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Remove Bluetooth Icon ... Just kidding!

I'm not sure if this is a Vista-only problem, but I've seen this on a few systems now and it's starting to irk me. On my Vista-enabled notebooks and Tablet PCs, if you enable Bluetooth you'll see a little blue Bluetooth icon appear in the system tray. If you want to remove it, just right-click it and choose "Remove Bluetooth Icon." Done. Right?

Wrong. Every time you reboot, the icon comes back. If you try to remove the Bluetooth application from starting in Windows Defender, it still comes back. What the heck is up with this thing?

I haven't tested this a lot, but the only way I've found to actually remove this is to turn off Bluetooth. Or, if you do want Bluetooth running and don't want to see the icon, configure it as "Hide" in Taskbar and Start Menu Properties: Customize Notification Icons.

Surely, I'm missing something. But why is this so insidious? And on a more general note, why design software that doesn't honor your choice when it makes such an explicit option available? (I'm reminded of the Windows registration request, which includes the choice, "Don't register Windows at this time." As I've pointed out to Microsoft, the "at this time" bit suggests you will have another chance to register, but you actually don't. So why include that language?)

Computers. Gotta love 'em.

Published Jan 30 2008, 09:12 AM by pthurrott

Filed under: Mobile

Comments

	CyBrett said: The same thing happens with Quicktime. When you remove the icon it comes back the next time you run it. To hide the icon completely: Right click on the clock and go to properties Under Notification Area, click customize Set the behavior of the bluetooth icon to hide. January 30, 2008 9:40 AM
	weedmonk said: @Cyb Thats true for most Apple software. I cant stant shiTunes or QT because they never honor file type associations and are programmed by programmers from the University of Alabama. January 30, 2008 4:38 PM
	Sir_Timbit said: Not just Vista. I have a MacBook running Windows XP, and I have the same problems with BlueTooth. Every now and then, when I'd wake up the laptop from sleep mode, it would appear to be frozen for up to a minute. Then the bluetooth icon would appear, even though I had turned it off in the bluetooth contol panel. I don't have any bluetooth devices, so I finally disabled it in Device Manager, and all is well. And by the way the Mac side's BT functionality never gives me grief. Maybe it's just the way Windows handles 'networks' waking up from sleep. January 30, 2008 7:36 PM
	clindhartsen said: Reminds me of the problem with the System Configuration Utility program in Vista. Every time you boot, every last time, here comes that stupid "Windows has stopped a program from starting" balloon. January 30, 2008 8:36 PM
	Xtreem0 said: The windows have stopped a program from starting button is usualy the result of a company not telling microsoft they are really there. This is just due to layziness or they feel that you should buy there newer addition inorder to solve the problem. Macs also have a taskbar. (not viewable.) also it tends to not be open to 3rd party venderers for there own aplications to run on . they instead use the doc menu or have it hidden. But still those problems exist in that operating system. Just on a mac it dosent pop in your face. January 30, 2008 8:52 PM
	clindhartsen said: Xtreem0, the problem commonly is, as noted in one of the Windows Weekly, is that it's it reporting that it stopped ITSELF from running. Weird, plain weird, and annoying. January 30, 2008 10:05 PM
	pthurrott said: clindhartsen... You can stop SysConfig from appear by turning it off in Windows Defender. (Stupid, I know, but it works.) January 31, 2008 9:02 AM
	Airline Travel » Remove Bluetooth Icon … Just kidding! said: Pingback from Airline Travel » Remove Bluetooth Icon … Just kidding! February 1, 2008 9:32 AM
	KingSky said: I have this problem on Vista Business. Not only does the Bluetooth icon appear when the computer is restarted, but every time I insert a cd or dvd into either of my drives, the icon says "Hello! Here I am again!". June 4, 2008 10:52 PM
	romove quicktime icon system tray said: Pingback from romove quicktime icon system tray July 9, 2008 5:24 AM

About pthurrott

Paul Thurrott is the guy behind the SuperSite for Windows. Way behind. :)

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Remove Bluetooth Icon ... Just kidding!

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CyBrett said:

weedmonk said:

Sir_Timbit said:

clindhartsen said:

Xtreem0 said:

clindhartsen said:

pthurrott said:

Airline Travel » Remove Bluetooth Icon … Just kidding! said:

KingSky said:

romove quicktime icon system tray said:

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