Systray icons load into memory but don't show in tray

Recently, some of my apps that are configured to run in the tray area of Windows taskbar load into memory (one can see them in Windows Task Monitor) but they do not show up in the system tray on boot up, despite having the "Notification Area Icons" control panel applet configured to show all available icons in the system tray. To set thing right I have to first kill those misbehaving processes using Task Monitor, and then manually reload them (with start-up parameters, if applicable). All of them will then show up and function correctly in the system tray. However, this makes every boot a major drag. In light of the fact that the suggested first step in dealing with most any Windows problem involves rebooting, this "nuisance" can rob me of over an hour a day, day in and day out.

Here's a list of the apps that are misbehaving (fail to load in system tray when loaded into memory on booting)

Everything Search (index-based search engine)
RICOlmer (task scheduler)
NovaBACKUP Tray Control (backup)
Tray Commandline (alias-based "Run" replacement)
SUPERAntiSpyware PRO (malware detection & removal)*
DashLane (password safe & web form auto-filler)
Spyware Search & Destroy (malware detection & removal)*
MagicISO (virtual drive creator)
SetPoint (Logitech mouse configuration utility)

Here's a list of the apps that behave well (load in system tray when loaded into memory on booting)

KeyScrambler (encryption)
WinPatrol (system monitor)
MadAppLauncher (button-bar app launcher)
Norton 360 Security Suite (antivirus, firewall, backup, system optimizer)*
Malwarebytes AntiMalware PRO (malware detection & removal)*
Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit (malware exploit detection)*
WizMouse (mouse wheel enhancer)
RTV Reco (macro/automation)
Linkman (cross-browser bookmark utility)
Baidu Antivirus (cloud-based antivirus)*
ClamWin Antivirus (on-demand antivirus scanner)*

There is no discernible pattern in regards to where the apps are launched from (registry vs. start-up folder) or which account they are run under (current user, all users, etc.)

I am running Windows 7 Home Premium sp1 (64-bit) on HP system, 6 GB RAM, 2.90 GHz Quad Processor, All available Windows Updates effectuated. All hardware drivers up to date. All software up to date as of today (at least the stuff that I run regularly).

For disaster recovery I use NovaSTOR NovaBACKUP to create daily (yes, daily) HDD images capable of "bare metal" boot-time reinstalls. For file backup I use Acronis TrueImage to carry out weekly full backups with daily incremental backups. I use Tweaking.com Registry Backup to back up my registry daily and at each log-on. I back everything up to a pair of 3 TB external HDDs, which gives me the opportunity to hang on to a lot of backups spanning several months. Please understand that I'm not trying to 'one-up' anybody with this personal tech report, it's just that I've repeatedly burned myself in the past on account of having chosen to cling to the ubiquitously addictive fantasy that "it won't happen to me". And I'll tell you what... that ain't never gonna happen to me again, even at the potential cost of being passed off as a laughable paranoid old fool.

I've previously posted this help request in various other tech-related forums but have failed to draw any replies. Granted, it's neither an urgent problem nor an especially exciting subject matter, so I'm not altogether surprised. Determined to try again here, I've read the MajorGeeks Forum FAQ, everything pertaining to newbies, and diligently searched the various forum groups for threads pertinent to my obscure problem. Unfortunately, I've so far found nothing that might help me solve my dilemma. That said, I humbly request feedback from anyone and everyone. I would be especially grateful for any input that might help make me a better future contributor to the forums (i.e. what I'm doing wrong, what I'm doing right). While I've received my share of responses to posts in NON-moderated, flame-driven UseNet newsgroups, I've never done so in a peaceful moderated environment, and I fear that I may still be a bit rough around the edges. So please, bear with me. I believe I have enough geekitude (and civility) to eventually be of some use to other members of the forum. Stated otherwise, I'm willing to keep trying until it "MegaHz" (and even thereafter).

* I do realize that I may be a tad paranoid about malware and that it's generally not recommended to run numerous real-time scanners at the same time. In my own defense, I've simultaneously run this painstakingly selected group of anti-malware apps for more than a year and have not encountered any obvious incompatibilities, nor have I suffered any infections during that time. If my aforementioned problem is the result of simultaneously running too many real-time malware scanners, that problem should have manifested more than a year ago, at the time that I started running them all at the same time... right? or am I missing something?

 

Thank you for the detailed, thoughtful, and prompt reply. I shall begin the suggested housekeeping at once. It's actually quite a relief to hear a knowledgeable person tell me I don't need to babysit all those programs!

 

Hey Major Geek, I just wanted to thank you again for your lengthy and very thoughtful response to my original post, and to let you know that your advice did not fall on deaf ears. I really rethought the whole paranoid approach I used while computing. It was neither intelligent nor enjoyable.

I've gotten rid of almost everything third party in my autorun list, uninstalled most of the redundant antiviral software (along with a ton of apps that I never use), installed IObit's System Suite, and cleaned out a bunch of shell extensions that were almost certainly making Windows Explorer unstable.

Instead of putting all my energy into catching zero-day infections, I decided it would be better to simply do daily disk image backups so in the event that I did catch something nasty, I could just roll the entire system back to an earlier clean state from a boot disk, thereby bypassing the laborious and stressful process of malware identification and removal.

My computer is running faster and I'm a lot less stressed out when using the computer. Moreover, I actually feel just a little bit geekier. Thanks dude! :-D

 

I'd read that page and watched the videos a half a dozen times in the past but kept procrastinating. I just needed someone to put a boot in my *** to get me to actually perform the 4 steps. Thanks again.