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Notification Area
Tell an XP user to
look in the Notification Area and "Huh?" is the usual
response. It's that area over there on the right side of the
Taskbar where the clock is located. Hover your mouse over
the clock and it will tell you the day and date in a little
pop-up balloon. Chances are good that you'll see some other
icons there as well.
There's really not a lot to
say about the Notification Area. It's designed to be fairly
unobtrusive and for the most part it accomplishes that goal.
Unobtrusive however doesn't mean it's not useful or that you
shouldn't pay attention to the area. Granted, the one shown
above is pretty useless, but let's look at another example.
This area comes from one of
the systems I use every workday. If you're a Microsoft
Office user you'll probably recognize the Outlook icon and
the small envelope directly to the left indicates there are
new, unopened mail items. The world icon is a part of Norton
Internet Security and the small yellow computer is a part of
Norton Internet Security. With a quick glance at the
Notification Area I can tell if there are new e-mail
messages, make sure that Norton Internet Security is enabled
and insure that Norton AntiVirus AutoProtect is enabled.
That may not seem like much to the casual user, but for
someone that spends hours per day in front of a computer
that grouping of critical information is invaluable.
Not all information that
sneaks into the Notification Area will be useful, or at the
least it won't be information that you want constantly
visible. See that little arrow inside the circle pointing to
the left? More notification area icons are hiding there.
Click it and the area will expand to the left to reveal the
additional icons.
What you want in the
Notification Area is a personal choice although many
companies feel they have a right to clutter the area up in
spite of your wishes. Fortunately, you have recourse. Try
right clicking on one of the icons and see if there is an
entry for 'settings' or 'preferences' available. Well
behaved programs from considerate developers will make it
easy to turn off the icon if you'd rather it not be part of
the Notification Area.
For those that aren't
considerate, right click on an open part of the Taskbar and
select Properties to open the Taskbar and Start Menu
Properties sheet. Select the Taskbar tab and click
Customize... button in the Notification Area section to open
the Customize Notifications sheet.
To set custom behaviors for
each of the icons, click the desired item in the Behavior
column and you'll have three choices; Always Show, Always
Hide, and Hide When Inactive. Make the desired selections
and click OK. For the Hide When Inactive option to have any
effect you'll also need to make sure the Hide Inactive Icons
entry is checked on the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties
sheet.
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