The rest are hiding on
purpose, sometimes always hiding but that is the way I like it. Some
people have them showing all the time, either because they like to see
them for some reason (ugh!), or they have no idea they can hide them
(that is probably the case).

Sounds like you are seeing network and wireless networking icons, so
if you right click the icon in the Notification Area that looks like a
monitor))) and choose Properties, then choose your active network
connection and Properties again, there is a box you can check to
display the icon or not. That is the built in Windows icon. Even if
you choose to display it, you can still hide it.

Are you on a wireless connection?

The aerial looking icon (maybe it looks like ((!))) sounds like a
built in wireless connection icon. That icon can show up sometimes
when the wireless connection may starts, has a little glitch, or maybe
it just pops up every once in a while to let you know it is working.
I see it sometimes on a Dell laptop I have, but I don't care. I could
probably get rid of it if I tried.

So, what you are seeing is probably fine, and with some practice you
can now control these things.

Experiment for a bit and then if you can't get what you want working,
check back.

Jose
 
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