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Author Topic: Idea: System Tray Icons for Background Processes  (Read 3376 times)

mouser

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Idea: System Tray Icons for Background Processes
« on: January 30, 2009, 12:43 PM »
I know a lot of people try to eliminate system tray icons -- they want it empty down there.  I'm the opposite -- I love seeing what is running on the pc with these icons.

So here is my idea:
  • A program that lets you set icons for background processes and services.
  • It would let you configure a custom icon or use the exe icon of the process.
  • It would let you select which processes should be included or excluded.
  • It should automatically show or not show the icon based on if the process is currently running.
  • It should offer a right-click menu for each icon letting you stop the process.
  • A nice option would be to allow a process icon to always show even if the process is not running, but show grey if not, with menu item to start it up.

Darwin

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Re: Idea: System Tray Icons for Background Processes
« Reply #1 on: January 30, 2009, 01:22 PM »
Interesting idea. This is somewhat analogous to USBSafelyRemove, which displays hidden usb devices in a separate list. I thought it was a silly idea when I first tried it, but now I find it quite handy. I can see, for example, things like my usb printer and scanner, which don't normally appear in Windows default Safely Remove sys tray icon... Point being if I can find a use for this sort of feature in a safely remove hardware feature, I'm sure it will be useful in an app that displays hidden services, device drivers, etc.  in a system tray icon.

I like it.