XP Notification Area

[Taem]

Thought I'd take this question here first. Currently using XP SP3. Recently switched to a wireless setup, however my computer has three ethernet ports and each one shows up in my Notification Area. I right-click the bottom bar and go to Properties, then Customize, then make sure the troublesome icons Behavior is set to Always Hide, then OK, Apply, OK. And each time I reboot my computer, they come back and are reset to Hide When Inactive. Driving me nuts! Any suggestions?

[Taelas]

Hmn. Don't know if this is the problem, but....

Right-click on My Network Places. Select Properties. Right-click on the individual connections. Select Properties. There should be a check box at the bottom. If it is checked, that may be the issue.

[--Pete]

Hi,

If you are not using those adapters, you can disable them. That should fix your problem. To do this:

go to control panel
select system
select hardware
select device manager
select view | devices by type
in the tree, click on the + in front of network adapters
select the General tab
in turn, double click on each adapter and select Disable Device in the pop up box.

If the ports are built into the mother board,you should also be able to disable them in the BIOS. No instructions here, there's just too many different BIOS versions. But some poking around should make what you need to do obvious. And, if the ports aren't built in, then use the hardware wizard to remove the software and physically remove the hardware.

If you are using the devices, you obviously don't want to do this. Use Taelas' advice instead.

--Pete

[Taem]

Hmn. Don't know if this is the problem, but....

Right-click on My Network Places. Select Properties. Right-click on the individual connections. Select Properties. There should be a check box at the bottom. If it is checked, that may be the issue.

This did not work, but thanks for trying.

[Taem]

Hi,

If you are not using those adapters, you can disable them. That should fix your problem. To do this:

go to control panel
select system
select hardware
select device manager
select view | devices by type
in the tree, click on the + in front of network adapters
select the General tab
in turn, double click on each adapter and select Disable Device in the pop up box.

If the ports are built into the mother board,you should also be able to disable them in the BIOS. No instructions here, there's just too many different BIOS versions. But some poking around should make what you need to do obvious. And, if the ports aren't built in, then use the hardware wizard to remove the software and physically remove the hardware.

If you are using the devices, you obviously don't want to do this. Use Taelas' advice instead.

--Pete

I made an in-depth reply to you hours earlier, but apparently the boards went down when I did so and it went lost in space! Anyways, to sum it up, two of my ethernet ports are built into the motherboard, but before i toy with the BIOS, I'm going to try your first idea of disabling the hardware adapter. Would try it tonight but too tired after watching Tron Legacy with wife tonight (no comment on that in this thread).

[Taem]

Hi,

--Pete

It worked Pete! Thanks for the info.! So obviously, if I ever use the LAN based NIC card again, I'll have to re-enable it, right? Because the auto-detect won't pick it up because it is shut off before windows starts?

[--Pete]

Hi,

It worked Pete! Thanks for the info.! So obviously, if I ever use the LAN based NIC card again, I'll have to re-enable it, right? Because the auto-detect won't pick it up because it is shut off before windows starts?

You're welcome. I had the same problem, to a lesser extent, on our laptops. They have both WiFi and cable connections, and we never use the cable, so I disabled them. Thought that might be what you wanted.

Yes, if you ever want/need to use one of the cable connectors, simply re-enable it. And, I presume it works that way, but am hardly an expert of what happens when during Windows startup.

--Pete