Toolbar

[BIGDOGY]

How do I delete icons from the toolbar (bottom right hand corner) in windows xp?
I know how to hide them but would like to remove certain ones completely without uninstalling the programs they controle.
Any advise greatfully received.

[peanut]

This is easy if you know what the icons are for. Go to start, run, type msconfig in the box and press next or ok. Go to the startup tab. There you will see a list of programs that are checked. The ones that are checked are the ones that are running at startup. These are the ones you see at the bottom right corner. You can uncheck the ones you don't want running. Basically, the way I do it, is uncheck everything except my security pragrams (firewalls and antivirus), and maybe your battery backup software if equipped. Things like your printer and messengers, quicktime player and things like that do not need to run at every startup. When you need them you can still use them but it will take an extra second to work. After you uncheck things, you will need to restart. After restart, check the popup box where it says "do not show or launch the configuration utility".

[vehelpfulguy]

As well as the method above by peanut you can also do as follows.

Download and install a great little free program called WinPatrol.

http://www.winpatrol.com/

This lists all your start up programs and allows you to disable them.

You can also set them to "delayed start" so you get a quicker XP start up and these programs start up a bit later.

But more importantly WinPatrol runs all the time and monitors your computer and warns you if anyone tries to install a program or change one of your internet settings without you knowing.

If that happens you get a small window warning you and you get the option to stop it and delete the offending files.

This is a great way to stop spyware and other nasties getting on your computer (prevention better than cure)

[BIGDOGY]

Thanks for the info I'll try it all.