Windows 7 Notification Icons Problems

I'm experiencing a problem in Windows 7 x64 where there are a large number of blank spaces in my "notifications icons" popup. These same gaps appear if I change the setting to show all icons. If I hover of the gaps, the spaces indicate that I've hovered over them, but there is no text popup indicating what I'm hovering over, and there's no reaction by right or left clicking on the space.

There's nothing unusual running in my process list, and my system has come up clean using a variety of malware, spyware and antivirus checks.

I'd like to get it back to normal. I've tried closing the running applications, but it doesn't seem to resolve the issue. Any ideas?

There's an image of the problem here: http://twitpic.com/26tttz


Maybe try deleting the icon cache?


From: http://www.fixitjim.net/2012/11/fix-corrupt-or-blank-windows-7-system.html

  1. Open Regedit via Start-->Search
  2. Open Task Manager via CTRL-ALT-DEL
  3. Find Explorer.exe in the list and end the Process
  4. Go back to Regedit
  5. Select HKEY_CURRENTUSER
  6. Click Edit-->Find
  7. Search for IconStreams Or navigate directly to HKEY_CURRENTUSER\SOFTWARE\CLASSES\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\TrayNotify\
  8. Delete IconStreams
  9. Search or navigate to PastIconStreams
  10. Delete this key as well
  11. Hit CTRL-ALT-DEL
  12. Start Task Manager
  13. Click File-->Run
  14. Type, Explorer.exe
  15. The issue should be resolved.

This link also has same solution: https://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/36510-how-to-fix-blank-system-tray-icons