Where do I go to remove icons from the task bar? I have Windows XP. Can I go to this same place to put icons back on the task bar?

Hi paprworkknotdone, icons in the taskbar appear in two different ways. To remove icons to the left of the arrow ( central part) go to Start/Settings/Control Panel, double click Taskbar and Start Menu. When the Properties Widow opens just untick the Show Quick Launch square. To remove icons to the right there are two options. First in Taskbar and Start Menu Properties Window, click customise. From there you can control active icons by setting them to one of three options. Always Show, Always Hide or just Hide when Inactive. To stop the right hand side icons appearing completely on start up, then you you will have to uncheck the appropriate programs associated with the icons so the programs don't turn on at start up. To do this go to Start/Run/ then type in msconfig, click OK, the System Configuration Utility Window will open. Top farthest right tab is Start Up, click this and then just untick the programs you don't want their icons on your taskbar. Remember also that when you open a program quite often the icon will then appear in the taskbar. If it doesn't dissapear after closing the program, just right click the icon in the taskbar and select Exit or Close. Hope this helps, Eamon.

I'm guessing you are talking about the programs in the system tray (next to the time), and that you are talking about on startup. If you are not talking about on startup, then you can usually remove icons from the system tray by right clicking on the icon, and choosing close, quit or exit.

There are two places where windows allows these to load from. From the startup program group (start button, Programs, Startup) and in the registry. The registry is a large database of settings and characteristics for how programs and windows behaves when run. There are a number of places in the registry that can load things on startup, and luckily, most versions of windows have a tool that gives you access to these. Try going to start, run, and type in "msconfig" without the quotes. Then click "ok" and you should get a new window (System Configuration Utility). Click on the "startup" tab and that will give you a list of items that are loading on startup.

It's a good idea, though, to thoroughly research each item that you plan to remove before removing it. You could inadvertently remove a program that your computer needs to be stable or function correctly. For example, some sound drivers, or video card software.... even anti-virus software will load in these places. So, what I mean is, make sure you know what you are removing before doing so....

EDIT: Yeah, What He Said Above

no you wierdos. I'm asking about how to remove buttons from the task bar, not the start menu, not the system tray. any way to do this?

weirdos? And you expect help after this?

lol chill gerbil! you're wasting space if you're not answering/helping!

Rclick and delete works for me. Or you can drag them somewhere... the bin, for example... desktop... there should be no trick to it, they are just shortcuts. As such, they are files, found here: C:\Documents and Settings\You\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch, and can be deleted from there also.

UH OH!!!, I already deleted (unchecked) the items that I thought I didnt need running on the right hand side task bar & though at this time I didnt do a restart to take effect, now Im scared that I may have removed some by accident. What do I do if I need to restore some? Since Im such a newbie, I'll try reading more posts further ahead before actually executing a command.

Hi,
You have opened a 3 year old thread. Next time start a new thread.
You have to give more information so we can help. but, most items on the task-bar on the bottom right hand side will come back when you restart your PC. When you right click them, the options mostly are on to exit not delete. Tell us what icons you played with and someone will help you.