Rank: ? (168)
Member #: 8368

hi all,
haven't been on for ages!!! but here i am

i was just wondering...in win xp, for the task bar icons (bottom right) you can choose to hide the icons....

The choices are....'always hide', 'hide when inactive' and 'always show'.

now, i am having some slight problems with these (esp on my laptop).

as with most laptops now, there is wireless....and i'm using the installed program (intel pro wireless...or something) to detect/connect my wireless connection....so, since i haven't figured out how to get rid of the windows wireless thing, i've set it to 'always hide'.

but of course, it pops up every now and then....and when i go and right click, properties etc. to change the icon thing to 'always hide'....it seems that i now have several 'copies' of the windows wireless thing. (and i mean LOTS....something like 10+ in the past items...and one or two in the current items).

and it seems that they always change themselves back to 'hide when inactive'.....just wondering, how can i fix this??

thanks!!
pyko

Rank: ? (4821)
Member #: 3416

you should probably look into disabling the windows wireless thing (whatever it's called). the hide tray icon settings are buggy and don't work correctly with all programs--looks like this is one of those problems.

Rank: ? (168)
Member #: 8368

hi hi,
yup, i've disabled it...when i open it it says something along the lines of...'windows wireless has been disabled. you are using another program etc etc....if you want to turn windows wireless on. etc etc".

but it seems to still every now and then search for connections...though it never connects...

and after having a more careful look...other icons are also 'repeated' (i think it was the volume icon... and something else...)

any suggestions?
thanks!

Rank: ? (4821)
Member #: 3416

it's not completely disabled then if it comes up . . . you might be able to find it in services, which you can get to through control panel > administrative tools > services. otherwise you can try to find it by running msconfig.

Rank: ? (168)
Member #: 8368

hmm, i've tried changing it in services - i think i changed it to manual startup or something, but it stil pops up!!!

and then i changed it to 'disabled', but it still loads during startup....and since i'm not using wireless at all, it really annoys me

also, i guess on a similar topic, is there anyway to 'clean' the hide icons list? so that it clears all the old stuff?

Rank: ? (4821)
Member #: 3416

are you sure it's the right service then? they should not start if set to disabled . . . does the 'Status' column say Started for that service?

Rank: ? (168)
Member #: 8368

hi there
sorry for the late reply, but been really busy for the past few months, and net connection from my computer costs me an arm and a leg (i'm living at college :S)

um, i'm quite sure it is the correct service that i've disabled (not on my computer at the moment) but I remember looking through them, and reading the short descriptions...and i'm quite sure its the correct one - don't really want to disable one that will 'kill' my computer.

the thing is the wireless thing seems to appear in the system tray whenever a network is detected (not wireless, via cable network)....are these 2 somehow 'linked' to each other or something?

rather annoying...i don't even both 'hiding' icons in sytem tray now any more...the list in the hide icons thing is just getting longer and more strange everytime i open it :S

btw - just so i can make sure, what service is the wirelss service called?

Rank: ? (4821)
Member #: 3416

the name of the service probably depends on what sort of wireless card you have, but i think windows has a service called 'wireless zero configuration'

i have no idea what that one does though...

Rank: ? (168)
Member #: 8368

hmm, the 'wireless zero configuration' sounds familiar...i think that might be the one i disabled - do i also have to disable the wireless card one specifically?

how would i find out what type of wireless card i have? i think my laptop just came with 802.11 wireless...i don't recall buying/adding any wireless cards...

Rank: ? (4821)
Member #: 3416

whatever icon is showing up in your system tray should give you some indication at least.

otherwise since you say it came with the laptop, you could try contacting the manufacturer

Rank: ? (1)
Member #: 24845

I've just found this thread, while trying to sort out the Cable Icon that I want to hide, rather than the Wireless ... so same idea. I'm forever setting the Network one to "Always hide" & it resets to "Hide when inactive" - but, it's always visible, presumably because it's checking to make sure I've not connected it...

However, to answer your question, with the service that comes on, does the laptop let you turn the wireless card itself off? I have two laptops, and both have a (manual) switch to activate or deactivate the wireless card. Most do, as they use power, so if you are not using the card, and are using the battery, it's a good idea to turn it off.

The Toshiba that I have at work is a rather small, hidden sliding button at the side, so hard to notice. The SAmsung that I'm using here is easier, as it's a backlit button on the top, so easy to see if I've got it on. (Or not). Might be worth having a check round the side for a similar button.

Rank: ? (4821)
Member #: 3416

to disable a "network cable unplugged" sort of icon in your taskbar, go to the properties for that connection (you can get to this by going to control panel > network connections) and on the general tab, uncheck "notify me when this connection has limited or no connectivity."

Rank: ? (1)
Member #: 26551

If you have this problem, unchecking "notify me when this connection has limited or no connectivity" will not solve it (in all cases). The easiest way to remove the icon from the system tray is to DISABLE the connection. This will stop it from showing up.