The Notification Area is next to the clock in the Taskbar. It’s where you’ll generally find icons for different Vista tools, as well as additional software you may have installed. Some of the icons may not be useful to you, and there is a way to choose which are shown, while having others hidden. Some may not want any icons, and if this is the case, there is a way to simply disable that area.

The Tweakvista website shows one way to do this, by modifying the local group policy. Another method from HelpWithWindows.com uses the registry, which is the method I’ll use.

Before: With Notification Area

Steps to Disable the Notification Area

1. Create a blank text file called NoTrayItemsDisplay.reg (or whatever you like as long as it ends with .reg). I usually use NotePad for this. Save wherever you like, I put mine on my desktop.
2. Copy the following text into the the file and save:

   Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
   
   [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
   "NoTrayItemsDisplay"=dword:00000001

3. Double-click the NoTrayItemsDisplay.reg file.
   
4. If you have UAC turned on you’ll need to approve the elevation of privileges. You’ll then be told that modifying the registry can be dangerous, click Yes to continue.
   
5. You’ll then be told that your registry was modified.
   
6. Now, simply log out and log back in, or restart for the change to take affect.

After: Without Notification Area

If you decide you want it back, just change the 1 in the NoTrayItemsDisplay.reg file to a 0 like so:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoTrayItemsDisplay"=dword:00000000

Double-click, restart and you’ve got it back again.