How to find out what process a system tray icon corresponds to?

Question

Is there any way to find out what process created a given icon in the system tray? A new icon has appeared that I don't recognize and I would like to find out what process spawned it.

Solution

You can right click on the clock and choose Customize Notification Icons. You can then scroll through the list and find the icon in question with its respective program name beside it.

You could also try one of the tools mentioned in this article (I have not tried them personally): http://www.raymond.cc/blog/find-out-what-program-are-running-at-windows-system-tray/

Anvir: http://www.anvir.com/download.htm (It shows any tray icons created by a process, so you would have to hover over all the processes to find it)

Windows System Tray Scan Utility: http://exodusdev.com/products/windows-system-tray-scan-utility

If none of those methods work, perhaps you can update your question to include a screenshot of the icon so someone can identify it.

Comments

[Ramhound]

Process of elimination by ending tasks started by the user is the only way I know.

[Matthew Williams]

What is the name of the icon? You can either hover over it or go into customise and see what it says there?

[wmz]

if you need to automate you could try to follow this advice: social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/vstudio/en-US/…

[BaseZen]

Sometimes it's a Windows Store (Metro) App, so that the process table will only show the framework host WWAHost.exe.