Recipe 5.8. Hiding Specific Icons in the Notification Area

Problem

Many utilities and programs that run in the background, such as antivirus software, show their icons in the Notification Area (also called the System Tray) when they run. You want to hide these icons on a case-by-case basis.

Solution

Using a graphical user interface

1. Right-click on the Taskbar and choose Properties Taskbar. The Taskbar and Start menu Properties dialog box appears.

2. In the Notification Area, select Hide inactive icons. When you choose this, a small arrow appears to the left of the System Tray. When the arrow is pointed to the left, inactive icons are hidden. Click it to display all icons in the System Tray. The arrow then points to the right. To hide the inactive icons, click on it again.

3. To customize which icons will be hidden and which won't be, click on Customize in the Notification Area of the Taskbar and Start menu Properties dialog box. The Customize Notifications dialog box appears, shown in Figure 5-8.

   Figure 5-8. Choose whether the icons of background program should appear in the Notification Area

   
   
   

4. Click on the program's listing in the Behavior column, and choose from the drop-down menu whether to hide the icon always, never, or only when the program is inactive.

5. Click on OK twice.

Discussion

Keep in mind that hiding icons in the Notification Area won't actually stop any software from running the software will run whether the icon is displayed or not. If you want to not just hide the icons, but also stop software from automatically running on startup, turn to Chapter 6.

See Also

Recipe 5.9 for information on how to hide all of the icons in the Taskbar