How to hide taskbar icons (battery, remove hardware, etc)!!

[mavis]

This is my first post here, although I've been lurking for the past few weeks (since I ordered my T43, basically) ... First of all I want to thank everyone who has made this site such a great resource for ThinkPad owners!! I have found myself coming here almost daily to find answers to questions/problems I've had - nothing major but just little stuff here and there - anyway thank you all!

Actually, one of the things I came here to research was how to disable the "safely Remove Hardware" icon in the system tray, as well as the battery icon and the wireless LAN icon ... After scouring the boards for several days, I came up empty handed. Now, I bought my first copy of Windows XP Professional on October 25th, 2001 (launch day) and was one of the first people to play around with hacking system DLLs with ResHack, to customize virtually every icon in Windows. I like to customize my icons and interface to make Windows easier to use, not to mention more attractive. Besides buggy software (obviously) one thing I absolutely CAN'T STAND are companies who make it extrememly difficult to change their programs' icons, system tray notifications, and shell integration. I'll hack DLLs, edit the registry, whatever it takes to make my Windows XP streamlined and user-friendly. So far, so good - until this T43 anyway ...

Anyway to make a long story short, I've finally found a way to disable those annoying system icons in the system tray ... not just hide them (I hate seeing that 'hidden icon' arrow box too) but actually prevent them from being displayed, while at the same time leaving application icons visible. This tweak will disable all of your system taskbar notification icons, including the LAN/connectivity icons, the battery meter (256 color icons? I thought this was Windows XP, not Windows 3.1!!!), the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon, etc. I suppose this will also hide useful (?) icons like the 'found new hardware' one and maybe even the Windows Security Center icon ... Not sure about those because I haven't installed any new hardware lately, and I disabled the security center crap long ago.

So here it is: how to disable those annoying taskbar icons. All you need to do is replace your stobject.dll in the %systemroot%\system32 folder with a modified version. I've uploaded the neccessary files to my website, you can download them here. I've tested this on my T43 with WinXP Pro SP2, I'm not sure if it would work with pre-SP2, but in any case it is easy to undo the change if you change your mind, you can back up your existing stobject.dll first (highly recommended, obviously) and I've even included an unmodified version in the zip. The zip includes "Replacer" which is a small utility designed to make changing system files safe and easy. It takes all of thirty seconds to do this, after which you log off or reboot and you're done! Very simple ...

I've also taken a screenshot of my dekstop, this shot was taken running on batteries and yet there are no ugly/annoying icons in the system tray. Instead, all you see is my AV tray icon (NOD32) ... Finally, a clean system tray!!!

Click to enlarge!
http://www.mavisxp.com/public/T43_desktop_800.jpg

I've included a readme with instructions in the zip file, the process is very simple but if you guys have any questions, please let me know! Enjoy!

MODERATOR EDIT: Thanks for the info, but per forum rules, no pics without warnings in the subject line - links only.

[davidspalding]

I'm not sure what the point of a "nice clean system tray" is ... the purpose of the darned thing is indicators, and necessary widgets. The "hide inactive icons" annoys me, I often turn it off, and at the resolution you and I are working at, it's not that big an expense of space. I'm more likely to turn off the clock (I still use a "round clock" from Windows 95's PowerToys).

http://www.chromejob.com/thinkpads/1400 ... m_tray.jpg

I'm curious if the FN + F9 EasyEject continues to work with various types of devices (USB devices (hard drives, PDAs, iPods), UltraBay Slim batteries and hard drives, et al). BTW, the UltraBay Slim eject tab ties in with Windows' "Safely remove hardware" function as well. If you haven't tested these scenarios, your DLL might be providing more shortcomings than benefits. Just my two cents, I applaud your effort and willingness to share.

[JHEM]

I'm not sure what the point of a "nice clean system tray" is ...

Nor do I.

Just set the toolbar to "Autohide" in properties and it's only there when you want it.

Another case of addressing a "problem" that doesn't exist.

