Elementary question - Windows XP

Not the first time I have been puzzled and it will not be the last.

Taskbar and Start menu Properties.

My tray icons sometimes disappear. I rt.click Properties then Customise.
And see that the tray icon has been changed from Always Show to Hide when Inactive. I never did it, so what did ? What strange power changes my setting ?

This happens too often. It even happened to my AV icon and THAT definitely was NOT inactive.

I know it is almost Halloween, but the spooks are out a bit too early.

Any comments ?

 

Sounds like Gremlins ....

What used to annoy me more on XP was when some of the icons used to disappear on start up, such as the volume control, inevitably to be replaced after a reboot. I noticed it less frequently (in fact it was quite rare) on Vista & so far not at all on Win 7. Although many would think me mad, I had far less problems (especially systems tray wise) with Vista & I always preferred it to XP. Maybe it was more gremlin proof.

 

John, while my icons do not disappear the "always show" option is only good until you reboot. So "always show" is not a correct statement. One of our local restaurants advertise "always open", at least during their open hours 6:00am to 9:00pm.

John

 

JP, I like it, but am clutching the ejector seat handle tightly and making sure the canopy is not stuck.

 

John, the same thing used to sometimes happen to me when I used XP. Somehow, I can't remember how , I figured it out. It would drive me nuts

 

Mine is fine, so i'm wondering if it "might" be due to either or both of these ?





That's how i have mine set.

 

Do you use CrapCleaner or the likes? Some of these cleaners have an option to clean the tray icons out. When this happens your customizations to that area are gone and need to be set again.