Free app to shrink the system tray in win2k like XP does?

August 10, 2004 2:13 AM

Free app to shrink the system tray in win2k like XP does? I found one but it looks like its pay only. Its hard to believe there isn't some freewave that does this.
posted by skallas to computers & internet (11 comments total)

Tray Pilot Lite is free and possibly does what you want (though it's not as customizable as the XP version and you apparently have to pay if you *don't* want to hide the system clock).
posted by j.edwards at 2:49 AM on August 10, 2004

Good source for little doodads like that...
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 3:09 AM on August 10, 2004

Or in case you need something else in the future, skallas...
posted by madman at 3:41 AM on August 10, 2004

Whoa... [/keanu]
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 3:44 AM on August 10, 2004

Either Traymanager or Tray Magician, both free, will do this. Links available to these and other neato tray utils at virtualplastic. [Gee, that's the second time in two days I've linked to them. They should buy me a candy bar.]
posted by monju_bosatsu at 6:38 AM on August 10, 2004

I like 4T Tray Minimizer. It can hide/reveal the tray icons when you mouse over them, optionally including or excluding the clock. It also has a handy "minimize to tray" feature for windows. There's a free and a pay version.

On rare occasions (such as when exiting a program that hides the taskbar entirely, like RDC) it seems to "lock up" but I find mousing over the area that would reveal the hidden icons if the taskbar were visible "frees it up."
posted by kindall at 8:31 AM on August 10, 2004

FWIW, I went with tray pilot lite and may buy the full version. There were no working mirrors of Traymanager, Tray Magician is really buggy and fails to display a few tray icons, 4T is nice but its too much (as in im too lazy to config it) and those unix style buttons it adds on every pane are not welcome.

I'll probably give 4T another chance some other time when im more of a mood to manage tray icons.
posted by skallas at 8:57 AM on August 10, 2004

/ot
madman, that is one useful link. Thanks.
posted by punilux at 9:01 AM on August 10, 2004

those unix style buttons it adds on every pane are not welcome

Those are easily turned off -- I have it set to minimize to the tray on right-click of the minimize button, and no ugly buttons are displayed.

(But if you're too lazy to configure it, yeah, that would be a problem. ;)
posted by kindall at 10:20 AM on August 10, 2004

I have a friend who made a program that hides any program running from both the taskbar and the system tray. The program itself could then me closed and reopened to show or hide whatever. It was very simple and a very small interface. I used it to hide the Apache console and it never failed. If you would like me to e-mail it to you leave a message here as I can only currently send mail (long story, involves an elephant).
posted by geoff. at 10:28 AM on August 10, 2004

Shell Extension City is another awesome place for handy little apps.
posted by five fresh fish at 11:12 AM on August 10, 2004