Safely remove Hardware Icon?I have

I have windows xp and right next to the clock is an icon thats says, safely remove hardware. I'm trying to remove this and I can't seem to find a way. I tried to remove it in starup but it doesn't show up in there. Any geeks up to this challenge?

 

Right click "My Computer" properties > hardware > device manager and look for a yellow exclamation mark. This will tell you which device is not working properly. You may need to reinstall the driver for said device.

 

That icon is there by default if you have any externally USB or Firewire connected device, i.e.: external hard drive, thumb drive, printer, etc.

Why do you want to get rid of it? It's not using any system resources.



Steve

 

Evilevets is right, there is no need to get rid of it.

If you want, you can have it hidden by going thru the taskbar properties.

 

Or you can modify the registry so it doesnt show.

 

Geek.

 

No, I simply like to take care of the problem, not hide it

 

Yes, but the icon DOES have a purpose that perhaps he wasn't aware of...?

What if he needs to remove a device and can't because you told him to take it out of the registry?

 

What is the number 1 feature of USB besides speed?

The ability to hotswap.

The number 1 thing that shows up under that icon?

USB.

So tell me again, what is the reason for that feature?


I cannot seem to find the reghack anyway.

But you see what I am saying. We lived without it in Windows 98 and Windows ME.

We certainly don't need it now.

 

The only USEFUL time I have seen it, has been hotswapping PCMCIA cards on a laptop.

 

Adynalyne is right, taking care of problems.

I've had this icon show up ever since I switched to Broadband about 2 years ago now. The safely remove hardware icon comes up whenever my usb cable modem is present, and i've looked in the registry for ages to see if it can be removed!!!

Adynalyne if you find it, please help!!!!

 

I'm still searching. I could have sworn I saw a hack for it.

 

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/tips/kelly98.mspx

Thats where the tip USED to be.

 

I cannot stress this enough. Use at YOUR OWN risk!

http://www.tweakxp.com/display.aspx?id=123852

 

I've never had an issue with it.

Now if its a data sensitive device it might be cause for some concern, but I never, ever use that utility and my data has never been lost from my thumb drive.

 

I've once had a USB drive get corrupted, but that was just because I accidentally pulled it out while it was writing data (oops!).

I would imagine that you would also need to "stop" firewire devices too, but I couldn't be sure.

 

I wanted to remove it because i don't ever see me using it but i'm not going to risk screwing up my comp. just to remove an icon. I didn't know it wasn't taking up resources. If someone finds an easy solution, I'll try it. I can't believe I found something that stumped you guys. Thats a first for me and it's Ok guys, really.

 

Stumped? Eh?

Look a few posts up.

Didn't stump me at all.

 

Would palm pilots be at risk? I'd love to remove this icon too.

 

I've never had a problem removing my Pocket PC, but like I say, its at your own risk.

Set a system restore point before trying it.

The application does not disable the devices, just disables the utility to stop the hardware.
Something tells me you aren't hotswapping the cradle much