Vista Tutorial - Notification Icons - Reset

**Brink** · **METHOD ONE:**

How to Reset and Clean the Notification Icons List in Vista

Information

These are the system tray icons in the Notifcation Area. Over time, the Customize Notification Icons list can become bloated with every icon that was ever displayed in the Notification Area. Some of these may have been uninstalled by now, but are still listed under the Past Items. This will show you how to reset this list to keep it clean and current.

Tip

If you just want to change the Behavior for these Current and Past Items, then see: How to Hide or Show a Notification Icon in Vista
If you want to make all Taskbar icons bigger, then increase the Caption Buttons Item Size to a higher number in Advanced Appearance settings. See steps 6A and 6B here: How to Change the Advanced Appearance Settings in Vista

RELATED LINKS:

EXAMPLE: Before and After Reset

METHOD ONE:
Through a Download

1. Click on the download button below to download the Reset_Notification_Icons_List.reg file.

2. Click on Save, and save the .reg file to the Desktop.

3. Right click the .reg (On Desktop) file and click Merge.

4. Click on the Run button for Security Warning pop-up.

5. Click on Continue (UAC), Yes, and then OK when prompted.

6. End Process and restart explorer.exe in Task Manager.

THEN

7. Logoff and logon, or restart the computer to apply the changes.
WARNING: You must do step 6 before 7 for this to work.

8. When done, you can delete the .reg file (On Desktop).

METHOD TWO:
The Manual Way

1. Open the Start Menu.

2. In the white line (Start Search) area, type regedit and press Enter.

3. If prompted, click on Continue in the UAC prompt.

4. In regedit, go to: (See screenshot below)
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\TrayNotify

5. In the right pane, highlight both IconStreams and PastIconsStream.

6. Right click on these two and click on Delete.

7. Click on Yes for the confirmation prompt. (See screenshot below)

8. Close regedit.

9. End process and restart explorer.exe in the Task Manager.

THEN

10. Logoff and logon, or restart the computer to apply the changes.
NOTE: This will rebuild the two items you deleted in step 5 and 6, and reset the list to have only the currently used icons listed.
WARNING: You must do step 9 before 10 for this to work.

That's it,
Shawn

**uhaligani** · 10-13-2007

Wouldn't it be simpler to go to the user function, for most people, rather than delve into the registry? Perhaps I am examining something diferent, but this is what I do.
Right click the taskbar/ - then click properties
Click notification area.
Tick the square "Hide inactive icons" then "customize"
Deal with each item as needed.

**Brink** · 10-14-2007

Hi Uhaligani,

If you just want to change the status of the icon being hidden or not, then yes that would be easier. This method resets the list so that old out of date items that are still listed will be cleared from the Customize Notification Icons list. These will be the ones for programs that you uninstalled or removed from the Notifcation Area.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

**uhaligani** · 10-14-2007

OK - I'm with you. I don't have a lot so the question of "bloating" didn't occur to me.

**Brink** · 10-14-2007

You should of seen how many old entries where cleared out when I first ran it. It wiped out about 75% of them. (haha) Of course I install and uninstall a lot of different programs.

Shawn

**uhaligani** · 10-14-2007

I'm totally with you now. I was in Vista 64 last time I spoke. I am now in 32 bit, which I have used since release for all beta and program testing. 59 icons sitting there!!

**Brink** · 10-17-2007

LOL,

That sounds about right. Amazing how it adds up.

**niGht kiD** · 12-07-2007

I've tried both way, but still the past items were shown..

**Brink** · 12-07-2007

Uhmm, niGht kiD

I'm not sure why they would not clear for you.

Sorry,
Shawn

Old Stuff · 12-08-2007

Like NightKid, I also tried both ways with no result. Past items still cluttered with old programs, many with the wrong icons.