Safely Remove Hardware Icon

[JamesJoey]

Ever since I installed a new external hard drive an icon appeares in my Notification area in Vista Basic sp2: 'Safely Remove Hardware'. Seeing I can do this by right clicking on the drive in Computer and selecting 'Safely Remove' I don't need this icon in my tray.
I've found a way to hide all tray icons but I don't want to do that. I can also hide it from the Norification Area in the Taskbar properties but I don;'t like that either 'cause it shows an arrow indicating something is hidden.
What is this sevice's name and does it have an 'Allow service to interact wirh desktop' option??? Or, is there a registry tweak??
 
Any help will be appreciated,
James
 

[couttsj]

An icon in the system tray usually means that the program is automatically loaded every time the system starts. 9 times out of 10, these programs do not need to start automatically, and only serve to slow down the boot process and consume memory. They can just as easily be loaded from the Start menu or Desktop when they are required. There are a number of Auto Start methods:
1. Start menu for AllUsers.
2. Start menu for your UserID
3. Registry Auto start
4. Service Auto start

Services auto start when the system boots before you login. This is actually the easiest to manage since the service manager (services.msc) can be used to change items from auto to manual.

Registry auto starts require the registry to be edited. they are located in the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\  Run, RunOnce, or RunOnceEx. They can also be located in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion, but that is far less common.

Start menu items require the Start Menu to be edited. This can be done from the Advanced option in the Start menu properties, or by deleting the links in the appropriate directory directly. Either way you have to navigate to C:\Users\[UserID]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup for the individual user, or C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup> for All Users.

J.A. Coutts

[Black Viper]

What is being asked is an icon that appears in the system tray while a USB hard drive, for example, is plugged in. The icon is there to ensure that the drive is not unplugged while cached write operations are being performed.
As for getting rid of it, I will have to experiment.

[JamesJoey]

I've looked in all those sections in the registry and the startup program in question cannot be found. Even my cleanup maneger which has a sart up manager doesn't list it. I must be a service but I don't know which one.

James

[Spawn]

I use this : http://www.safelyremove.com/  works like a charm!


Spawn

[Spawn]

There is also another little .exe that will achieve this as well.  I have it saved on my external drive at home.  I'll post a link later.

Spawn

[Black Viper]

You can also right click the system clock, Notification Area tab, check "Hide inactive icons", select Customize button, then scroll down to "Safely remove hardware" and pull down the arrow to "hide".
See if that works.

[JamesJoey]

Hopefully there's a solution without having to install software.

James

[couttsj]

What is being asked is an icon that appears in the system tray while a USB hard drive, for example, is plugged in. The icon is there to ensure that the drive is not unplugged while cached write operations are being performed.
As for getting rid of it, I will have to experiment.

Obviously I did not fully understand the problem. Software can activate System Tray icons and remove them at will. Before Vista I was able to change icons in the tray to indicate the status of a background program, but session isolation prevents me from doing that now from programs that are started in session 0 (ie. services). Obviously there is a way around that problem with the driver that supports a USB hard drive. Unless that driver provides support for disabling the icon, there is very little that can be done. Any idea what driver is being used? It may use a separate program to control the icon, or it may call the icon routines internally. If there is a seaparate icon program, it might be possible to disable it.

J.A. Coutts

[JamesJoey]

The ddevice manager reports 2 Windows drivers: partmgr.sys and disk.sys. Odd thing is I've been searching on the internet for solutions. There is an exe that removes it (not hides it) from the notification area but the program must start at login. And another one is a program that needs to be installed. That's all I need more software! I figured there must be a hack to remove this.  From the very moment Windows installed it's drivers the icon appeared. When I unplug the usb cable it disappears.

[Black Viper]

Did you do what I posted above?
No other software is required.

[JamesJoey]

If you're refering to 'Hide inactive icons', yes. That was one of the first things I did but it shows a small arrow
there indicating something is hidden. That's just as annoying as the icon being displayed.

James

[VampireMuffinMan]

One thing that I found interesting is that one of my internal hard drives was set for easy removal instead of performance.  Therefor, it was prompting the safe removal icon to appear in the system tray.  I changed that setting and now the icon only appears when I attach my external enclosure.

[Black Viper]

If you're refering to 'Hide inactive icons', yes. That was one of the first things I did but it shows a small arrow
there indicating something is hidden. That's just as annoying as the icon being displayed.

I see what you mean. However, in Vista, if you "hide" the icon, it should not show, even if it is inactive. I cannot seem to replicate the arrow appearing on my system, though, as I do not have any inactive icons. I can hide each one, but they do not put up the arrow (as they are hiding, not hiding as inactive).
Hope I made myself clear as mud.

[JamesJoey]

Guess there's no way around this unless I use the program that must be loaded at strart up to remove the icon. I can probably live with the arrow or simpky unplug the device.

Thanks,
James