[this question was originally posted in our newsletter by Gil]

My question is, "Why does the system tray show only some of the programs that I have designated for start-up some of the time, and all of the programs some of the time?" I have Zone Alarm Pro,  wireless, Trend-Micro's PC-Cillin, speaker volume adjust, a USB "safely remove hardware" symbol, and Counter-Spy show in the tray. The only way I can get all of these icons to show up is to save them under "System Restore" by creating a system restore point, or going back to a system restore point that I created several days ago. Is there another way that I can try to get these icons to consistently show up in the tray every time I start my computer? I am running WinXP, Home Edition, as my platform.

   By tray, I take it you are referring to the area on the taskbar next to
the time.  It is up to a program as to whether it wants to list itself in the tray
or not.  WinXP automatically hides most of the icons after a certain amount
of time and has an arrow which you can click on to reveal (or hide) the
hidden icons.
   I don't understand why you are using Restore Points.  They have nothing
to do with that.

[originally answered by Scott in our newsletter]

I suspect Gil is experiencing the same problems I do. It's not a question of hidden icons that you can access by clicking on the "<". If you have a complex boot sequence, often all the icons that should be in the system tray aren't there, period. It takes a logout and login to fix the problem. Virtually every time I do a restart, I then have to log out and log back in to get all the stuff in the system tray that should be there.

[this answer was made by Peggy Ramseyer and HTH in our newsletter]

In response to your answer to the following question, I would suggest the following to Mr. Gil Coon:

• Right click on the taskbar, click on properties,  the "Taskbar and Start Menu properties" windows appear, click on the the taskbar tab.
  
• Go to the bottom 1/2 of the screen--"Notification Area" and make sure there is not a check mark in the "Hide inactive icons" OR click on the customize button.
  
• The "customize notifications" window will open.  Here you can see all the current and past items that have been on the taskbar.  You can highlight an item and then change the behaivor for each item, ie "always hide, always show or hide when inactive".

I struggled with this issue recently...finally gave-up and searched the net for a utility that would do the trick. I found my solution in TrayMan.

I had not tried Scott's suggestion of restart then log-off & on, but will definitely do so if the problem recurs.

With reference to Peggy's suggestion, I've used that method repeatedly only to find that my selections do not 'stick' so I have to apply them again & again.

Ray, Scott, Peggy, and Shana:  Thank you for your feedback. I appreciate it. I tried both the logging in and the customizing the taskbar to show/hide icons. My result is better than before, although sometimes I only get a few of the icons in the tray. In any case, I again thank you for taking the time to respond.

Gil Coon