Why I Let Tray Icons Take Over My Windows 11 Taskbar

People these days are obsessed with minimalistic user interfaces, often sacrificing functionality for the sake of aesthetics. I understand that—my desktop is pretty clean too. But when it comes to my taskbar, things are different. I make sure all system tray icons are visible, and it works really well for me.

Why I Keep All My System Tray Icons Visible

If you're not familiar with Windows terminology, the system tray is the area on the right side of the taskbar where small icons represent background-running apps are displayed. Normally, only a few essential icons appear here, while the rest are hidden behind an arrow menu. Think of this as a mini-folder for background applications.

When I first installed Windows 11 on my new PC earlier this year, I explored various settings and discovered there's an option to show all system tray icons. This isn't a new feature, but I hadn’t considered using it until then.

The primary reason I turned this setting on was to stay aware of what background apps are running. In some cases, seeing them helps me decide quickly what I need to do. For instance, if Screenpresso is active, I know I can press Print Screen to take a precise, cropped screenshot. If it’s not running, I might launch it or use Win Shift S instead, or just hit Print Screen and paste the full screen into a chat window to share with a friend.

It's also important to note that background apps can consume significant resources like RAM, CPU power, and internet bandwidth.

For example, if I forget Steam is running in the background and a game starts auto-updating, slowing down my browsing, I can glance at the system tray and identify the issue. Even though my PC handles background processes well, I still close non-essential apps before launching a game to squeeze out extra performance.

Another advantage is being able to see notifications from apps like Slack, which show a dot over their icon. I also get subtle update alerts for things like graphics drivers and Java.

Related: How to Disable Background Apps in Windows 11

Disable Background Apps on your Windows device and enhance its speed and performance.

Posts There's also convenience to consider. For instance, sometimes I have to restart SignalRGB (my go-to app for syncing RGB lighting) after waking up from sleep or even a cold boot because it occasionally glitches. Keeping the icon always visible means I can just right-click and close it quickly, saving me the extra click required if the app were hidden under the additional icons menu.

It's Not About Being Disorganized

While keeping all background apps permanently visible in the system tray may sound chaotic, it actually isn’t messy at all. I'm quite organized—my desktop is reserved mainly for installed games, my Start Menu is neatly arranged in folders, and only a few essential apps are pinned to the taskbar.

Related: Why I Like a Messy Windows Desktop

Another case where going against the grain works better!

Posts 27 Additionally, system tray icons are quite small. On my 1440p 27-inch LG monitor with UI scaling set to 125%, they’re perfectly sized—I can easily recognize them without them taking over the screen. To give you an idea, the size of my system tray is roughly equivalent to the length and width of my index finger.

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Expand Collapse That said, on smaller screens like a 12-inch laptop, a system tray like mine could look overwhelming, taking up too much space.

Moreover, I don't usually have many background apps running. I tend to close video game launchers after playing and shut down work-related apps too. Only a few remain open consistently—Discord, SignalRGB, graphics card software, and a few peripheral-related tools. On my 14-inch Dell Latitude 5420 laptop, only Intel graphics driver, Slack, and Asana stay active.

I’d rather keep these apps accessible than deal with a sleek but impractical taskbar. Besides, who says having icons visible is messy?

Related: 6 Settings to Make Your Windows 11 Desktop More Minimalist

Keep your desktop tidy!

Posts 13

This Should Be the Default

Most people likely don't run enough background apps to justify hiding them behind another menu, so I don't understand why that's the default behavior. A good UI should prioritize information over aesthetics.

The average user would benefit from knowing which apps are running in the background, especially if their system or internet slows down. Clicking an arrow to reveal hidden apps isn’t very intuitive. You'd expect Windows to highlight the most resource-consuming apps first, but it doesn't.

If you choose to follow this setup, one small annoyance is that every time an app updates (like Discord, which updates frequently), you’ll have to re-enable it in the settings. There’s no global "always show all icons" option—only per-app toggles in the menus. Fortunately, I found a permanent fix for this on GitHub (use at your own risk) that automatically keeps all icons and notifications visible in the tray.

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