How-To Geek
Move Live Messenger Icon to the System Tray in Windows 7
If you’ve made the switch to Windows 7 and use Windows Live Messenger, you might have noticed the icon stays in the new Taskbar. If you are annoyed by this and would rather see it in the System Tray (notification area), just follow this simple process.
Show Messenger Icon in Notification Area
When you close out or minimize Messenger it will reside in the new Taskbar.
To make it act like it did in previous versions of Windows, right-click on the Windows Live Messenger icon and go to Properties.
In the example above I created an icon on the desktop but you can also do the same thing with the icon in the start menu.
Then go to the Compatibility tab and run it in Windows Vista compatibility mode.
The icon might be hidden in the notification area though…
You just need to customize the Notification Area Icons and have it Show icon and notifications.
That’s it! Now you have your Messenger icon back where it used to be.
If you’re annoyed by the way the Live Messenger icon is displayed, following this quick tip should help you out.
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Comments (30)
Programmer by day, geek by night, The Geek, also known as Lowell Heddings, spends all his free time bringing you fresh geekery on a daily basis. You can follow him on Google+ if you'd like.
- Published 11/10/09
Great tip! i always wonder how to do this! thanks!
One thing Ive noticed with Messenger in Win7 is a new message never seems to pop up like it did before, the Taskbar icon just flashes orange. Anyone know of a way to change this so it pops up to the foreground??
I thought i need to have latest version which is compatible with Windows 7; Not required :).
another helpful tip needed. since last “major” update of windows live messenger, they have removed the “send” button so we are forced to press enter everytime we want to send something in the IM window. any tip how to get it back?
It’s Great.
Thank you very much.
Real nice guide :)
thanX for a tip ! :)
Ace tip, cheers!
nice tips you got here…
Great, brilliant guide thanks.
thank you very much
great
Thanks alot
Thank you for this trick. I’m glad the program and messages no longer stack. Question: How can I have incoming messages pop up full on the screen instead of just appearing, flashing in the task bar?
Thank you very much! Works! Thanks alot
Thanks Great Help :-)
Hi, thanks for this very useful tip.
Excellent – thanks – it was annoying me having to alt-tab past it all the time.
G R E A T !!! :D
Awesome man, it was making me crazy. I even stopped using the messenger for a while because of this
A++ thank you!
NEED HELP!
How can I make the icon stay in system tray even after I log out? This worked for me but after I sign out, it goes away. Can I make it minimise and stay it like that there?
Please let me know!
Thanks, I thought I was going crazy, looking for it everywhere, why or why ‘improvments’ are so annoying sometimes.
Cheers!
Thank you worked perfectly ;)
Cool. Works like a charm.
Thanks for this, that was going to get mighty annoying!
DOES NOT WORK D:
Woopz nvm, works like a charm lol
Excellent!! :) Thanks!
Good Man :) Thanks
Thanks!!!!