Identify what's painting the empty space in my Windows notification area?

I have an "icon" in my Windows (XP, if it matters) notification area (by the clock) which renders no image, but rather an empty square space (no borders -- nothing rendered at all in the space where you'd expect an icon). Upon mousing over this space, it immediately collapses (disappears), preventing me from gathering any information about it.

I'm assuming the collapse (on mouseover) indicates the process is no longer running.

How can I learn what process is painting this "void" in my notification area? I don't control the workstation, so I can't control what launches when.

Solution 1:

I would use ProcMon's timeline to show you what processes started and exited. Once you know what process was running you can find out why it started using Autoruns. You might be able to start with Autoruns first but as it is exiting it might be hard to find who already exited.

Solution 2:

I would reboot and check your event viewer. If you need directions let me know. Event viewer should give you an indication of what failed on startup, which based on your description is what is happening.

There is a service or process firing and dying during the boot process that creates the system tray icon.