How to access (or switch between) tray icons with shortcut in windows? [duplicate]

How to access (or switch between) tray icons with defined shortcuts in windows? I have many running programs which I cannot reach with alt-tab because they are not in taskbar - they are in tray. How do you reach those applications without a mouse? I heard of some tricky keys combination (like ctrl+esc esc tab tab tab and then find application with arrow keys), but it's ridiculous to use such long keys combination for such simple task. Is there any utility to manage switching like TaskSwitchXP for alt+tab? Or maybe TaskSwitchXP has possibility to access applications in tray?


4t Tray Minimizer Free can do this and more.

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  • various ways to minimize any application to the system tray;
  • ability to hide any application without showing tray icon;
  • the customized hotkeys for minimizing, restoring, maximizing and launching applications;
  • ability to customize the minimizing behavior of your favorite application;
  • quick hiding/showing the whole system tray.

You can download it here. A free version as well as a paid version ($19.95) is available.


As for the key combination, it's Ctrl + Esc, then Tab 3 times to get to the tray. But I don't think you can switch between the apps in the tray like this, it only highlights time.


Use Windows + B to access tray icons in Windows 7. To access Hidden tray icons press Enter after it. Use Arrow keys to nevigate between icons. Used a lot in Windows 7, But I have to check it for Windows XP