Regards,

James

[davidspalding]

Never thought of it, but if you set ALL ICONs to "Always hide" it's probably about the same. Hmmmmm.... But then you'd have that little < icon. Some people will never be happy.

[GomJabbar]

I think you have a cool looking desktop mavis!

It's a work of art.

I like to have some of the icons in the notification area on the lower right, but I do have a problem with my network adapter icons. These I want to keep hidden, but they keep popping their dirty little heads up all the time. I have no problem with the other icons I want hidden staying hidden. The icons I want to see in the notification area are: Battery MaxiMiser Gauge, new unread e-mail messages, my Sony Ericsson EDGE connectivity (and signal strength) icon, Access Connections, Spybot tea-timer, Volume control, Live 365 internet radio, Kaspersky AV, HD Active Protection, Kerio Personal firewall, and time.

[JHEM]

Just go to your network card properties display and uncheck the box to "Show icon in toolbar".

Voila'.

Regards,

James

[GomJabbar]

Just go to your network card properties display and uncheck the box to "Show icon in toolbar".

Voila'.

Regards,

James

Been there. Done that. No dice.

I think it might have something to do with user profile unload issues (I have 3 user profiles set up on my ThinkPad: Administrator, Power User, and Limited User). For instance, if I boot up in Safe Mode, the next time I am back to normal mode, those icons are back. They tend to stay hidden in normal use, until I use the network adapter, then they reappear.

[mavis]

Never thought of it, but if you set ALL ICONs to "Always hide" it's probably about the same. Hmmmmm.... But then you'd have that little < icon. Some people will never be happy.

I understand that it's a little thing (no pun intended) but explain to me why I should have to see that < icon in the first place ... ? In my case it would be hiding the battery icon (when I'm unplugged), the "Safely Remove Hardware," and the wireless adapter icon (when I've disabled wireless) ... Now, the whole point to me is that I shouldn't even have to see those icons in the first place!! The battery icon is impossible to hide, even when you uncheck the 'display icon' box - it also happens to be heinous (256 colors? WTF?!) and redundant (when using the IBM power meter icon or Battery Monitor.NET) ... The Safely Remove Hardware button in my case is a waste of screen space as well, as it just sits there to inform me that my DVD burner is connected. Well, if I really wanted to remove it I would, using Fn+F9 - I don't need to see that it's present 24/7, I fully realize that's it's plugged in, it's there because I WANT IT THERE! ... Finally the wireless connection icon - although I've chosen the option to hide that icon both when connected and when there is no connection, Windows still shows it whenever I disable my wireless adapter using Fn+F5. Now, I've got a little LCD indicator under the screen that I can very easily see, and it tells me whether thw wireless adapter is on or not - I can also choose to display the Access Connections icon or even a pop-up progress display when I'm connecting to an AP - why the hell do I need to see a Windows icon telling me the SAME INFORMATION in the taskbar? It's redundant, annoying, and a waste of screen real estate.

Yeah, I'm picky - and no, they're not really deal-breakers, I realize that the icons in the system tray are not really a big deal. But they annoy me, because I have every other part of the Windows interface customized and streamlined - why I should be forced to look at redundant, useless icons is beyond me. Apparently I'm not the only one, either:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=23377
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=5049
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=4565
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=3957
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=2925
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=1761

A search on Google will yield similar results, a lot of people (not just myself) hate those stupid icons and are looking for a way to make them go away! Which is exactly why I posted this information in the first place

[mavis]

I think you have a cool looking desktop mavis!

It's a work of art.

Thanks!!

I've actually been using this theme and these icons for several years now - I found this icon set years ago, and rounded it out by creating more file type icons so now I can very easily glance at a folder and find the files I'm looking (BMP, JPG, PNG, etc) without having to read each file name ... It's very convenient, plus they look pretty cool (IMHO) although I can't take credit for that, because I didn't actually create them ...

