Tray Icon Problem

Running Win XP - SP2, and I have a strange problem. I have WW set to load at startup and to load minimized, however, when I start the machine the tray icon is missing. When I hit Ctrl+Alt+Delete I see the WW program running in task manager but on the desktop there is no GUI interface to be found. I have to go to the program folder and “start” WW, which opens the main window on the desktop, in order to get the tray icon to appear.

I have Spybot S&D installed as well as McAfee Security Center. Not sure if any configurations within these programs might have anything to do with this problem. Once I start the program manually (even though it’s already running - in the background?) and get the tray icon loaded things are fine. Just strange to me that it doesn’t show up when the system first loads (except, as I said, in the background). Any ideas?

If you RIGHT click on the Taskbar and click on the Customize button next to Hide Inactive Icons what Behavior setting does the icon for WW have?

Good point, Ed. I forgot about this setting. It was set on “Hide” so I changed it. Interesting thing happened though. After changing the setting I rebooted immediately, but the machine came up with the tray icon still missing. I immediately rebooted again (without changing anything else) and the icon appeared at startup. Rebooted once more for good measure and there it was.

Now, a few hours later, I had cause to reboot yet again… and the little bugger is absent. WW is running in the background when looking at Task Manager, but no tray icon. When I launch WW from a shortcut, the icon instantly appears again and things are fine… I’m trying to imagine what could possibly be preventing this from showing up (thinking about any weird angle I can imagine… spyware blockers, registry locks (SpyBot?)), maybe some nefarious setting in the McAfee Security Suite? I just can’t come up with anything. Maybe I should try to uninstall and reinstall WW… but I have no clue if that would help, of course. Thanks for the question though, and for reminding me about a feature I forgot to check.

hmmmm you reboot more than I do. :-s

I assume you are running the current version of WW? There was a version earlier in the 5.6 series I believe that did indeed not save the Taskbar icon setting and it kept reverting to Hide with each boot.

As for culprits I wouldn’t put anything past McAfee. I am not a fan of it. Not crazy about Norton either. A relative recently got rid of McAfee’s SPAM Blocker cause it was chewing up 100% of the CPU.

In that the tray icon appears when you manually start WW I don’t think it’s a WW problem but if you want to reinstall make sure you delete the WW section in the Registry after the WW uninstall to ensure a fresh start.

Some pc vendors try to protect their customers by running software that prevents changes to the system config. HP has something that keeps restoring IE layouts on a couple of machines I service. And all that’s been added is a Google Toolbar.

LOL Ed, about my rebooting. :icon_smile:

Well, today at system startup I had my tray icon. I’m taking your statements about McAfee into serious consideration. I’ve never used it before but the Security Suite came with the new Gateway PC I bought recently. As it happens, I just paid to keep the software suite, but I have (just under) 30 days to change my mind and get a refund. I had always used Norton products but they were simply too system hoggy. Had been using Outpost Firewall Pro and NOD32 of late, but that was on my 6 year old P-IV 1.7GHz machine that died recently. I thinking about going back to that software. NOD32 is very good antivirus. I had some configuration issues with Outpost in trying to get my home network all sorted out but other than that I was happy with it, and hey - my licenses for those two softwares are still good.

For now, I’ll keep an eye on my WW tray icon and hope things settle down. I’ve got some time to think about backing out of this McAfee purchase and I may do just that. Thanks again for the help.

NOD32 is a very good program. Certainly better than McAfee.

Check out this AV rating site: http://www.av-comparatives.org/

I usually only boot once a day, but I do reboot repeatedly if I’m playing with GRUB or BartPE so I shouldn’t be commenting on your efforts. :oops:

The WW icon behaving itself?

Uh… not this morning :sad: I’m not sure what’s going on. Maybe I’ll try disabling components of the McAfee suite and see if that helps. It makes no sense. I just installed the new update (5.6.13) this morning and things are the same. I’m wondering if it’s some kind of problem in the registry but if so, I have no clue how to attack it. I’ll post back if I discover anything significant.
Thanks again very much, Ed.

Update: It’s a bit disconcerting as the icon still seems to show up (on boot) only when it wants to. I disabled all of the components of McAfee Security Suite and on reboot the icon did not appear (sigh). I went off doing other things on the box for a while. Had subsequent reason to reboot (after installing some software) , and wouldn’t you know - there it was… I guess I’ll just have to keep playing with things and see what happens. Spybot S&D is next…

:-s hmmmm

Two thoughts;

One. Check the Taskbar’s Behavior pattern for the WW icon each time you boot.

Two. Do you have WW set to Pause 30 secs before retrieving forecasts when it initially starts? It could be a timing problem, with multiple things trying to get to the 'net at one time, and when WW is forced to wait it doesn’t automatically come out of the wait until the next scheduled update.

hth

:icon_smile: