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If your like me after a few months of loading problems your system tray can get overloaded with icons. There are several ways to handle this but I am going to show you the tactical nuke option. This registry edit will permanently remove all the system tray icons.

NOTE : This post discusses changing your registry directly. This can cause your computer to become a very expensive paper weight if done incorrectly. Use the instructions cautiously as I take no responsibility for any inability someone might have to not follow simple instructions. You have been warned.

With our warning out of the way lets get started. As we can see I have a very crowded System Tray:

Ok here we go:

1. Open registry by typing regedit at the start menu:

   NOTE: You may have to verify through UAC if you have it enabled.

2. Navigate to the key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

   

3. Add a new DWORD value called NoTrayItemsDisplay by right clicking on Explorer, selecting New, DWORD (32-bit) Value
4. Double click on the DWORD NoTrayItemsDisplay and set the value to 1.
5. Exit the Registry Editor and Reboot your computer.

There you have it after reboot you will have a much less cluttered system tray:

If there are programs that are ACTIVE in the system tray then this will not hide them. This will only set all items in the system tray to hide when inactive.

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This entry was posted on Monday, October 15th, 2007 at 5:00 am and is filed under Vista How-To's. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.