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52
Clean up your taskbar

The notification area in the taskbar's corner, also called the tray, generally contains at least a few

icons for applications running on your computer in the background. Common icons that appear in

the tray by default include the clock and volume control. If MSN Messenger is installed on your

computer, that shows up on the tray as well. Other icons might live there, too, such as the network

status icon and the Unplug or Eject Hardware icon.



In some cases, you can allow the application to continue to run in the background yet hide the icon.

For example, you might want to remove the clock or volume control. To hide the clock, right-click

the taskbar, choose Properties, and clear the Show Clock check box. To hide the volume control,

open the Sounds And Multimedia object in the Control Panel and clear the Show Volume Control

On The Taskbar check box. You'll find the option to control the network status icon on the General

tab for the network interface's Properties (which you can access in the Network And Dial-Up

Connections folder).



Many third-party applications that live on the tray give you the option of turning off the tray icon

and still allowing the application to run. Removing others from the tray requires that you actually

shut down the program. Although some tray-bound applications start through the Startup folder,

many start from the registry. To prevent these applications from starting, open the Registry Editor

and remove the application's entry from the

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run key.



Reminder: Editing the registry can be risky, so be sure you have a verified backup before making

any changes.

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