I know, many of you don’t like the idea of removing the Sound and Network icons from the notification area or system tray, but some users prefer to keep the taskbar clutter-free. If you fall in the second category, then good thing is that you can easily remove both the icons from the system tray in Windows 7 easily.
Many of the third-party programs show a system tray icon when they are running or running in the background. Microsoft has introduced a new handy feature to keep the notification area or system tray tidy and clutter-free in Windows 7. Unlike its predecessors, Windows 7 lets you move one or more system tray icons. One can hide an icon by simply dragging the icon from its current position on the taskbar to towards the desktop area. And to view hidden icons, you can click the up arrow icon on the taskbar.
In fact, you can remove any system tray icon like Windows Update or any other program icons. If you don’t want to use the above mentioned drag and drop method, you can hide all those icons in the Start menu properties window.
Remove system tray icons from Windows 7 taskbar
Complete the given below instructions to hide notification are icons in Windows 7:
Step 1: Right-click on the Taskbar and select Properties.
Step 2: Under the Notification Area, click the button Customize.
Step 3: Look for the icons and select the Behaviors as Hide icon and notifications to hide icon as well as other related notifications. If you like to get the notifications, then select Show only notifications and click OK.
Step 4: Repeat the same procedure for all the icons that you want to hide and then close the window.
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