Recipe 18.9. Removing Unnecessary Items from the Notification Area

Problem

You want to stop unneeded programs from running automatically and displaying icons in the Notification Area.

Solution

Using a graphical user interface

1. Run the Registry Editor by typing Regedit at the command line or Run box.

2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run and remove any listings of software that you don't want to run on startup.

3. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run and remove any listings of software that you don't want to run on startup.

4. Close the Registry Editor.

5. Right-click the Start button and select Explore All Users.

6. Go to ...\Start Menu\Programs\Startup and delete any shortcuts to programs that you don't want to run on startup.

7. Close Windows Explorer and reboot.

Discussion

Stopping unneeded programs from running and displaying in the Notification Area can save substantial amounts of RAM. For example, MSN Messenger takes up nearly 15 MB of RAM, and other programs use a substantial amount of RAM as well. You can always run those programs when you need them; programs like MSN Messenger do not need to run all the time.

See Also

Recipe 18.9; to find out how to stop the clock and network connections icons from appearing in the Notification Area, see MS KB 310429.