Yup, you can do this - but if you've got alot of those icons displaying, then you've got alot of programs running, probably most of which you do not need running. Hiding them is not strictly the answer. They slow down your computer function, especially when running some genealogical programs that use a fair amount of genealogical resources. They can also contribute to any tendency your computer has to overheat, which over time will cause components to fail before their time. Alot of problems autostart, and some have a way of failing to turn off when you thought you exited out of them. Look out particularly for Real Player and Quick time, and the assorted instant messengers; but alot of audio and video programs, camera programs, automatic update programs, your scanner, and that sort of thing, just kind of assume when you install them that you want them to automatically start when you start the computer. Usually that's the last thing you want. I had one program that Some of them have to be changed in the programs themselves, and some of them have to be disabled in teh startup menu using msconfig. Utilities that clean up problems that slow down your computer may fix one or two of them for you, atleast temporarily. Yours, Dora Smith Austin, TX [email protected] ----- Original Message ----- From: "n.east" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 7:23 PM Subject: Re: [GEN-COMP-TIPS] Removing Icons > There are a couple of things you can do with these icons. > > The easiest way to avoid them displaying all the time, is right-click the > Taskbar (that's its name, by the way :-)) in a blank spot. Select > Properties. On the window that opens, down the bottom, you will see > "Notification Area". First tick "Hide Inactive Icons" then click > "Customize". That window will show a long list of the "Current Items" and > further down, an equally long list of "Past Items". by clicking on any one > of the named items you can choose its setting - "Hide When Inactive"; > "Always Hide" and "Always Show". Choose the option you need for each one. > Click OK on that screen when finished your alterations, and Apply or OK on > the first screen. What will happen now is that the Taskbar will display a > very short batch of icons near the clock, with a little chevron (<) in > front. Click on the < and the display of icons will expand to the full > selection across the Taskbar. To reduce it back, click on the chevron > which this time points like this >. -- Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.1.394 / Virus Database: 268.10.3/395 - Release Date: 7/21/2006