Unwanted Obsolete Tray Icons

My problem is - "How can I delete all the past unwanted tray icons from the Taskbar Notifications list ?" The problem is not uncommon on the net, many users want to know, but nobody seems to have an answer. I have looked all over the place with no luck.

Some answers simply come up with the startling solution that you can HIDE them. They are still all shown on the notification list - they have gone nowhere.
Other answers suggest a download of some dubious tweak, whilst others suggest meddling with REGEDIT.

Surely such a tiny matter has a simple solution ?

Please, does anybody know the procedure for deleting these obsolete tray icons ?

Many thanks
John

 

thanks ronjor, I was looking just for that.

 

Thank you Ronjor for your comments, but the icons I am referring to have no programs - they are long gone, uninstalled and forgotten. They are left-overs.

You cannot just delete unused icons, it needs a manual check. The list below the screen-shot is quite long, with many obsolete icons listed. I cannot understand why a simple mouse click with delete option is not provided as in many cases.

 

John you could try this tool I found sometime ago & it works good.


http://www.softpedia.com/get/Security/Secure-cleaning/PastIconsFlusher.shtml

 

I won't be much help to you since I don't recall the name of the app but I will say years ago I had this problem and I'm pretty sure MS had a "Remove Obsolete or Orphan Icons" type program. The other thing that might work is to run Reg Seeker and search the name of the representative program. Also check Program and App Data files for the names and see if anything is left!

 

Well 2good, it sure looks the part and I like Softpedia - 2good to be true eh ?

I have read the write-up. Question - If it simply deletes all icons listed under "Past icons" like a double Whammy, then that will delete icons that are listed in that section, but are NOT obsolete, they are there simply because the system has not detected a need to show them. They are still "operational".

If this program alternatively results in a list that the user can manually exclude those icons that should not be deleted, then it is perfect.

 

I tried.

 

Hi John Bull,
To delete "all the past unwanted tray icons from the Taskbar Notifications list", without reboot and when OS is opened, Windows Explorer needs to be closed.

You can try (I think you are using XP):

1. Paul Menard .vbs Script: "RemoveItemsTrayXP.vbs"

2. To do a .bat file like:

NOTE: With both Windows Explorer will be closed and restarted after. It's adviced to close opened applications firstly.

 

Alright John maybe this will help but its the same as the tool I posted.


http://www.theeldergeek.com/notification_area.htm

 

I just tried this, at least on Server 2003 it doesn't work. Try this registry tweak.

This doesn't kill off the tray icons that aren't obsolete, but you'll have to re-set them to the way they were (hide always, never hide, etc.). BTW, some of those in the list will return if you have apps that don't run all the time but do have a tray icon when you're using it. After you close these apps and the tray icon unloads, it becomes a past item again.

Personally I wouldn't even bother with it. Supposedly the system might boot faster, but you'll probably need an atomic stop watch to record the difference.

 

I have used the previous tweak for W 7 and it does work or I think checking Tray Notifications Cache at Windows>Advanced in CCleaner and running a scan does too.

 

~~~ solution found. post deleted.~~~

 

It can be done with CCleaner. As mentioned, you select Tray Notification Cache under Advanced. Then run the cleaner. But then you have to stop the explorer.exe process and restart it. After you do that it should be cleared. I did it a couple of times and then decided it was more trouble than it was worth.

 

~~~ solution found. post deleted.~~~