Clean Up Old Notification Icons in Windows Vista

Managing System Tray Icons in Windows

Windows offers a feature to automatically conceal system tray icons when they aren’t actively being used. However, over time, Windows Explorer accumulates a cache of every icon it has encountered. This can lead to an extensive list, potentially containing hundreds of entries.

This accumulation not only clutters the icon list but also contributes to system bloat as Explorer retains these items in memory. Fortunately, this list can be fully reset through a targeted registry modification and a restart of the Explorer process.

Accessing Notification Area Settings

To access the relevant settings, right-click on the Taskbar and select "Properties". Then, navigate to the "Notification Area" tab and click the "Customize" button. Observe the potentially lengthy list of icons displayed.

Many users find that the list includes icons from applications that are no longer even installed on their system.

Resetting the Icon Cache

Begin by opening the Registry Editor. Type "regedit.exe" into the start menu search box and launch the application. Then, navigate to the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\TrayNotify

Within this key, you will find two entries: "IconStreams" and "PastIconsStream". Select both of these entries and delete them. It is highly recommended to create a backup of these keys using the export function before proceeding.

Restarting Windows Explorer

Next, the Explorer process needs to be recycled. Open Task Manager by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc. Locate "explorer.exe" in the list of processes and select "End Process".

After ending the process, go to the "File" menu, choose "New Task", and type "explorer" into the open box. Press Enter to restart Explorer.

Verifying the Results

Upon reopening the "Customize Notification Icons" dialog, you should now see a significantly cleaner list of items. Keep in mind that any previously configured settings for these icons will be reset to their default values.

Potential Considerations

Some icons may not reappear immediately and might require a full system reboot. Additionally, if the Volume, Power, or Network icons are initially unselectable in the Taskbar Properties dialog, closing and reopening the dialog should restore their functionality. You may need to re-select them.