How to Customize the Notification Area
We continue our series about the taskbar with a tutorial about the notification area. Although the notification area is present in the Windows graphical user interface since Windows 95, never before had it been so easy to customize as it is in Windows 7. This article shows you several tricks about configuring it and transforming it into something more appropriate to your needs. I will show: how to locate the notification area, control the display behavior of notification icons, turn on or off system icons, restore the default behavior of the notification area, set the notification icons to be always displayed, and change the position of individual notification icons.
What is the notification area?
The notification area is located by default at the right end of the taskbar; it is also referred to as the system tray. Its purpose is to provide:
- easy access to certain system functions (e.g. date and time, volume, network, action center);
- system notifications (the notification baloons that pop in the notification area, for example, when an USB stick is successfully removed);
- easy access to applications that are capable to display their icon in the notification area.
Note: The notification area icons (system or application-related) can either be shown, or hidden. Whenever there is at least a single hidden icon, the notification area displays an arrow that, when clicked, allows the user to reveal the hidden icons.
How to access the notification area settings
The notification area can be controlled using a settings window. It allows you to set the display behavior of all notification area icons, turn system icons on or off (e.g. time/date, volume), restore default icon behaviors, and set the notification icons to be always displayed. To use the notification area settings, you have to access them first. You can use several methods, all with the same result. Here are two easy ones:
The simplest way is to click the arrow displayed on the left side of the notification area and then on the Customize link.
An alternative is to click the Start button and search for the word 'notification' in the Start Menu search box. From the list of results click on 'Notification Area Icons'.
You now know how to access the notification area settings. Let's find out how to actually use them.
How to control the display behavior of the notification area icons
The notification area settings window displays the list of system and application icons that are available for display and customization along with their associated behavior.
For each icon in the list there are three available display behaviors:
- Show icon and notifications: the icon and its related notifications are always displayed in the notification area;
- Hide icon and notifications: the icon and its related notifications are always hidden (you can access them by clicking the arrow);
- Only show notifications: the icon is hidden, but its related notifications are displayed whenever they are triggered by the application.
After making the desired changes, click OK.
How to turn system icons on or off
The system icons like those for volume, network status, action center, battery status can be completely hidden (they will not be displayed even after revealing the notification area icons by clicking the arrow). To toggle the visibility of the available system icons in the notification area, click 'Turn system icons on or off'.
In the next page, for each icon in the list there are two available options: On and Off. After making the desired changes, click OK.
How to restore default icon behaviors
Sometimes it's easy to mess up the display options, so it would be helpful to be able to undo your changes and return to the default behavior. The default icon behaviors are: 'Show icon and notifications' for system icons and 'Only show notifications' for application icons (see above for more details on these options).To restore the default icon behaviors, click the 'Restore default icon behaviors' link and then click OK.
How to set notification icons to be always displayed
You can choose to always have all the notification area icons and notifications displayed. To do that you need to check 'Always show all icons and notifications' and then click OK.
How to change the position of individual icons in the notification area
To change the position of individual icons in the notification area just drag-and-drop the icon you want to move in the desired place.
NOTE: Using drag-and-drop you can also hide or display notification area icons.
Conclusion
This tutorial pointed out several available options if you want to customize the notification area in Windows 7. By now, you should be fairly familiar with what exactly is the notification area, what kind of icons it displays and how to control their display behavior. Feel free to drop us some lines about your experiences and whether this tutorial was useful to you or not.
Related articles:
How to Clean the Notification Area Icon Cache
New Features & Improvements in the Windows 7 Taskbar
How to Work with the Action Center
How to Pin Any Folder to the Windows 7 Taskbar
How to Pin Special Windows Items to the Taskbar
How to Create your Own Custom Jump List
Comments
I wondered how to change
I wondered how to change those icons. Another reason why MS should include documentation with their software.
They do include a very good
They do include a very good documentation in Windows 7. It's just that people don't use it. Press F1 in any Windows window/tool/panel and the appropriate help menus will open.
How do you get rid of old
How do you get rid of old programs in the notification and icons area
You choose hide
You choose hide notification.
Or this isn't what you mean?
No I don't mean that, how do
No I don't mean that, how do remove an old program from the list ? I have uninstalled programs but they still remain in the list.
Usually, there are tools out
Usually, there are tools out there for removing the obsolete taskbar icons. A simple search on the Internet would return some results.
If and only if you are accustomed to regedit (!), you'd go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\TrayNotify and simply delete or rename two values: PastIconsStream and IconsStreams.
Then you'd start the Task Manager, end the explorer.exe process and afterwards restart it using Task Manager's File > New Task (Run...), typing explorer and hitting [Enter]. You'll have to retweak your taskbar icons again, because the cache is recreated.
Thanks-- but you'd think
Thanks-- but you'd think there would be an easier option to remove them, after a year or so I imagine there would be dozens of
them in most pc's.
mike - I've just talked with
mike - I've just talked with Alin and decided to create a downloadable fix for this problem. It will take a few days until it will show up on our site but next week it should be published.
Thanks Ciprian, that would be
Thanks Ciprian, that would be great, I look forward to it.
We just published the fix:
We just published the fix: How to Clean the Notification Area Icon Cache
Thank for sharing
Thank for sharing informati0ons... ;)
As I was saying, I followed
As I was saying, I followed all those steps to the letter, but only the date shows in the clock corner. I went to NOTIFICATION AREA ICONS, then to TURN SYSTEM ICONS ON OR OFf and, as I had programmed, the clock showed ON, but it fails to show.
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