Last year, we told you about the new "Windows Update Status Icon" feature introduced in newer versions of Windows 10. This feature was added to Windows 10 April 2018 Update (version 1803) and present in all newer Windows 10 versions.
This new Windows Update status icon is shown in Taskbar notification area or System Tray. The icon is not always visible. It appears only if there is a warning or alert showing on "Settings -> Update & Security -> Windows Update" page.
Following screenshot shows the Windows Update Status Icon displaying in Taskbar notification area:
As you can see in above screenshot, the status icon is containing an exclamation mark indicating a warning or alert. If you click on the icon, it opens Windows Update page in Settings app.
Right-clicking on the status icon, shows following 2 options in the context menu:
- Download now
- Open Windows Update
UPDATE: In newer versions of Windows 10, the Windows Update Status Icon also contains a new option "Hide for now" in context menu which can be used to hide the icon from notification area.
Many Windows 10 users don't like the Windows Update Status Icon and they want to disable or remove this extra icon from Taskbar notification area. We told you in above mentioned article that you can hide the icon using Taskbar Settings page but some readers reported that the icon appears again after restart or after few weeks when Windows 10 checks for new available updates again.
Today in this tutorial, we are going to share a small Registry tweak to permanently disable and remove Windows Update Status Icon from Windows 10 Taskbar notification area. With the help of this tutorial, you'll be able to completely get rid of the status icon and it'll never appear again in system tray.
If you also want to disable this new Windows Update Status Icon feature in Windows 10 and don't want Windows 10 show the icon in Taskbar notification area, following steps will help you in removing the icon:
1. Press WIN+R keys together to launch RUN dialog box. Now type regedit in RUN and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.
2. Now go to following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsUpdate\UX\Settings3. In right-side pane, right-click and select New -> DWROD (32-bit) Value option. Set new DWORD name as TrayIconVisibility and keep its value as 0
That's it. You may need to restart your computer to apply changes. It'll block Windows 10 from showing Windows Update Status Icon in Taskbar notification area.
PS: In future, if you want to re-enable this feature and want to allow Windows 10 to show Windows Update Status Icon in Taskbar notification area, either delete the DWORD TrayIconVisibility or change its value to 1
