Icons missing in task bar

[spuff]

I have had a problem on my computer, which is indicated by the title. All of my icons on the task bar (Notification area) has disappeared, I mean the area over by Clock. These include Habu mouse, virus scans and Squeezecenter. Have tried to remove the notch in the hide inactive icons, but just a little help.
Thought first of the programs in one way or another, had been erased. But it is not because they are still running on the machine.

Thought so that somewhere in the program's interface or whatever you can call it, had been removed a check so it no longer was viewed. But the programs have no facility to deselect it.

So I began to fear a virus though my virus scanner does not show. But now run various online scans, as everyone says no virus. So now my big question, what can it come from, and is there something I can get to work again. Not that I need to format for?

Hope very much that there is one who can help me, because it is a big problem for me.

[Isaac1]

Same place where you can select "Hide inactive icons", there is a button called Customize...press it. Programs have 3 modes, hide when inactive, always hide, never hide. Try and see if it is not because the icons are set to always hide

[spuff]

Same place where you can select "Hide inactive icons", there is a button called Customize...press it. Programs have 3 modes, hide when inactive, always hide, never hide. Try and see if it is not because the icons are set to always hide

I have also checked this, nothing to get there, unfortunately
Is there not someone who knows a solution to the problem?

[Jimmy24]

This problem is apparently a bug in Windows XP. The system is very busy at start-up, and it appears that the signal to display a system tray icon is not always received by the task bar, so that although an application is running, its icon is not displayed. There is some evidence to suggest that the problem may be caused by applications or services that try to connect to other computers on a network at start-up. There are no solutions to this problem, only workarounds.

[spuff]

Oh my god, so I will have to format my PC or what? There is no solution!!! You said about workarounds. Can you explain me anything such workarounds or perhaps some link for this?

[Jimmy24]

Perhaps you can try this,
Disable automatic log on. The system tray icons are created when you log on. If you log on manually, instead of having Windows XP automatically log on, you will be delaying the creation of the icons until after all the start-up processes have finished. The system will be less busy, so there is less of a chance of the signals to create a tray icon being lost.

To disable automatic logon, click Start, Run, type: control userpasswords2 and press Enter. Check the box Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer, then click OK.

[Isaac1]

Try to determine if a particular application or service is causing the problem. Try disabling or uninstalling applications such as anti-virus software, and see if the problem recurs. If you find that one particular product is causing system tray icons to fail to show, consider using an alternative product.

Warning: Do not disable any personal firewall software without first disconnecting the computer from the Internet!