Some Icons in Windows Task Bar missing

Hi,
I am using ESET Smart Security v4 Beta with Windows XP SP3.
While the program works fine (as far as I can tell), it creates a small problem, as it "swallows" quiete a few icons in the Windows Task Bar (bottom right hand corner). Therefore I am looking for a way to make those icons reappear again.

I know the difference between inactive and active icons. The icons are not gone, because they are inactive, as they can not be shown by clicking on the small arrow (when settings are on "hide inactive icons").
This problem occurs with both settings: a) show all icons b) hide inactive icons.

Dispite the fact that this is a small problem, it is quite nasty, as those task icons are sometimes the only way to access a program. (E.g. like with cobian backup, when not running as a service.)

I would really appreciate it if someone could help me.

Thanks.


P.S. I already tried a couple of installing/ re-installing rounds, with no help. And yes this problem is caused by ESET, as it does not occur with other Internet Security Software and does not occur without ESET (after deinstallation of ESET the icons reappear again (after reboot and so on...)).
Again please help me.

P.P.S. Oh, and yes the ESET Icon is one of those missing. Others are e.g. Dexpot, Cobian Backup, Truecrypt, Volume, Removal of Media, and so on...

 

Open regedit.
For XP, go to:
"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TrayNotify"

For Vista go to:
"HKCR\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\TrayNotify"
Delete the values "IconStreams" and "PastIconsStream". Reboot immediately. This will restore all tray icons.

This isn't specific to ESS and can happen any time you install or uninstall software with a tray icon.

 

Hello,

A Release Candidate for ESET Smart Security v4.0 is now available from http://beta.eset.com/. You may wish to download and test with this version instead of the earlier beta test release.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

 

Hi andreas73,

In my personal experience this has always been an MS issue somehow related to the amount of RAM installed and unrelated to any particular application despite the seeming evidence to the contrary - if I starve a system for RAM enough and/or with enough items launching at boot then I can re-create the issue with or without ESS, or even with/without NOD32 v2.7 etc.

Fix is to add more RAM, probably double what you have - I realise you have not stated how much you have but I'm guessing 512MB or less currently installed. I've not yet seen this with 1024MB or more but expect based on experience that with enough startup items it would present itself.

Workaround is to boot and login, and then after startup is fully complete (watch task manager for sustained drop in CPU usage) logout again. Except in extreme cases when you then log in again all icons should show, if not then logout, wait a moment and the re-login again.

If none of this applies to you please ignore my post and continue but I hope it helps.

Cheers

 

I'm not sure if this is related, but recently I had an experience where my system tray icons wouldn't load when I would boot up. To make a long story short, a short time prior I had set all my icons to always show for my convenience. Someone tipped me off that if I reset all my icons to hide when inactive that would fix it. It did.

 

Hi,
@all thanks for your help.

In the meantime I installed the RC version. But the problems with the missing icons persisted.
My notebook is equipped with 2GB RAM running XP Pro (RAM is maxed out - however 2GB should be adequate - even when considering that I often run a small virtual machine). However I do have quite a few start-up items/ icons. When fully loaded there are 18 items/ icons - including windows ones like time.
But: I never had this problem before using ESET - and the notebook is already >3 years old. And it only occurs with ESET software. I used GDATA before and this problem never occured (but lots of other problems - why I desperately wanted to change).


However the regedit workaround helped - BUT only until the next re-boot.

(Normally I only re-boot once a week or so, otherwise it is always stand-by or hibernation for my notebook. Stand-by and hibernation work - i.e. the icons do not dissappear). After the next re-boot the icons in the Windows Task Bar were missing again.

Strange.

Other suggestions how to solve this problem would be very welcome.

Thanks and greetings
Andreas

 

Hello,

Have you checked to see if newer video drivers are available for the notebook? I have seen similar--although not identical--behavior on systems which had old device drivers installed for their video card.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky