One of the things that makes me go berserk is a program that minimizes to the notification area of the Taskbar and animates itself all the time for no good reason. This is incredibly distracting: I keep looking down to it to see what's happening. Read Peripheral and Foveal Vision for an entry-level read on why this is so. Thankfully, there's a standard functionality in Windows that helps out.
How To Hide Annoying Icons In The Notification Area
- Right-Click the Taskbar
- Select Properties
- Click on the Notification Area tab
- Activate the "Hide inactive icons" checkbox if it is not already activated
- Click on the Customize button.
- Click on the row containing the offending program
- Select Hide from the Behavior dropdown
- Click OK to close the form
- Click OK again to close the Taskbar Properties window
Thanks to my colleague Marcus for sharing this little secret with me!