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

1. Right-Click the Taskbar
2. Select Properties
3. Click on the Notification Area tab
4. Activate the "Hide inactive icons" checkbox if it is not already activated
5. Click on the Customize button.
6. Click on the row containing the offending program
7. Select Hide from the Behavior dropdown
8. Click OK to close the form
9. Click OK again to close the Taskbar Properties window

Thanks to my colleague Marcus for sharing this little secret with me!