Missing Icon in Notification Area

[Painter7]

A glitch has arisen during boot. Running XP Pro 3, fully patched, the boot process has slowed considerably as if Windows is looking for something missing or some file it needs is damaged. The manifestation of the problem is in the Icon Notification area e.g. containing the clock. Hide inactive icons is not on. Nonetheless several Icons do not now appear. E.g. that for Eset Nod32, for Comodo, for True Crypt etc. Oddly some do appear, as they should, e.g. Spyware Doctor, the network icons, Sandboxie, an HP Printer Icon and EPU-6 Engine. All of the actual programs cited from the antivirus & firewall to the Engine seem to have started ok during boot as evidenced by using task manager and identifying the related processes as being ok and running. The issue is that they do not show in the Icon Notification area. Another anomaly: I looked to ensure that I had not turned on Hide Inactive Icons on the Task Bar and Start Menu Screen. I clicked it out of interest and while scrolling the Customize Screen the icons associated with various programs are wrong.
Thus – Where might I look to identify the problem
Painter7 is offline Reply With Quote

 

[linney]

Solved: System Tray Icons Disappear Occasionally

http://forums.techguy.org/windows-vista/593223-solved-system-tray-icons-disappear.html

Why do I have to boot my computer twice,to see the Ati Icon insys tray
thread779-1308739


It is not unusual for malware to try and disable security programs. Are you able to start and scan with NOD32 for example?

In any case it might pay you to download and run (if you can) something like these.

I see lots of recommendations here for programs like -

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

SuperAntispyware

http://superantispyware.com/

A list of prevented from running files inserted by some malware *MAY, MIGHT, COULD* be found in this location.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\


If it is not malware related try these.

Some general things to try.

Test with another user.

See if System Restore will get you back to a restore point before your problem with Explorer.

Try running ChkDsk to check your drive for errors. Right-click your Drive icon/ Properties/ Tools/ Error Checking. Select both boxes.

Run the System File Checker program from the Run Box by typing.....Sfc /Scannow in it and have your XP CD handy.


310560 - How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310560