Hello Bill...

I am running WinPatrol Plus 9.1.0.0, in a WinXP Pro SP2 system.

Recently, Scotty has disappeared from my system tray, although I have confirmed that he is still on patrol, by checking my Task Manager.

Any suggestions?

Hi bspeight,

Thanks for stopping by. Sorry that it's for a problem. I appreciate you checking the active tasks because that was going to me my next questions.


This is a problem we had in the past because of a bug in Windows XP but I thought we had resolved it. Apparently, XP doesn't think Scotty is active enough and just takes him off. At one point Microsoft instructed me to tell users they need to update to XP SP2 but I can't confirm that will work.

I do hope to release a new version in early June which might resolve this problem. Meanwhile, as you know, Scotty is on patrol. You'll just need to open the main interface by going to the Start Button -> Programs -> WinPatrol and launch it as WinPatrol Explorer. That will give you our main interface.

Thanks!
Bill

Hi Bill,
Thanks for the answer. Scotty has been dissapearing on my bar for months. I thought i must have done something wrong and kept uninstalling and reinstalling.

I'm running windows XP home edition with SP2.
I know he's running in the background but I feel more confidence when I can see him.
Now I know I'm not alone so I can stop fiddling.
Thanks, sincerely, Susie

I'm running Windows XP Home SP 2.

Scotty had dissapeared from my system tray too. I just opened him from the start menu (Winpatrol explorer) and then also ran a registry clean.

Rebooted and he's back!! - I don't know if either of these things was the reason, or just coincidence.

Hmmm.

Hello Bill...

This is just 'for the record', and not really in anticipation of a fix.

I am now running WP 9.5, and Scotty still disappears fro the system tray on about 50% of system reboots.

Importantly, I have confirmed that he is still on patrol, and it is only the tray icon that is missing.

I find the same happens with a few other utilities.

If it is of any use, I have worked out that the icons that go missing are some (not all) of those that have been told to 'Always hide' in the "Hide inactive icons - Customize' setup. Those which are set to 'Always show' or 'Hide when inactive' never disappear. The 'Always show' group do exactly that. The 'Hide when inactive' group also behave as expected, sometimes hiding, and sometimes appearing, but always available if I click the button to display them.

When Scotty and his like-minded associates disappear, however, nothing seems to reinstate them except a system reboot.

bspeight,

I have Scotty and edexter both not show up sometimes.
Not as bad as you do but I think it is because they both load at the same time. Because they always show up in the same order in the tray but now and then Scotty will show up 3rd and not 2nd.

But if you do a CAD just close down WinPatrol and then open WinPatrol up again and you will not have to reboot.

Hello hewee...

I never bother to reboot just to get the tray icon back. Having confirmed that Scotty is still functional, I am not usually bothered by the absence of the icon.

However, as you say: "But if you do a CAD just close down WinPatrol and then open WinPatrol up again and you will not have to reboot." Although, on occasions, even this procedure does not re-instate the icon.

This is really an annoying issue for us.

We've had two conversations with Microsoft about this. One time they admitted it was a bug in Windows XP since they implemented the Hide Icons feature. They recommended we tell people to be sure and upgrade to the newest XP SP2.

Another conversation supplied me with the code to work around the problem by detecting when the task bar needed to be rebuilt.

Looks like it might be time for a third conversation and maybe we can help everyone out.


Thanks,
Bill

bspeight,

Ok if doing a CAD does not work have you looked again to be sure it did close down.

I use WinPatrol to open it back up.
So are you first making sure it is closed?
Are you opening up WinPatrol or WinPatrol Explorer?

Note that some times after doing a CAD it may be best to wait a little before opening the program again that you just closed. So wait 5 seconds or so longer before starting it again to make sure it has closed down.

WinPatrol
"C:\Program Files\BillP Studios\WinPatrol\WinPatrol.exe"

and

WinPatrol Explorer
"C:\Program Files\BillP Studios\WinPatrol\WinPatrolEx.exe"

http://www.michna.com/kb/WxSystray.htm

The article above discusses the problem of missing system tray icons. I had this problem on my older machine running winXP SP1 and it drove me nuts. Finally solved it with the Ostuni method listed in this article. I was hoping on my BRAND NEW computer that I wouldn't have the same problem but I did and I solved it the same way. All you do is go to My Network Places and on the left side, click the Hide UPnP devices. This operation does not disable the service, but for most people it fixes the disappearing icon problem. Not sure if this is what is causing disappearing Scotty but it's worth a try.

I was using the "hide icons" systray feature on my new machine and after I upgraded to the newest winpatrol, Scott started disappearing. But I have disabled the hide icon feature for the systray and now Scotty stays put.

I love this program and have used it for a couple of years!

~Susan

Hi Susan,

Thank you for taking the time to post the information and link you found. I'll make sure we pass this on to anyone with a problem and see how it goes. I can also look at our code and see if we can do something extra without changing someones settings that will circumvent this problem.

If you're not already a PLUS member send a note to support@winpatrol.com. I think everyone here would agree you deserve a complementary PLUS membership for your help.

Thanks,
Bill

Thank you so much for the free Plus offer, but I am already a longtime Plus subscriber... I find this program invaluable!

I know how this icon problem bothered me so I was glad to offer any assistance... just the computer geek in me I guess!

Thanks again, and I hope this info helps someone!

Susan

Bill I got 98 so it is not the same as in Susan post.
Now when I have seen the trouble I think it is just loading at the same time as edexter because it edexter icon is after scotty in the tray but now and then edexter shows up before scotty.
Then my guess when edexter or scotty does not show up in the try is they were both trying to start at the same time.
But I do not have any trouble other wise.