Solved Missing Task Bar Icon

Until sometime today, there was a symbol or icon or something at the right end of the taskbar which, when the mouse cursor was placed on, would often say "No new notifications", and this has vanished. Lots of on-line discussions, but I've not found anything about restoring, or turning on, this thing (for my lack of a proper name for it.)

Other than chanting an ancient imprecation to the monitor, how do I again see the object that is now missing?

It sounds like you are describing "Notifications". In my case, this only shows up when notifications are present and is hidden if there are no notifications present at the moment.

Go to Settings > System > Notifications to adjust settings related to how alerts / notifications are displayed.

Not Myself said:

there was a symbol or icon or something at the right end of the taskbar....

Click to expand...

Do you mean this blue circle with a number in it?



The number is how many unread notification you have. It disappears once you have clicked on it and seen the notifications.

The only way a symbol will be permanently shown there is if you have turned on Focus Assist.




Edit: by the way, in the feature update to 22H2 that's due out later this year Focus assist has been updated and renamed as Do not disturb.

Let me try to consolidate my replies, with thanks to those who did so, even though so far I've not received the usual email notification of such.

First of all, after I had posted my original message, I began to ponder if my installing an ISO might have changed the notification. I ran the ISO as part of a several-days long Dell session about my computer suddenly not turning off the monitor nor going to sleep. During one remote session, I saw the Dell stop for a while on a page about ISO, so I decided to go ahead. It took some on-line searching to figure out how to get the correct ISO that would install Windows 11 Pro; that found, the process was rather easy. What did surprise me afterward is that Windows Update had four updates available, even though I saw the ISO looking for updates. I started to install these, and in the midst of one that was taking an inordinate amount of time, Windows Update started searching and found one more. Yet another phone call from Dell is expected between 1000 and 1100 hours local, it now being 0924 hours local.

Second, this morning I saw a green (not blue for me) symbol at the right end of the task bar, one I had not seen before. I clicked on it, and found that it had two notifications; when I cleared them, the symbol went away. I will follow the instructions provided in this thread to see if that helps. This might fix that SuperAntispyware updates are not being notified, even though the setting for that is on.

Third, a short while ago there was a brief popup that Macrium Reflect had started, followed by the green circle symbol, which had that information, and which also went away when I cleared that. Just now, a repeat, except to state that the update was successful.

Fourth, whatever I may have missed is....

A quick addition: Notification just received that SuperAntispyware definitions had been updated; one apparent problem not there.

Not Myself said:

Until sometime today, there was a symbol or icon or something at the right end of the taskbar which, when the mouse cursor was placed on, would often say "No new notifications", and this has vanished.

Click to expand...

The only time you should see "No new notifications" is if you click on the date/time.

BruceR said:

The only time you should see "No new notifications" is if you click on the date/time.

Click to expand...

I no longer see that, which I used to see just by placing the cursor on the `whatever it was' which was not the date/time, and don't see it now by clicking on date/time. I don't miss it. The system that tells me I have new notifications works, and the former "No new notifications" (or whatever the specific wording was) is not needed now.

You have been so notified....

BruceR said:

The only time you should see "No new notifications" is if you click on the date/time.

Click to expand...

Not quite true. There is one specific condition where you'll always see an icon there that can say 'no new notifications' if you hover over it. It is when you have turned on Focus Assist (or Do Not Disturb) in 22H2) in notifications settings. See my post #4.

Not Myself said:

I no longer see that, which I used to see just by placing the cursor on the `whatever it was' which was not the date/time, and don't see it now by clicking on date/time. I don't miss it. The system that tells me I have new notifications works, and the former "No new notifications" (or whatever the specific wording was) is not needed now.

Click to expand...

Most of us don't see it either as we have Focus Assist turned off, as you have now.

Bree said:

Not quite true. There is one specific condition where you'll always see an icon there that can say 'no new notifications' if you hover over it. It is when you have turned on Focus Assist (or Do Not Disturb) in 22H2) in notifications settings. See my post #4.

Most of us don't see it either as we have Focus Assist turned off, as you have now.

Click to expand...

Does this mean that I am unfocused?

Not Myself said:

Does this mean that I am unfocused?

Click to expand...

No

All focus assist does is hide some or all of the notifications so they do not disturb you while you focus on other apps or tasks.

Imagine, for example, you are presenting a sideshow to an important audience you want to impress. That last thing you need is notifications popping up in the middle of it! Focus assist hides them so you can look at them later.