Windows Vista: tool for hiding program icons from the task bar wanted

[brotherS]

Hi,

I want to have some programs run 24/7, but need to use their taskbar icon only very rarely. So I want to hide it to save some screen space. I once tried a few tools to do the job, but none worked REALLY well. Some just didn't work on Vista, others would do the job now, but wouldn't do it correctly after a reboot.

What tools can you recommend? Freeware/donationware/postcardware/etc. if possible.

[Curt]

PS Tray Factory    $25

Edited:
- oh, you said task bar. Sorry. PS is for the process / tray area

Edit2:
However, you could "hide to tray"+"always minimize to tray", and then PS will have them

[Curt]

http://www.freedownl...for_Windows_57295_p/

Ease your control over foreground processes and windows now with new version of Process Manager for Windows . You can perform following operations on any application by just right clicking on them in taskbar.

1. Kill
2. Change their Priority.
3.Always on Top.
4. Minimize to tray
5. Hide
6. Hide others
7. Change Transparency.

If this is not it, right click on PMW icon in tray and

8. You can Hide All Open windows ,
9. Unhide them all in one go,
10. you can even hide the PMW icon from tray.
and the best feature of this tool is
11. You can control which menu's you want and which menu you do not want.

Product homepage: http://processpriori...iki.sourceforge.net/

[brotherS]

Thanks Curt, the Process Manager makes a good first impression! 

[brotherS]

Thanks Curt, the Process Manager makes a good first impression! 

-brotherS (March 30, 2010, 09:57 AM)

The second impression is less good... after running for several hours it just vanished from the tray (Windows didn't show an error message), and I find its icon color (in the tray) to be too bright.

[Curt]

does it disappear (by itself) or is Vista hiding it?

I have PS Tray Factory and AnVir Task Manager Pro, and have set Vista not to hide inactive icons from the tray. This way icons behave like I want them to.

I have not tried Process Manager for Windows  on Vista.

[brotherS]

No, it wasn't just hidden.

[siouxdax]

Found this thread looking for something simple to minimize an app to the tray. Great little utility! Simple and no BS. Yay!

[lanux128]

http://www.freedownl...for_Windows_57295_p/

Ease your control over foreground processes and windows now with new version of Process Manager for Windows . You can perform following operations on any application by just right clicking on them in taskbar.
...

-Curt (March 30, 2010, 08:52 AM)

was mentioned here previously..

• Process Manager for Windows - use fewer clicks

[MilesAhead]

This little AutoIt3 freebie works well for me in Vista64.

http://www.autoitscr...h=1&#entry624466

It's not "automatic" though. You need to hold down the shift key when you click the minimize box.  Then it will minimize most any standard single window app to the system tray.

[Curt]

Taskbar Master
Control your taskbar buttons

http://www.taskbarmaster.com/

Set up rules to automatically place buttons in your preferred order ...no other product does this!
More...

Manage sets of rules for different jobs - have one set of rules for working and another for surfing.

Easily configure windows settings, including turning grouping on, but collapsing to one button off.



 It works:

...on 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Vista, XP, Server 2003 and Server 2008

...with taskbar grouping turned on or off


Within the popup menu you get when a group is collapsed to a single button you can:

...hide a window altogether - and get it back.

...hide just the taskbar button, but leave the window visible and available for Alt-Tab


You can also move your system tray icons


 Licensed per user or per computer - buy one license and either:

    * one user can use Taskbar Master on any computer
    * any user can use Taskbar Master on one computer

$20 / €15 / £15 Free upgrades for a year.

- I don't trust there ever will be any updates!  
Win 7 was not listed.