Systray

[Dave Davison]

The Avira icon has disappeared from my Systray, how do I make it show there again please. I know it can be dragged to the "Quick Start" menu & how to pin it to the "Start" menu but this one evades me. Dave.

[JoeP]

Have you tried re-booting your PC?

Joe

[HansV]

Right-click an empty part of the Windows taskbar at the bottom of the screen.
Select Properties from the popup menu.
Clear the check box "Hide inactive icons".
Click OK.
Does the Avira icon return?

[Bigaldoc]

Folks, a reminder that this is a long standing problem with XP and the tray (notification area). Quite often an icon that is supposed to show up there is missing.

Sometimes the suggestions from Joe or Hans will help. But, I have a different approach.

Usually the app in question IS already running and its icon just stubbornly doesn't show up in the tray. I usually open Task Manager, locate the app in question, select it, right-click and choose "End Process." You get a confirmation request, so do it.

Now, without a reboot, you can usually execute the app from its place in the start menu and the icon WILL appear. It's a lot quicker than a reboot. Works for me... (For some unknown reason, it usually happens to me just after running a CHKDSK which of course requires a reboot.)

[John Gray]

It usually happens to me just after running a CHKDSK which of course requires a reboot.

CHKDSK surely runs fine without requiring a reboot, provided you are checking a non-boot/system/Windows disk.

If you are CHKDSKing the boot/system/Windows disk it won't run until after you have performed a reboot.

Or am I misunderstanding?

[Bigaldoc]

Yeah John, you've got it essentially correct. I open a command prompt, execute CHKDSK on the C: drive, it tells me it will run when the system restarts, I reboot, CHKDSK runs...

When the system is completely back to my desktop, I usually ( but not always ) have an icon missing from the tray. But the app in question is always running, just no icon.

PS: I should add that at some point a few years ago, this missing icon topic was discussed much but it was all at the "other place" and I don't go there anymore.

[Dave Davison]

Thanks gents.............did what Hans suggested [no joy] opened the Task manager [no sign of it running] so as a work around I dragged it to the quick start menu where the umbrella icon shows and simply open it from there. Just as convenient as the sys tray. Thanks any way for the responses. Regards Dave.

[stuck]

Dave,

As far as I know Avira should start automatically on boot, you should not have to start it manually, since that leaves a short period of time between the end of the boot process and before you start Avira when your PC is at risk.

If the red umbrella is NOT showing in the systray, i.e. next to the clock, when the PC has finished booting then various things could be at fault, e.g.:
1) Avira is running, the icon is just not showing
2) Avira has been disabled so it's not starting at all

You say that Hans suggestion (that it as just XP 'helpfully' hiding the icon) didn't help and also that you couldn't see Avira listed in Task Manager so that implies Avira has been completely disabled. The question now becomes why has it been disabled?
a) Has something nasty sneaked onto the PC and disabled it? Try running the online virus scanner here:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/uk/
b) Have you installed something that is causing a conflict with Avira, e.g. a second anti-virus application? Or maybe a firewall, like ZoneAlarm, see this thread on the Avira forum http://forum.avira.de/wbb/index.php?pag ... dID=100507. Or even a Windows update.

I mention the possibility of a Windows update because I use Avira at home and a few weeks ago Avira was fine and then it wasn't. Avira became very slow to start, even telling me that it was not running, i.e. the red umbrella was displayed 'closed'. The only change to my PC was a Windows update. A Google search turned up various hits that hinted at .NET patches causing this behaviour. The updates to my PC had included .NET stuff. I didn't resort to trying to fix this problem (uninstalling .NET = more grief than I was up for) and I'm pleased to report that within a few days Avira settled down and returned to starting quickly on boot.

I will try and find time to look at my Avira settings this evening and see if I can suggest anything further.

Ken

[Dave Davison]

Many thanks for the comments, I did a bit of fishing around and found the answer on the Avira forum which I include. I did note on the said forum that numerous people were asking the same question and (for me) the pasted answer did the trick. How did it happen? In my case it obviously came about as a result of un-ticking boxes which I was ignorant about after [SORRY for being truthful but] acting on the advice in post 48979 namely "disable every single one of them". When the said icon disappeared from the sys tray I should have associated it with un-ticking certain boxes -in particular avgnt.exe- because when I ticked it again & rebooted the icon immediately appeared in the sys tray. All's well that ends well though so this just serves to broaden one's understanding of this complex technology, a big Dave.

[stuck]

Glad you've resolved this fully now.

Ken