Customize the Notification Area

The Notification area is a new name for what used to be called the System tray, the area where the clock and various other (active program) icons are displayed.

Not only has the name changed, but the new area provides more meaningful notifications. It also has a mechanism that reduces clutter on the taskbar. Icons that are inactive become hidden. You are informed periodically that icons are inactive, and you can modify this behavior with customization settings, or disable this altogether.

To customize the Notification area, right-click the Taskbar and select Properties. Under the Notification area caption on the Taskbar tab you can select to show or hide the clock, and show or hide inactive icons. However the Customize button gives you control over the behavior of individual icons.

You might also get annoyed when these notification balloons keep popping up. Here's a quick fix:

1. Start the Registry Editor
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ Advanced
3. Right-click an empty space in the right pane and select New > DWORD Value
4. Name the new value EnableBalloonTips
5. You should leave the Value data set at 0
6. Close the registry editor
7. Log off, or restart Windows for the changes to take effect

Hide Notification Area

The notification area is located at the far right end of the task bar and displays the icons for current notifications and the system clock. It might be useful to hide the icons here, specially in places where users are not suppose to have access to the programs they represent. Many programs (settings) can be accessed by double- or right clicking their system tray icon.

To hide the notification area:

1. Start the Registry Editor
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer
3. Right-click an empty space in the right pane and select New > DWORD Value
4. Name the new value NoTrayItemsDisplay
5. Double-click the value NoTrayItemsDisplay and change the Value data to 1
6. Close the registry editor
7. Log off, or restart Windows for the changes to take effect

Only the time & date will still be displayed. To reverse, change the value of NoTrayItemsDisplay to 0, or delete it.