Vista - How to close a misbehaving pop-up menu of a notification icon?

Normal menus disappear when they lose focus. But as you may know, pop-
up menus from notification icon don't. I know that this behaviour has
been existing since Windows 95, and Microsoft thinks it is a
'feature'.

But this behaviour is very annoying. Many times, that sort of pop-up
menu pops up by some mistake, and it never disappears even if I click
elsewhere, or press ESC. I have to choose one of its items to close
it.

Is there any way to system-widely disable this 'feature' or a way to
close the menu without choosing one of its items?

"Cat" <typingcat@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1185150428.811833.128740@x40g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
> Normal menus disappear when they lose focus. But as you may know, pop-
> up menus from notification icon don't. I know that this behaviour has
> been existing since Windows 95, and Microsoft thinks it is a
> 'feature'.
>
> But this behaviour is very annoying. Many times, that sort of pop-up
> menu pops up by some mistake, and it never disappears even if I click
> elsewhere, or press ESC. I have to choose one of its items to close
> it.
>
> Is there any way to system-widely disable this 'feature' or a way to
> close the menu without choosing one of its items?
>


Yes, that can be annoying. What I usually do, if I ever get that, is to
select an item that's already been selected, or to select an option that
will no have effect (eg 'properties' followed by a 'cancel').

--
Jon

On Jul 23, 9:36 am, "Jon" <Email_Addr...@SomewhereOrOther.com> wrote:
> "Cat" <typing...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:1185150428.811833.128740@x40g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
>
> > Normal menus disappear when they lose focus. But as you may know, pop-
> > up menus from notification icon don't. I know that this behaviour has
> > been existing since Windows 95, and Microsoft thinks it is a
> > 'feature'.
>
> > But this behaviour is very annoying. Many times, that sort of pop-up
> > menu pops up by some mistake, and it never disappears even if I click
> > elsewhere, or press ESC. I have to choose one of its items to close
> > it.
>
> > Is there any way to system-widely disable this 'feature' or a way to
> > close the menu without choosing one of its items?
>
> Yes, that can be annoying. What I usually do, if I ever get that, is to
> select an item that's already been selected, or to select an option that
> will no have effect (eg 'properties' followed by a 'cancel').
>
> --
> Jon

Thanks. But there's no better solution than that? Actually that's what
I'm doing.
First of all, why are those menus designed to act in that way?

"Cat" <typingcat@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1185161095.724708.241170@z24g2000prh.googlegroups.com...
> On Jul 23, 9:36 am, "Jon" <Email_Addr...@SomewhereOrOther.com> wrote:
>> "Cat" <typing...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>>
>> news:1185150428.811833.128740@x40g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
>>
>> > Normal menus disappear when they lose focus. But as you may know, pop-
>> > up menus from notification icon don't. I know that this behaviour has
>> > been existing since Windows 95, and Microsoft thinks it is a
>> > 'feature'.
>>
>> > But this behaviour is very annoying. Many times, that sort of pop-up
>> > menu pops up by some mistake, and it never disappears even if I click
>> > elsewhere, or press ESC. I have to choose one of its items to close
>> > it.
>>
>> > Is there any way to system-widely disable this 'feature' or a way to
>> > close the menu without choosing one of its items?
>>
>> Yes, that can be annoying. What I usually do, if I ever get that, is to
>> select an item that's already been selected, or to select an option that
>> will no have effect (eg 'properties' followed by a 'cancel').
>>
>> --
>> Jon
>
> Thanks. But there's no better solution than that? Actually that's what
> I'm doing.
> First of all, why are those menus designed to act in that way?
>


I'm not aware of a complete solution, but then I only see the problem
perhaps once every few weeks or so. Since it takes about 2 seconds to
rectify, I don't consider it to be a major problem.

If you're seeing it more frequently, then there may be more actions you
could take, such as removing the offending icon(s) from the notification
area altogether. [Right-click Start button > Properties > Notification
Area.... ]

--
Jon