Windows 11 - New ThrottleStop 9.6 icon added to "other system tray icons" each reboot

[GamerJD75]

Each time I reboot Windows 11, a new entry gets added to the "other system tray icons" settings. It looks like Windows reads each tooltip as a different launch when ThrottleStop is set to run on logon.

Perhaps there's a way to delay the tooltip on first launch so that it stays consistent for a minute or so? That way Windows might be able to see it as the same app each time it starts up?

Only one will work to display it, which is usually the latest "green" icon it puts into the list. All the rest do nothing.

They all also seem to have different icon GUIDs in the registry here:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\NotifyIconSettings

 

[unclewebb]

ThrottleStop stores the icon GUID in the ThrottleStop.INI configuration file. I realize this is an old school way of doing things. I have not done any Windows 11 testing so it is possible that Windows 11 does not like this method. I am not having any multiple icon issues in the notification area while using Windows 10.

Are you doing anything unusual like constantly deleting the ThrottleStop.INI configuration file? Some people like using scripts to kill ThrottleStop.exe and they might also use a script that deletes the ThrottleStop.INI file and all of the icon GUIDs that are saved there. If ThrottleStop does not find a previous icon GUID in the INI file, it creates a new GUID. Windows assumes that if the same ThrottleStop.exe uses a different icon GUID, it must be a completely different program.

Thanks for bringing this problem to my attention.

 

[GamerJD75]

ThrottleStop stores the icon GUID in the ThrottleStop.INI configuration file. I realize this is an old school way of doing things. I have not done any Windows 11 testing so it is possible that Windows 11 does not like this method. I am not having any multiple icon issues in the notification area while using Windows 10.

Are you doing anything unusual like constantly deleting the ThrottleStop.INI configuration file? Some people like using scripts to kill ThrottleStop.exe and they might also use a script that deletes the ThrottleStop.INI file and all of the icon GUIDs that are saved there. If ThrottleStop does not find a previous icon GUID in the INI file, it creates a new GUID. Windows assumes that if the same ThrottleStop.exe uses a different icon GUID, it must be a completely different program.

Thanks for bringing this problem to my attention.

Nope, I just configured it how I wanted it after launching & set it up to start when I logon to Windows via Task Scheduler.

I see four GUID entries in my INI file right near the top, I'll see if any of them actually made it into the registry.

EDIT: Those four entries were there, along with all the extras. I'll double check the next time I reboot & see if the GUIDs change in the INI for some reason.

 

[unclewebb]

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\NotifyIconSettings

Is that the exact registry location that Windows 11 uses? The Windows 10 version that I am using does not seem to use that registry key.

 

[GamerJD75]

Is that the exact registry location that Windows 11 uses? The Windows 10 version that I am using does not seem to use that registry key.

Correct, that's for Windows 11.

 

[unclewebb]

Windows 11

That seems to be a new way of doing things for Windows 11. The NotifyIconSettings key is missing in the Windows 10 version that I am using.

 

[GamerJD75]

So I had a couple of normal reboots & the amount of icons seemed to be staying the same. However, this morning my PC decided to GSOD (Green Screen of Death) instead of cleanly restarting. Now, I have four more icons in the notification options, & the one that was previously toggled to show the icon at all times no longer works.

I had saved a backup of the INI file for comparison reasons & just did a difference check between the pre-crash INI & the current INI. Nothing changed there, so Windows must have thought something changed for whatever reason.

 

[unclewebb]

Multiple ThrottleStop icons is a new Windows 11 feature. I will look into fixing ThrottleStop someday if I ever get around to installing Windows 11.

 

[GamerJD75]

Multiple ThrottleStop icons is a new Windows 11 feature. I will look into fixing ThrottleStop someday if I ever get around to installing Windows 11.

Yeah, it's Windows 11 doing something weird. Because now it's creating more every reboot, when it hadn't created any new ones for a couple of weeks... I had the same 4 before today, but now I've got like 12 after multiple reboots this morning.

 

[unclewebb]

multiple reboots

Are you doing a full reboot or are you doing a sleep resume? You might have to turn off all of the ThrottleStop system tray icons until this is resolved. Are you running any script that kills ThrottleStop.exe?

 

[GamerJD75]

Are you doing a full reboot or are you doing a sleep resume? You might have to turn off all of the ThrottleStop system tray icons until this is resolved. Are you running any script that kills ThrottleStop.exe?

Full reboot. Had some Windows updates that required a restart. No special scripts, just a task scheduler setup to launch it when I login.

 

[tredecimguy]

After update Windows 11 to its 23h2 version (from Win11 22h2), the throttlestop tray icons go to hidden-icons area after OS reboot. I have to pull them out manually every time I reboot the system.

Other icons in the always-show area do not have this issue, they remain there after reboot.

 

[unclewebb]

After update Windows 11 to its 23h2 version

Microsoft made a change to how it handles the system tray icons. Not yet sure what they did or how to fix this problem. This used to work correctly in the previous release of Windows 11. Now it don't.

