If a program is executed for the first time in Windows 7, it automatically hides the icon. Is there any manifest setting or option to force Windows 7 to always show the icon by default?
+8
A:
In .NET Rocks podcast, not long time ago, Kate Gregory from Microsoft was saying that it is impossible.
She said something like: "If user wants it (tray icon) he/she will put it there". Reason for this is to prevent mess in the tray area.
Jenea
2009-05-24 22:29:49
In my opinion this is a fantastic thing. The system tray has been abused, and I've always tried to set everything to "always hide" to try reclaim screen real estate
Jamie Penney
2009-05-24 23:10:05
Jamie, I would agree but keep in mind that there are types of apps where a tray icon is essentially required as the only access to the main program. And I know for sure that the Win7 will create MASSIVE support load "Where is the icon?".
2009-05-26 05:36:29
Well, actually it's probably possible... if the user can configure which tray icons he wants to display, it must be possible to configure it by code (probably by changing some registry value)
Thomas Levesque
2009-06-06 02:26:49
Mark: I think you should reconsider your program's design, in that case. The tray is not meant to be used like that. End of story.
bcat
2010-05-10 02:34:27
@Mark: That's the user's call, in the end. You can always show a popup balloon pointing out where did the icon go. Moreover, you can move the tray icon to autoshow by simple click-dragging, so the effort's minimal.
Kyte
2010-05-10 02:36:19
A:
I don't think Microsoft have given this enough thought. For the app I deploy, I should be able to set the 'default' to 'Show icon and notifications' and the user can then hide it if they like. Then if the user does hide it, we can assume they know how how to find it again.
It's interesting that when you install Win 7, Microsoft have deemed some of their icons important enough to have the default setting as 'show ..' and that's fine because as a user I can hide them if I wish. All I ask is that as a developer I can also set the default for the applications I deploy (and support)
Paul
2010-05-10 02:31:24
I assume that Mark is no longer looking for an answer as he asked his question 12 months ago and Jenea addressed it above. But that doesn't mean my comments are invalid.
Paul
2010-05-10 03:13:17
Andrew didn't say that your comments are invalid, he said that they're not an answer. And he's right, they aren't an answer to Mark's question. No one's judging your opinions, but this isn't the proper place to be sharing them.
bcat
2010-05-14 04:38:07
I think that's the point, that you can't force a notification area icon to be visible in Windows 7. If you could force it to be visible everybody with a tray icon would just force it to be visible anyway, leading to a cluttered notification area.
Navaar
2010-06-07 01:15:00
+1
A:
I have the same question, but from a user standpoint. Is it possible to configure this policy in Windows 7?
I disagree with the paraphrase of Kate Gregory and the first few respondents who praise autohide for keeping useless icons out of the way, for the reason that I personally strive to eliminate such icons - not hide them. If there's an icon which isn't showing me useful info. or providing me with quick access to something I need on a regular basis, it simply shouldn't be in my system tray and I find a way to disable it. It's harder for me to maintain such real tidiness when things are constantly sneaking under my radar and being added hidden, for an appearance of tidiness.
Casey Jones
2010-06-07 01:00:25