STARTUP ICONS NEAR THE CLOCK QUESTION!

[Guest]

-- I was wondering if you might be able to help me with something. I was
curious as to why icons near the clock (the start up items) are never in the
same place when you either turn off your computer or laptop and turn it on
again or you do a re-start. Can you please tell me that and what causes this
as well. Thank you and have a great day!!!
Kenny Lee

 

[Newbie Coder]

Kenny,

Those icons are in the system tray have applications associated with them.
Depending on the file size and the process id Windows assigns to them & where
they are running from etc. Windows don't assign them a system tray index, but a
WindowHandle (hWnd) to identify them.

Most system tray apps start:

START | ALL PROGRAMS | STARTUP
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Then places like WinLogon in the registry too

If you download the Autoruns tool
(http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/autoruns.mspx) you will
see the general startup locations, but if you want a 'Boys Toy' then take a look
at MSCONFIG