tray icons disappear

[bill]

Since SP2 I have had nothing but problems. Where to begin.

I guess with the most currently pressing problem - disappearing
tray icons which allow access to the functions of my most critical
programs -
anti-virus & firewall. I cannot use these programs any other way except via
the "control panels" represented by their tray icons. This is true of many
of
my other programs as well.

Occasionally their tray icons show up but most often the only icons showing
in
the tray are the one for the MS audio volume control the one that shows I am
connected to the net.

The Windows Task Manager shows that they are running - that is the "control
panel"
programs. They were installed per their manuals - in both cases I had to
list them as
exceptions in the XP firewall.

The decline in my XP's functionality and dependability since the
installation of SP2
and particularly the last update has really been quite noticable.

Does anyone have an answer/solution for this ?

Thanks for any help,

bill mudd

 

[Ted Zieglar]

Guess you should have prepared better.

"What to Know Before You Download and Install Windows XP Service Pack 2"
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/sp2_whattoknow.mspx

Ted Zieglar

 

[Guest]

Hi Bill,
you can choose which system icons you want to load in your tray upon startup
simply by:
clicking on start-up
click run
type in- msconfig
click ok
go to statup tab

here you can check mark the programs that you wish to load up on tray.
hit apply and okay.
Oh and a word to the wise, I know what you mean about the problems with
service pack 2, I too had problems, and when I contacted my computers
manufacturer, they informed me that if you have an older computer(mine is
2yrs) NOT to update this service pack due to the incomatabilities. So yes,
then I had to totally reformat my computer(oh wt fun) and I do now have spk 1
again. So pass the word,it is only recommended for computers that have been
out within the last year.( so I was told)

 

[Ted Zieglar]

"So pass the word, it is only recommended for computers that have been out
within the last year.( so I was told)"

You were told wrong. Service Pack 2 is vital for all computers running
Windows XP.

Ted Zieglar

 

[bill]

Guess you should have prepared better.

"What to Know Before You Download and Install Windows XP Service Pack 2"
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/sp2_whattoknow.mspx

Ted Zieglar

I did all that preparation - in fact I ran through MS's preparation for SP2
program. I'm glad you are not having any problems with SP2 but from
all the posts and articles written on this subject it's quite obvious many
experienced users are. And plenty of software engineers are howling as well.

SP2 "out of the box" clearly is not working for everyone. But I'm told there
are fixes
for most of the problems. That's what I'm doing here. If you think you have
a solution
for my tray icon problem I'm all ears.

bill

 

[bill]

Hi Teresa - thanks for your reply.

I checked the startup programs some time ago. They all seemed normal -
I just checked them again. Same. The anti-virus & firewall control programs
are
listed as starting on bootup and the task manager shows them running.
They just aren't showing up in the tray.

bill

 

[Falcon]

I did all that preparation - in fact I ran through MS's preparation for
SP2
program. I'm glad you are not having any problems with SP2 but from
all the posts and articles written on this subject it's quite obvious many
experienced users are. And plenty of software engineers are howling as
well.

SP2 "out of the box" clearly is not working for everyone. But I'm told
there are fixes
for most of the problems. That's what I'm doing here. If you think you
have a solution
for my tray icon problem I'm all ears.

I know this is of no practical help, Bill, but I had a problem with a brand
new laptop with intermittently disappearing icons when it was running XP
SP1. I never found out why it happened, and learned to live with it; but the
problem disappeared when I installed SP2. The only conclusion I could come
to was that there was some kind of registry problem which was cured during
the upgrade. The bottom line is that my personal experience would indicate
that your problem isn't simply due to the fact that you have installed SP2.
Sorry I can't help more.

 

[Guest]

Bill,
You mentioned you are running both anti-virus and firewall software, in
addition to running the SP2 firewall. If you haven't already, you can disable
the SP2 firewall to see if this is interfering with your other software and
tray icons. Goto Control Panel, Windows Firewall, and select Off. In fact,
just leave it off if you know your third party firewall software works well
and you keep it up-to-date.

Dale

 

[Ted Zieglar]

"I did all that preparation - in fact I ran through MS's preparation for SP2
program."

If that were true you would have made a backup to which you could return and
not be in your present condition.

Ted Zieglar

 

[bill]

Dale, thanks for the reply.
I turned it off and re-booted but the tray icons still don't show up.

bill

"> Bill,

 

[bill]

Thanks for the reply.

Yes I hope it isn't SP2; that it's just a coincidence.
I was thinking mainly of the XP firewall as the culprit.
But disabling it hasn't solved the problem.

bill