The notification area is used by Windows XP to let the user know about applications that are launched at startup or are running while Windows is in use. However, it's a good thing that not all applications are written to automatically create an icon in the notification area. If every application running was listed, our taskbar would be full and cluttered.
A common problem Windows users experience is that an icon may still appear in the notification area even if the application is no longer in use or has been uninstalled. In the following, I will explain how to fix this.
How to remove unused items from the notification area:
- Click Start -> Run then type regedit in the box that appears and click ok
- From the registry editor directory tree, browse to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TrayNotify - Delete IconStreams and PasteIconStreams from the list
- Exit the registry editor, restart your computer and the items in the notification area should now be gone.