The fact that within windows, you can choose to 'hide icons' on the system tray is a little disturbing, especially when they are there to let you know a program is running. This doesn't mean all icons on the system tray really need to be there on start up, but this gets in to my OPTIMIZING TIP and that was not the point for this post.
I would have to say 9 out of 10 computers that I am in contact with will routinely have icons on the system tray (programs running in the background) that do not need to be there, but then there are others, like the Windows Update or Antivirus warnings (out of date, security issues) that are there to actually warn you of 'imminent danger' if you do not pay attention to them. This can be anything from performing a re-start of the computer, to having your antivirus not functioning by the simple fact it was not updated. If you aren't sure what those icons are for, try hovering your mouse pointer over each one and it will typically provide a brief pop up display of what it is, and try RIGHT CLICKING on it as this will usually bring up some menu option to access the settings of the program. You don't have to be computer literate at all to follow some simple steps which are nothing more then paying attention to all things happening on your screen, particularly the system tray!
