[LMB] AKICOTL: Technical question OT:

[Burton Chan]

Sorry James. As far as I know there's nothing you can do. It happens to me a 
few times. If your system is online for a long period of time, Windows will 
remove non-active icons from the system tray. I suggest you reboot the 
system with USB hardware still attached or shut down the system to safely 
remove the USB hardware. Your system should be reset after restart or start 
up again.  Micro$oft is evil.

   Burton
  Windows XP home ed user

>January 24, 2008 3:19:59 AM
>James M. BRYANT G4CLF <james at jbryant.eu>  wrote...
>
>Apropos of this my "Safely Remove Hardware" icon has gone from the toolbar 
>notification area ("system tray") and the Device Manager window is totally 
>empty (Windows XP Pro).
>
>Microsoft advises checking that Plug and Play is set to automatic and 
>others have told me to ensure that I have all permissions in this area 
>allowed. This has been done and the problem persists.
>
>Anyone here got any ideas?
>
>James the perplexed
>