"Cleaning" The System Tray?

I have a list of about five important programs that I need to load at start up in a fresh install of Windows 7. They all five have icons and are hidden behind the little arrow in the bottom left.

90% of the time I notice that they all load just fine. However, occasionally, I noticed that one of them might be missing. It's also different as it's not the same app each time. I'm not sure if the program itself failed to load or the icon is just not there but the programing is running.

My question is, is there a way to "clean" the system tray and refresh it in case there some kind of corruption causing things to not always load the same every time (similar to rebuilding the IconCache)?

Thanks!

 

Do you see all the icons if you log off/on?

For resetting the tray icon cache refer to http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/13102-notification-area-icons-reset.html

 

Well, I cleaned the tray icon cache using CClearner, which is already instead all my system and I assume is the same as the above link. However, even after a couple reboots later, three of the five did not load. I can confirm that in that instance when those icons didn't load, I checked in the Task Manager and they apps HAD loaded at startup. So it just seems to be a icon issue.

Any other thoughts on what might cause this?

 

Do the icons load if you log off then back on?
How much RAM does your PC have and have you tested it with something like Memtest86+?

 

Don't know how often you run CCleaner, but try unchecking that "Tray Notification Cache", then see how it goes for while. Might take a look in Event Viewer too, see if there are any clues.

 

@ _nullptr

I ran Memtest86+ with no errors reported. I have 8Gigs of new RAM (just built this system) but this was a reoccurring issue on my previous system as well.

Also, I can confirm that when the icons fail to load in the System Tray, logging off back to the main "User Select" screen of Windows Seven and then logging back in, they all appear in the System Tray.

What does this indicate?

@ plastidust

I've only ran CClearner once and that was with the "Tray Notification Cache" option checked. I don't usually use it but I figured it might help troubleshoot this issue.

Any additional thoughts?

 

Have you used Customise to set the behaviour you want for each icon?

 

I just have them all set to their defaults. I've restored the defaults a couple times in the process of setting up my new system, but the default of "Only Show Notifications" seemed to work in keeping them behind the little arrow.

Are you thinking that if I set those few to "Always Hide" it might kick them into gear better?

 

Just the opposite, set to "Always Show". If they are running then they should show in the tray. No need to click the arrow for hidden icons.

 

If they are at default then that explains your 'problem'. As plastidust has said, set them to 'Show icon and notifications' as it's called in Win 7.

 

Hmmm, I think I may not have been completely clear on my intent here.

I have eight items that load at start up. All eight of these items have system tray icons. I do not want them to show on my task bar, that's why I leave them default (so they stay hidden unless there is a notification).

The problem is occasionally if I look in the hidden system tray icon, sometimes only four of the eight icons have loaded. However, I've confirmed that the programs themselves have loaded at start up. I've also confirmed logging off the user and logging back does load all eight system tray icons.

I was wondering what's casing the icons to occasionally not load in the system tray. Could that be due to a corruption I need to address? If not, I'll just live with it.

Thanks