Here's a shot of most of the file type icons, I have since added 10-20 new types, but this will give you some idea: Click Here

[tfflivemb2]

...a lot of people (not just myself) hate those stupid icons and are looking for a way to make them go away! Which is exactly why I posted this information in the first place

Well said Mavis. There should be no reason for you to have to defend the hard work that you did. It looks very nice. I know that I have tried figuring out how to remove it in the past. Thanks!

[davidspalding]

This does NOT have to digress into a flame war. Reread what I ended my comments with:

... Just my two cents, I applaud your effort and willingness to share.

[mavis]

This does NOT have to digress into a flame war. Reread what I ended my comments with:

... Just my two cents, I applaud your effort and willingness to share.

Yeah, I saw that, and no worries! I didn't mean to come across as confrontational, either - no flame wars in my first thread, for sure!

[tfflivemb2]

This does NOT have to digress into a flame war.

No flaming intended, on my part, it just sounded like Mavis was getting defensive over his work.

[JHEM]

[A search on Google will yield similar results, a lot of people (not just myself) hate those stupid icons and are looking for a way to make them go away! Which is exactly why I posted this information in the first place

I'm happy that you have your desktop looking the way you want and I certainly appreciate the time and effort spent achieving it, as well as the sense of satisfaction you probably feel for having "overcome" the unwanted eye candy MS so generously gives us.

But I honestly don't understand the need as about the only time I see my desktop is when I first start one of my computers. The rest of the time there's an app open that I'm working in and my toolbar autohides, so I never see it unless I want to.

I would guess that you have an art background?

Regards,

James

[hary]

ok, really grat stuff, I've always wanted to get rid of those icons and finally you (mavis) have helped me

great work, and really easy to use THANK YOU !

[msteinhilber]

[A search on Google will yield similar results, a lot of people (not just myself) hate those stupid icons and are looking for a way to make them go away! Which is exactly why I posted this information in the first place

I'm happy that you have your desktop looking the way you want and I certainly appreciate the time and effort spent achieving it, as well as the sense of satisfaction you probably feel for having "overcome" the unwanted eye candy MS so generously gives us.

But I honestly don't understand the need as about the only time I see my desktop is when I first start one of my computers. The rest of the time there's an app open that I'm working in and my toolbar autohides, so I never see it unless I want to.

I would guess that you have an art background?

Regards,

James

I don't auto hide the taskbar on any of my machines, and I keep my taskbar clean as well. I honestly don't understand the need to autohide your taskbar.

Sounds a little silly if I take the opposite stance to your opinion using your words doesn't it

Some people might not like the autohide, no need to make a post that makes the OP sound like they are at wrong for doing what they want.

[christopher_wolf]

I don't really understand the need either. Although I do see my desktop, it isn't to the point where I really look at it alot. I autohide my taskbar because it gets in the way of various things and takes up space. You can, if you want, individually pick out and hide various Tray icons.

I have been into desktop modding for awhile and have never heard that so many people hated those little icons and searching for most opinions like that on Google generally nets tons of useless blogs ("useless blog" is 95% redundant, btw) and nothing objective in the first place (Google and Yahoo! have a habit of doing stuff like that to me and others).

[mavis]

ok, really grat stuff, I've always wanted to get rid of those icons and finally you (mavis) have helped me

great work, and really easy to use THANK YOU !

Well, I'm glad SOMEONE got some use out of this ... I was beginning to think I shouldn't have wasted my time posting it.

Anyway I'm glad you found it helpful. It took me quite some time (years, actually - although it's not like I scoured the web every day looking for a solution, lol)) to stumble across the stuff I posted here - I can't take credit for the solution, but I wanted to share it so it would be easier for people (like you) to find. Glad you liked it

[hary]

I'm not writing this to say that you did something wrong, but it appeares that the network icon might be usefull smetimes because it's the one that prompts for a password whilst connecting to a secure network. At my university the instructions on how to connect to our wi-fi network use the popup comming out of the little com icon asking for a password. I handled it but it can be difficult for others. Cheers.