Systray arrow button disappearing

[Andrea Montrimex]

I have WinXP Pro SP1 fresh install. Lately my systray
icons have been disappearing along with the arrow button
at bottom right, near the clock. They vanish for no
apparent reason. The problem is definitely not the 'Hide
Inactive Icons' feature. I've quadruple checked it, using
the customize button at Taskbar Menu Properties, each
time setting the desired icons to Always Show, but no
success. I don't get them nor the arrow button!

These systray icons randomly go missing through the day.
Rebooting two or three times in a row, or sometimes
having to do a total shutdown and restart, will
eventually bring them all back. Task Manager shows
processes are still running in the background, but the
icons are gone.
My InCd, SoundMan, Winamp and speaker icons are set
to 'Always show'
Sometimes they all hide themselves along with arrow
button, as if they're inactive, and sometimes they all
just totally disappear. Usually one is left behind, and
it's a random choice. All the programs are still running
according to Task Manager, but I don't have access to
them via the tray. InCd and SoundMan are accessed ONLY
via their icons at systray at the bottom right near the
clock. Thus, they are inaccessible!

I tried many suggestions dealing with regedit, virus
update, etc. Still rarely at the middle of some work,
this hide/unhide button with arrow in it comes back and
works OK. BUT rebooting would kill it, and again the
problem goes on!

I am terribly annoyed by this indeed. If anyone
experienced a solution to this problem, or has a worthy
suggestion, PLEASE share it with me. I would be so
grateful and thankful.

Andrea Montrimex

[Matthew Shaw]

What you describe is exactly what happens when explorer.exe is closed down
so I suspect that could be the problem. I had exactly the same problem where
it would randomly shut down but it turned out to be the dancers from Plus!
Digital Media Edition. All that was required was a reboot and it never
happened again.

So, my conclusion may be that there is some program that is interfering some
how. Other than that, I can't really give you any more information. Try
closing unnecessary tasks running in the background when you boot up and
then using your computer normally and see if the problem occurs. If it
doesn't then slowly introduce them one by one until the problem comes back,
then you will have caught the offending program.

I could be completely wrong however, but the first thing I would try is
going to Windows Update and updating everything (especially dowload Service
Pack 1). If it does not fix that problem, then at least you will be up to
date (which is never a bad thing) in case any other problems are present.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful

"Andrea Montrimex" > wrote in message
...
> I have WinXP Pro SP1 fresh install. Lately my systray
> icons have been disappearing along with the arrow button
> at bottom right, near the clock. They vanish for no
> apparent reason. The problem is definitely not the 'Hide
> Inactive Icons' feature. I've quadruple checked it, using
> the customize button at Taskbar Menu Properties, each
> time setting the desired icons to Always Show, but no
> success. I don't get them nor the arrow button!
>
> These systray icons randomly go missing through the day.
> Rebooting two or three times in a row, or sometimes
> having to do a total shutdown and restart, will
> eventually bring them all back. Task Manager shows
> processes are still running in the background, but the
> icons are gone.
> My InCd, SoundMan, Winamp and speaker icons are set
> to 'Always show'
> Sometimes they all hide themselves along with arrow
> button, as if they're inactive, and sometimes they all
> just totally disappear. Usually one is left behind, and
> it's a random choice. All the programs are still running
> according to Task Manager, but I don't have access to
> them via the tray. InCd and SoundMan are accessed ONLY
> via their icons at systray at the bottom right near the
> clock. Thus, they are inaccessible!
>
> I tried many suggestions dealing with regedit, virus
> update, etc. Still rarely at the middle of some work,
> this hide/unhide button with arrow in it comes back and
> works OK. BUT rebooting would kill it, and again the
> problem goes on!
>
> I am terribly annoyed by this indeed. If anyone
> experienced a solution to this problem, or has a worthy
> suggestion, PLEASE share it with me. I would be so
> grateful and thankful.
>
> Andrea Montrimex
>