SOLUTION: Systray \ System Tray icons missing on taskbar in Windows XP?

Have you ever found that one of your system tray icons is missing when you boot up Windows XP?

The system tray (in short systray, also called taskbar notification area) is the icon strip located to the far right end of the task bar, next to the clock. Some Windows XP installations have a defect, in that some systray icons disappear or, rather, do not appear, when the system is booted when a user logs on. The problem is even more common on systems with autologon. The most frequently affected icons seem to be the speaker icon (sound volume) and the power / energy icon if on a laptop (notepad).

I had my sound icon missing for a while on my desktop but recently I found a very easy way to correct the problem. Very annoying as when ever I wanted to increase or decrease the volume I would have to go into Control Panel; Sounds and Audio Devices.

To fix this, simply download and run (on the affected computer) the installer below (after unzipping it using 7zip or what ever you use to unzip zip files):

http://nars.aloj.net/download/shell32patch.zip

SOLUTION: Trouble finding firmware or drivers for hardware that is not listed within manufacturers archives?

I just spent 30 minutes trying to find an updated firmware for my relatively 'newish' Sony DVD-ROM (SONY DVD-ROM DDU1615S drive) and Sony DVD-RW DL (SONY DVD RW DRU-190S) drives.

For those who found this in a Google search and just need to download the firmware for either drives named above, below this paragraph are direct links just for you as I am too kind :)

SONY DVD-ROM DDU1615S | SONY DVD RW DRU-190S


Now of course the first place that I checked was the main manufacturers web site for Sony Optical Drives. Managed to find one drives firmware on there easily (the DVD-RW DL drive); but could not find the DVD-ROM drive within the archives. So as you do I did a Google search. Took me a while but there was a web site which really was the only place to find it:

Step 1) Go to the following web site and search for the hardware firmware (or driver)

Note: You may want to simply use the category link as that is useful as well, but personally I found it easier to simply search my hardware name 'SONY DVD-ROM DDU1615S' - selecting download and clicking on GO to find it listed in the results.

http://www.opendrivers.com/ (use the site search to the right hand side menu rather than the Google search at the top).

Step 2) From the results select your hardware which takes you to where you can download the driver (or firmware).

e.g. In my case download SONY DVD-ROM DDU1615S firmware result page :)

Step 3) Scroll down the page to find a heading ">> Driver Download >> "

Within this area you need to type in a validation code and click on the 'Download This Driver for Your Device from Open Drivers' button in order to get the download link (or several download links).

Step 4) Once this page has loaded you need to look carefully for the right download link as it can be confusing as to which link actually works (as in you do download the firmware or driver you need).

What I did was try the first link under "Official Driver Download" (which was a link back to the main manufacturers web site), but this was an outdated link and I had some other web site try and make me buy an application to scan my system and update drivers etc for me ... I don't want that!

So I went back to the page again and scanned around and found below the sponsored links a section called "Backup Download Server". Clicking the link here downloaded the right firmware for me. so I was happy.

Use the link under the "Backup Download Server " to download your firmware or driver if you find that the official links do not work.