System Tray

The last part of the taskbar is called the notification area or system tray. It contains mainly status notifications, though some programs, such as Winamp, use it for minimized windows. The clock by default appears here, and applications can put icons in the notification area to indicate the status of an operation or to notify the user about an event. For example, an application might put a printer icon in the status area to show that a print job is under way, or a display driver application may provide quick access to various screen resolutions. In Windows XP, the user can choose to permanently display or hide some icons, or hide them if inactive for some time. A button allows the user to reveal all the icons. Optionally, a clock can be displayed in the notification area. A class of utilities typically called taskbar clock replacements can replace the Windows XP taskbar clock with a clock with more features.