The icon code that ThrottleStop uses works correctly in every operating system released during the last 17 years going back to the Windows Vista era. I am still happily running Windows 10 on my main programming computer. It will likely be a while before I look into this problem further. Maybe Microsoft will fix what they broke but I doubt it.

 

[tredecimguy]

Microsoft made a change to how it handles the system tray icons. Not yet sure what they did or how to fix this problem. This used to work correctly in the previous release of Windows 11. Now it don't.

The icon code that ThrottleStop uses works correctly in every operating system released during the last 17 years going back to the Windows Vista era. I am still happily running Windows 10 on my main programming computer. It will likely be a while before I look into this problem further. Maybe Microsoft will fix what they broke but I doubt it.

Sure. Now I use StartAllBack's taskbar mod as a workaround.

 

[Deleted member 57642]

Can't say that i have above issue on Win 11 23H2 (the preview from Windows Update - the final version is released only as .iso and MCT), tho - i start TS manually - so maybe it's some change to scheduled tasks (if that's how he runs TS as start-up).

As for the original OP, be it moved/removed/uninstalled/deleted or some change to way you want the app to be shown in try (hidden or not) - W11 doesn't know how to Update the active state and clean after itself - while making any of those changes (still keeps the past setting or destination in registry). And thus... Personalization > Taskbar > Other System Try Icons - gets filled with obsolete icons - basically leftover garbage which you have to clean manually - by removing those entries from the registry. Since i only noticed that more than year after installing W11 - had to many garbage there - so was easier to reset all icons - with the following .bat script:

@echo off

set regPath=HKCU\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\TrayNotify
set regKey1=IconStreams
set regKey2=PastIconsStream


echo.
echo The explorer process must be temporarily killed before deleting your taskbar corner overflow notification icons cache.
echo.
echo Please SAVE ALL OPEN WORK before continuing.
echo.
pause

REG DELETE "HKCU\Control Panel\NotifyIconSettings" /F

echo.
taskkill /IM explorer.exe /F
echo.
FOR /F "tokens=*" %%a in ('Reg Query "%regpath%" /v %regkey1% ^| find /i "%regkey1%"') do goto IconStreams
echo Registry key "IconStreams" already deleted.
echo.

:verify-PastIconsStream
FOR /F "tokens=*" %%a in ('Reg Query "%regpath%" /v %regkey2% ^| find /i "%regkey2%"') do goto PastIconsStream
echo Registry key "PastIconsStream" already deleted.
echo.
goto restart

:IconStreams
reg delete "%regpath%" /f /v "%regkey1%"
goto verify-PastIconsStream

:PastIconsStream
reg delete "%regpath%" /f /v "%regkey2%"


:restart
echo.
echo.
echo You will need to restart the PC to finish resetting your taskbar corner overflow notification icons.
echo.
CHOICE /C:YN /M "Do you want to restart the PC now?"
IF ERRORLEVEL 2 goto no
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 goto yes


:no
echo.
echo.
echo Restarting explorer....
echo.
echo Please remember to restart the PC later to finish resetting your taskbar corner overflow notification icons.
echo.
start explorer.exe
pause
exit /B

:yes
shutdown /r /f /t 00

 

[GamerJD75]

Yes, it's set to auto start when I logon using task scheduler. All it does it launch the program, which has the "start minimized" option set & only shows the "T" icon in the tray.

Sometimes it keeps the icon across a reboot, but a lot of times it decides to create a bunch of junk ones. Once it gets on my nerves enough I just manually clear the Throttlestop entries.

Nuking the whole key isn't something I feel like doing, but if it works for you & others, good for ya.

 

[OneMoar]

the system tray code has been completely rewritten in newer builds of windows 11. the old code has been completely gutted (along with a chunk of the old taskbar code)
uwp also has a gun to its head and you should anticipate xmal to replace uwp

 

[Jasper]

Hello Uncle Webb,

I am LATE to this discussion but I only started to experience the "moving icons" issue on my newly purchased laptop.

The SOLOUTION for me was to DISABLE FASTBOOT in both Windows & the BIOS. THROTTLESTOP works like a Charm now.

I do not know if disabling one or the other, as opposed to both as I have done, would solve the problem. I apologize for not troubleshooting & testing further but the old adage comes to mind, "If it Ain't Broke...".

Peace

 

[Jasper]

Hello Uncle Webb,

I am LATE to this discussion but I only started to experience the "moving icons" issue on my newly purchased laptop.

The SOLOUTION for me was to DISABLE FASTBOOT in both Windows & the BIOS. THROTTLESTOP works like a Charm now.

I do not know if disabling one or the other, as opposed to both as I have done, would solve the problem. I apologize for not troubleshooting & testing further but the old adage comes to mind, "If it Ain't Broke...".

Peace

The above is INCORRECT. I forgot that I placed a Delay in the task start up.

Set a 30 second Delay in the task to start up Throttlestop. Go to the task's TRIGGERS and put a check mark in DELAY and select 30 seconds.

THIS is what works. Thank you.