In the interest of minimising the content of the systray, I want to remove an icon for software that I rarely use. The usual techniques of right-clicking on the icon; UNticking it in MSConfig's StartUp tab; or UNselection the systray icon option in the software main dialog are not available. Is there another way, short of UNinstalling the program ? Basty

It won't remove the icon but you could choose to always hide it instead, that way you don't have to see it unless you click on the little arrow. right click on the taskbar>properties>taskbar tab(should already be open)>customize>find your item on the list and click the text beside it(hide when inactive, always show or always hide) a drop down box will appear where you can choose always hide.

Looks very promising - thank you. Basty

Just use win32 api (SHell)

Lucas 999 I have no idea what "Just use win32 api (SHell)" means. I will see what Google has to say about it. Basty

Judago I found I could set 'always hide' for the icon in question, but only if I tick 'Hide inactive icons'. However, that gives me the kind of 'elastic' systray that I want to avoid. Can I 'have my cake and eat it too' ? Basty

If you want to remove the icon of software that you raely use, why not disable these programs from loading up in the first place UNTIL you actually need them? Heres what i would do, Click START >> RUN Type msconfig ~ press enter # under the STARTUP TAB UNtick those programs that you rarely use.. Restart windows In this way ONLY those programs that you have left TICKED under msconfif will load with windows and therefore the other rarely used programs will not load and therefore there icon will not appear in the system tray anymore. Another quick note, many applications allow you to customise their software so that they do not show icons in the tray even when they are running, you may want to explore the "Option" or "Settings" of these applications. Thanks,