Icon Madness
Last week I had to use Vicky's laptop briefly, which sadly runs Windows XP. I was greeted with this monstrosity:
The baby Jesus is beyond crying. For the curious, from left to right there is battery charge, wireless network status, InstallShield Update Manager, Java Updates, Windows Updates, Lastfm Scrobbler, Lenovo Client Security Password Manager, Bluetooth network connection (never used), Wired LAN network connection (never used), volume, ThinkVantage Access Connections wireless status, IBM Message Centre, Epson printer status, ThinkVantage Access Connections, Adobe Photo Downloader, GoogleTalk, Bluetooth status, QuickTime, Windows Security Alerts. After 30 minutes of removing software and disabling some more, I finally got this down to seven icons. I wish there was a way to disable Windows from showing the status of every network connection though.
NP: Sketches of Spain, Miles Davis
Posted by Toni at Mon Sep 24 21:02:53 2007:
Posted by ThinkPad user at Mon Sep 24 21:15:26 2007:
Posted by vertigo at Mon Sep 24 21:16:03 2007:
Heyhey!
At your "network connections" configuration screen,
doubleclick on a network connection. You then get the properties screen. At the bottom of that screen are two tickboxes "Show icon in notification area when connected" and "notify me when this connection has limited or no connectivity". With these ticks you can make them disappear and have visual piece of mind. hops in lotus-sit and makes ummm sounds
Posted by z0mbix at Mon Sep 24 21:42:36 2007:
At your "network connections" configuration screen,
doubleclick on a network connection. You then get the properties screen. At the bottom of that screen are two tickboxes "Show icon in notification area when connected" and "notify me when this connection has limited or no connectivity". With these ticks you can make them disappear and have visual piece of mind. hops in lotus-sit and makes ummm sounds
vertigo,
That's how it should work, but it doesn't. Once you enable it they don't go away, no matter what you do.
Posted by Benjamin Seidenberg at Mon Sep 24 21:42:58 2007:
That's how it should work, but it doesn't. Once you enable it they don't go away, no matter what you do.
As a linux user with a thinkpad who is forced into windows for some things for school, I will say this: the IBM network connection software is FAR superior to the built in one, I find it much better to use. The password manager is trivial to disable (I assume you already did) and quick time is annoying but easy.
Posted by Andy Wingo at Mon Sep 24 21:43:43 2007:
Posted by Adam Williamson at Mon Sep 24 21:46:48 2007:
This is why I obsessively file bugs on GNOME apps that include obligatory, permanent notification area icons. I think I am going to start including a link to this blog post in all such bug reports. :)
Posted by Christian Vogel at Mon Sep 24 22:37:28 2007:
If you never used them, you can also just disable these network connections, once disabled, the icons should go away. (in the network-connections window, right click -> disable)
Posted by GB at Mon Sep 24 23:26:40 2007:
Right-click the notification area and select "Customize notifications". You can then set a rule for each icon.
Posted by Finite at Tue Sep 25 00:26:57 2007:
If I had a Windows machine, I would use it to try out debian.exe from http://goodbye-microsoft.com/ :)
(What applications are keeping Vicky in XP?)
Posted by Matthew W. S. Bell at Tue Sep 25 02:48:54 2007:
(What applications are keeping Vicky in XP?)
Baby Jesus stopped crying; baby Jesus is now angry.
@Adam: Do that, and also put it in the GNOME HIG. Then go around to the author of every application that has a compulsory notification icon and staple this picture to their retinas.
Actually, notification icons should require permission to be added, not the application's permission to be removed?
Posted by NSK at Tue Sep 25 04:23:20 2007:
@Adam: Do that, and also put it in the GNOME HIG. Then go around to the author of every application that has a compulsory notification icon and staple this picture to their retinas.
Actually, notification icons should require permission to be added, not the application's permission to be removed?
Why does she run Windows on her ThinkPad? ThinkPads are mostly compatible with GNU/Linux and there is much documentation available on how to make it work perfectly under it. You could set up a dual-boot environment for her with GRUB and let her explore GNU/Linux, which I personally don't find only not find it harder than Windows but I maintain that in many respects it is much easier than MS Win. Usually the barrier to GNU/Linux is lack of compatible drivers, which in the case of Thinkpad is not much a concern. So, encourage her to dual-boot with XP and a good distro, and I think she will like GNU/Linux.
Posted by Ross at Tue Sep 25 10:10:55 2007:
One, it isn't a ThinkPad, but the inbred cousin the C100.
Two, she uses Windows primarily because of iTunes. Several hundred pounds of iTunes music is a strong argument. Do you honestly think that I'd let the machine remain Windows if there was no reason? :)
Posted by Luke at Tue Sep 25 10:31:01 2007:
Two, she uses Windows primarily because of iTunes. Several hundred pounds of iTunes music is a strong argument. Do you honestly think that I'd let the machine remain Windows if there was no reason? :)
In situations like your I always find autoruns from sysinternals quite handy....
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Utilities/AutoRuns.mspx
Posted by Luke at Tue Sep 25 10:39:53 2007:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Utilities/AutoRuns.mspx
In situations like your I always find autoruns from sysinternals quite handy....
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Utilities/AutoRuns.mspx
Posted by fourstar at Tue Sep 25 14:17:23 2007:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Utilities/AutoRuns.mspx
You can of course tell WindowsXP which icons you want to show/hide/autohide.
1) Right click on a blank bit of the taskbar
2) Click on Properties
3) Make sure Hide Inactive Icons box is checked
4) Click on the Customize button next to it
5) From the list, use the drop-down to select which icons (including network connections) you would like to a) hide when inactive, b) always show, c) always hide.
6) Click OK
Obviously that won't remove the eleventy tons of crappy spyware that is automagically installed but it might look a bit nicer :)
Posted by llivv at Tue Sep 25 15:36:14 2007:
1) Right click on a blank bit of the taskbar
2) Click on Properties
3) Make sure Hide Inactive Icons box is checked
4) Click on the Customize button next to it
5) From the list, use the drop-down to select which icons (including network connections) you would like to a) hide when inactive, b) always show, c) always hide.
6) Click OK
Obviously that won't remove the eleventy tons of crappy spyware that is automagically installed but it might look a bit nicer :)
I think you might be able to "delete" the unused network connction(s), reboot and disable the unwanted networking hardware in the BIOS.
Of course all of the registry entries will never go away. But at least you don't have to look at them too often.
Posted by Finite at Tue Sep 25 19:23:50 2007:
Of course all of the registry entries will never go away. But at least you don't have to look at them too often.
Isn't iTunes' DRM cracked (again) yet?
I am certain you can find a way to convert the tracks to mp3s, but I think there is also a lossless DRM removal route available now.
And doesn't iTunes run under Wine, too?
Posted by SW at Wed Sep 26 01:09:58 2007:
I am certain you can find a way to convert the tracks to mp3s, but I think there is also a lossless DRM removal route available now.
And doesn't iTunes run under Wine, too?
You do know that if you click that right-arrow button it shrinks back down to showing just the most recently used/active icons, right...? In fact, I suspect you must have already clicked it to show all those icons in the first place, which is kind of cheating :)
Posted by Ross at Wed Sep 26 08:42:55 2007:
