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Remove the Java Icon From the System Tray

Why does every single application insist on installing a completely useless icon into the system tray? It would be one thing if it performed some function, but it doesn't do anything that you can't do from your control panel. The least they could have done is have a dialog during the setup process that says "Would you like a useless icon in your system tray?" 

Anyway, let's get to removing that Java icon… if the icon is currently visible, you can just right-click it and open the Control Panel from there, but you'll get a warning dialog when running Vista.

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If the icon isn't currently visible, you can still get to the Java control panel by going to the Vista (or XP) Control Panel and looking for the Java icon. On Vista, you'll have to first click on Additional Options:

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And then click on Java:

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Now go to the Advanced tab, click on Miscellaneous and then uncheck "Place java icon in system tray"

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Much better.

Note that the currently displayed icon won't go away immediately, you'll have to right-click and choose Hide.

The Geek is the founder of How-To Geek and a geek enthusiast. When he's not coming up with great how-to articles, he's probably writing at his personal blog. This article was written on 07/16/07 and tagged with: Windows Vista, Vista Tips & Tweaks

Comments (3)

  1. Shawn

    I have two system alert shields in my syte

  2. Sorry for the late response

    what if that doesn't work? the setting stays the same, but the icon reappears sporadically.

  3. mike

    If you delete the tray icon, is Java still running? I want to know how to stop it after it opens for a single app.I see no way to make it actually exit, or turn off. It seems to use a lot of resources.


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