Do you notice that whenever you plug in USB device such as USB flash drive or external hard disk, an icon will appear in your system tray? The purpose of the icon is for you to safely remove your hardware. Even though USB is hot-pluggable but it is advisable to safely remove your hardware using the “Safely Remove Hardware” feature in order to prevent data loss because you might still have a data that’s still in use and you plug it out.
As for my case, I have an Acer laptop with built-in DVD-RW drive. It’s an internal DVD-RW and I never intend to remove it. In fact, I’ve own this laptop for 2 years and never once I took it out. Seems like there’s no purpose for the “Safely Remove Hardware” icon to be in my system tray and I really want to remove the icon from there.
After much searching and trying, there are two ways. You can either “HIDE” or “REMOVE” the “Safely Remove Hardware” tray icon.
Hiding “Safely Remove Hardware” tray icon is pretty simple if you’ve ventured far enough into Windows XP settings.
1. Right click Taskbar and select Properties (The default location for the taskbar is at the bottom of the screen, and from left to right it contains by default the Start menu, Quick Launch bar, Taskbar buttons and Notification area)
2. Click on the “Customize” button. If it is blurred out, you need to check “Hide inactive icons“.
3. You’ll see a Customize Notification options. At the Current Items, select “Always Hide” for the “Safely Remove Hardware” icon.
4. The “Safely Remove Hardware” icon will no longer appear on your system tray as it’s hidden.
Another method is to REMOVE the “Safely Remove Hardware” icon by using a third party program. Icon Remover is able to easily remove the “Safely Remove Hardware” icon by 1 click of a button.
Unfortunately Icon Remover is NOT a free tool. I find it ridiculous to be charging $10 for personal license, $195 for educational license and $395 for commercial organizations to use this tool. I think the author will hardly get any sale for this tool because it’s not like there’s no other way to hide the tray icon other than using this tool… By the way, a person with the nickname “HUNKiLLER®” has already cracked Icon Remover 😛