Tray icons gone... SP3?

[Gary S. Terhune]

I just recently noticed that my tray icons are almost all gone (all except
Avast!, the network connection are all that come up during a startup.

Now I run a tight ship, but not THAT tight! I have three external HDs and no
Safely Remove Hardware icon, for instance. (I reinstalled them and the icon
came back to stay for one reboot.

But I should also have Volume Control, (again, I can fix that until the next
reboot.) Everything is enabled in MSCONFIG.

I Googled, with mixed results. And I can't be certain that it's coincidental
with SP3 installation or some other one I've done since. But since it's hot
and smoky and I'm tired, I thought I'd ask about it here.

 

[Shaun]

Maybe the autohide inactive icons was turned on.

To check this; right click in the task bar
click on properties
taskbar and start menu properties window will pop up
close to the bottom of that window you'll see a
check box that says "hide inactive icons"
uncheck it if it has a check mark
click Apply, then click OK

Shaun

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

First thing I do when I set up an XP system is to turn off that infernal
"Hide inactive icons" and it's the first thing I checked. After all, setting
up Windows systems and teaching people how to use them, mostly over the
phone and using RA, is my profession.

No guesses, please, no instructions for individual items like restoring the
Volume Control are needed. I've tried them all and they all failed. I know
that SP3 apparently has caused this same problem for others, and it probably
caused it for me. (That or it's an incredible coincidence that so many
people have posted various places about the issue.) I want to know if there
is a fix. Or if someone has determined that it's some incompatibility with
some app like Avast! or one of the other common items that should appear in
the tray when enabled. I'm in the middle of testing everything in the
startup axis, but so far none seems to be the culprit.

Bonus points for responses from people who have also experienced this issue
in the past, SP3-related or not.

 

[Kelly]

Hi Gary or better yet GAry. ) Have you read over my spiel?

For some users, setting the very first icon to Always Hide, restores the
arrow/chevron. Note: It does take time for it to become effective.

Icons are missing or disappear, reappear: This happens for most Auto-Logon
users.

Methods/workarounds: Log off and Log back on, password protect your account
or disable SSDP and uPNP Services.

Disable SSDP and uPNP Services (Line 156)
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Or uninstall UPnP from Add/Remove Windows Components.

Hide or Show Inactive Icons in the Notification Area (Line 53)
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Remove Past Items From the Notification Area (Line 53)
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Once done, Open Task Manager, click the Processes tab, click Explorer.exe,
and then click End Process. In Task Manager, click File, click New Task,
type explorer, and then click OK.

The "Past Items" values are written to the registry as part of the user log
off process. This is why it is necessary to "crash" Explorer, so the system
will re-read the new values, and not retain the old ones that are already in
memory from a reboot.

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

Troubleshooting the Volume Control Icon
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_v.htm#volume

Taskbar Repair Tool Plus!
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm


Icons in the Notification Area May Disappear If You Use High-Contrast Color
Themes in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q321213



--

All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP/DTS&XP)

Taskbar Repair Tool Plus!
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm

SupportSpace
www.supportspace.com/pages?aiu=kellyskorner

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

Hi Gary or better yet GAry. ) Have you read over my spiel?

What spiel?

For some users, setting the very first icon to Always Hide, restores the
arrow/chevron. Note: It does take time for it to become effective.

Like I said, I never Hide Inactive Icons. But I'll try it anyway.

Icons are missing or disappear, reappear: This happens for most
Auto-Logon users.

No autologon for me for a long time, and I haven't changed any of those
settings since I set this machine up.

Methods/workarounds: Log off and Log back on, password protect your
account or disable SSDP and uPNP Services.

Disable SSDP and uPNP Services (Line 156)
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

UPnP isn't running, but OK, I'll do those too, though I don't like it.

Or uninstall UPnP from Add/Remove Windows Components.

Hide or Show Inactive Icons in the Notification Area (Line 53)
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Remove Past Items From the Notification Area (Line 53)
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Ran these two scripts and some of the icons showed up. Then I did the below
and they dissappeared again. Then they can back.

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

That wasn't supposed to go out. Wasn't finished.

Thanks for the links at the bottom, I'll check them out when I'm not
swamped.

After a reboot, the icons appear to be behaving themselves.

 

[Kelly]

Great! )

--

All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP/DTS&XP)

Taskbar Repair Tool Plus!
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm

SupportSpace
www.supportspace.com/pages?aiu=kellyskorner

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

Yes, well, until recently UPnP worked just fine and caused no problems. Now,
it is definitely the problem. Having thought about it, I don't think it was
SP3. That was too long ago. I think it was either installing Windows
Messenger 8.1 (upgrade from whatever comes in XPSP2), or some hacks I did to
allow me to offer RA to Vista users from this XP machine. (I already forget
what they were.) I suspect that in the case of Messenger, if installing it
was the cause of the problem, uninstalling it isn't going to help. Don't
think I'll even try as long as things keep working OK.