removing items from the task bar

[Guest]

I believe it's called the task bar...down in the lower right hand corner of
the screen next to the time. There is stuff in there that I don't use, and I
don't know how to customize that.

 

[Ayush]

It is called Notification area OR System Tray.

Open the stuff and check the options to see if there is something like "Run at
startup". If yes, uncheck it (or tick if it is something "Don't run at startup").

If there is no option then :
Start - Run
msconfig
Startup tab
Uncheck the things you don't want. Don't uncheck your antivirus or firewall.

 

[Ted Zieglar]

It's called the system notification area or 'the tray'. Icons in the
tray represent programs that are running on your computer 'in the
background' - i.e., without opening a window. Typical examples include
an antivirus program, a third party firewall and a media player.

Your first step is to identify which programs are placing icons in the
tray. Then open the program and go through its menus, looking for the
setting that starts the program with Windows.

If the program doesn't have such a setting, you may be able to prevent
the program from starting with Windows by removing its shortcut from
your Startup folder.

If that doesn't work, you'll have to contact the program's technical
support and ask their advice.

Do not follow the commonly held misunderstanding of using the System
Configuration Utility's startup tab to stop a program from starting. The
Startup tab was created for troubleshooting startup and shutdown
problems, and it works by interfering with the program's normal operation.

If you dealing with a program that you want to have installed on your
system, it's not a good idea to interfere with its normal startup
process. OTOH, if you're dealing with a program that you don't want on
your system, preventing it from starting won't necessarily stop it from
performing its other functions. In that case you need to uninstall the
program.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I believe it's called the task bar.

No, it's called the "System Notification Area," or informally, the "System
Tray." It's a *part* of the Task Bar, which by default runs along the bottom
of the screen (although it can be moved elsewhere) and starts on the left
with the Start button.

down in the lower right hand
corner of the screen next to the time. There is stuff in there that I
don't use, and I don't know how to customize that.

First, note that you should be concerned with *all* programs that start
automatically, not just with those that go into the tray. Not all
autostarting programs manifest themselves by an icon in the tray.

On each program you don't want to start automatically, check its Options to
see if it has the choice not to start (make sure you actually choose the
option not to run it, not just a "don't show icon" option). Many can easily
and best be stopped that way. If that doesn't work, run MSCONFIG from the
Start | Run line, and on the Startup tab, uncheck the programs you don't
want to start automatically.

However, if I were you, I wouldn't do this just for the purpose of running
the minimum number of programs. Despite what many people tell you, you
should be concerned, not with how *many* of these programs you run, but
*which*. Some of them can hurt performance severely, but others have no
effect on performance.

Don't just stop programs from running willy-nilly. What you should do is
determine what each program is, what its value is to you, and what the cost
in performance is of its running all the time. You can get more information
about these at http://castlecops.com/StartupList.html. If you can't find it
there, try google searches and ask about specifics here.

Once you have that information, you can make an intelligent informed
decision about what you want to keep and what you want to get rid of.

 

[Guest]

Thanks everyone. What is in there that bothers me is aol, which isn't even
installed on my pc (I had it at one time, and couldn't uninstall it, so aol
tech support told me to just delete it) and something called ulead calendar
checker. No idea whatsoever what that is. I just don't see any reason for
them to be there if I don't use them at all. Thanks again!

 

[Ted Zieglar]

AOL needs to be properly uninstalled, so whoever told you otherwise was
dead wrong. Contact AOL and ask them how to properly uninstall their
software.

If the Ulead program does not have its own uninstaller (look in the
Start menu), and does not appear in Add or Remove Programs, then install
it again, reboot, and uninstall it again. If you no longer have the
installation media, contact the program's technical support and ask them
how to remove their software.