Clean Up Notifications Area in Windows 8 Taskbar
By Dave Taylor
The Question:I was looking at my taskbar in Windows 8 today and realize that there are a number of system icons on the right side that are just taking up space since they’re not giving me useful or important information. My PC’s plugged into the office network, for example, so the “network status” notification icon is pointless: it’s always the very same state, ON. How do I clean up my notifications area of the Win8 taskbar?
Dave’s Answer:
We’ve already jumped to the Windows 8.1 preview, but the functionality of the taskbar is the same and now that you mention it, you’re right, there are a lot of system icons that show up in the notification center that are just wasting space on the screen. For me, it’s the volume control since I have keys on my keyboard that control volume up, volume down and mute. That being the case, why have that tiny icon distracting me from what might be actual useful information?
There’s also the question of what else could be on that taskbar that isn’t being displayed? You might not realize it, but there are a lot of apps that are set to show up only if there’s something you need to know. An update? A system problem? Those are good. But what if you want to just have it show up all the time so you can quickly check the status of, say, Bluetooth, or because you want a super-easy way to access that particular system preference, something that can otherwise be a bit daunting in the Windows 8 work otherwise.
In all these cases, the path to customizing your Win8 taskbar is but a click away. If you know where…
This post is excerpted with permission from Dave Taylor.
Sign up for Dave’s emails about free tech support and special offers on books, seminars, workshops and more.
