Windows 7 Systray and My Anti-virus Program

[hlewton]

I really don't know if it matters or not but my anti-virus program is one called Vipre. I have used it for at least 3 or 4 years and have no complaints about it but then it was always on XP machines. However, the no complaint comment cannot be said about Windows 7.

I think I know how to customize my systray to show the icons of programs I want displayed as they are active. Vipre is one of those programs I want to make darn good and sure is running. More than one time upon booting up the systray has not displayed its icon and neither does it show when I click on the "Show Hidden Icons" button beside the systray. I didn't think to check the "Task Manager" when this just happened but I am almost 100% certain Vipre is actually running because when I click on its program short cut on my desktop it immediately opens and is ready to do a scan. If I reboot the Vipre icon always appears in the systray after that reboot.

So my questions are why is this happening and what can be done to make sure the Vipre icon is always displayed in the systray?

Thanks

[Bigaldoc]

Hmmm, I haven't had that happen YET in Windows 7 (I use MSE).

But it's been a long running problem in XP where an icon doesn't show up in the tray but the program IS really running. A reboot, for me, always takes care of the problem. I was NEVER able to find a solution to the problem and I Googled it MANY times, including the MS pages.

Clearly, I don't have an answer for you about Win 7, so I hope you find one... (if you do, please post it)

[hlewton]

Al I will post it if I find one. I have asked GFI's technical support, who is Vipre's parent company, the same question but apparently I won't hear from them until at least Monday. That is why I posted it here.

It is funny you say you had this problem with XP because I never did and I am running 6 such machines. After reading your post I kind of think it may be dependent on what the actual software is since we are not using the same program and it affects different versions of windows for us.

BTW I too googled and could find no answers. Also I mentioned trying to use Task Manager to see if Vipre was actually running. Even when I know fro sure it is running on both an XP and Win 7 machine I see nothing I recognize in Task Manager as something which would prove that Vipre is running. So I also asked GFI what I should look for to prove this too.

Anyway if I get an answer I'll post it word for word as I got it.

[HansV]

Some people report success with the method described in Windows Vista Disappearing System Tray Icons Quick Fix. Although it's for Windows Vista, it should apply to Windows 7 too.

[Bigaldoc]

Well, I'll tell ya what's coincidental that I didn't bother mentioning. The icon that MOST frequently wouldn't appear in my tray was my AV program. And stranger still is the fact that for some time I used Avast and now I can't remember the one before Avast. But the icon most missing was always my AV program.

I still use XP and my AV is now MSE and haven't had a missing icon for a long, long time...

Strange? Mebbe ...

[hlewton]

Yeah Al strange. I have never had any icon missing except the one I described in this post. Happily that is my only experience with this problem. I am very certain of this too because I have always kept a rather lean and clean systray so it is easy to see if anything is missing.

[hlewton]

Han thanks for the link. If I am reading it correctly I believe it would have to be done each time this problem occurred. If that is the case it seems it would be easier for me to continue to reboot to get it to appear. It is entirely possible I am misunderstanding that link though but I don't read it as a lasting or permanent solution.

[HansV]

It depends on the cause of the problem. You could try it once and see if it works, and if so, if the effect lasts.
But it's probably easier to wait until you receive a reply from GFI Software.

[hlewton]

Good idea. I think I'll take that approach.

[DaveA]

Do you have "Show icon and notifications" selected for this AV program?

[hlewton]

Yes I do.

[hlewton]

I received what I consider a "canned" reply from GFI to my request for technical support on this subject. It was a reply by someone who gave his name but I still believe it was more or less their standard reply to this question. He asked what version of the program I was sunning and suggested I update to the most current version. In my reply I informed him I have been running the latest and most current version and that this problem has been sporadically occurring over the last 2 or 3 versions. Also I let him know that in my opinion he gave me a "canned" reply and in no way addressed my concerns. I am waiting to see what I get back from him but thought I'd report what I have found out so far, which I consider less than nothing from them. It is kind of disappointing because in the past I was very happy any time I had to contact technical support but that was before Sunbelt's Vipre became part of GFI.

[HansV]

That's disappointing indeed...

[Bigaldoc]

I've resisted saying this since you posted the thread. But why don't you try uninstalling and run MSE for awhile to see if the "problem" still appears?

You can always remove MSE later if you don't like it and go back the way you were. So far, for me and many others, MSE seems to be pretty darn effective.

[hlewton]

Al I only guessing but is MSE the suite from Microsoft that is free? What all is included in it?

The one problem I have with that is I have already paid for a PC Lifetime subscription to Vipre which is anti-virus protection and also Malware protection too. As I mentioned, until this problem I have been very happy with Vipre but I may consider your suggestion if I don't get a little better support from GFI soon.

[Bigaldoc]

Al I only guessing but is MSE the suite from Microsoft that is free? What all is included in it?

It's antivirus and antimalware, easy to use and effective as far as I know.

Microsoft Security Essentials - Free

[hlewton]

Thanks Al. I'll check it out.

Here is the technical support answer I got: we need to uninstall and reinstall Vipre since there could be an error with the registry on the system tray.

[HansV]

You could try the link from my first reply in this thread first. If that doesn't help, you could uninstall/reinstall Vipre.

[hlewton]

Good idea, I think I'll try that. Thanks Hans.

[hlewton]

I did follow the steps in that link. You probably already knew this but it set the systray icons back at what I presume were Microsoft's default ones. So I had to customize them again to get the Vipre icon to be displayed. That has been done and it is now displayed but only time will tell if it did any good because it is not something I can duplicate at will.