Copyright: Copyright © 2000 Catalin Caranfil


 Quick Start

If your system tray looks like that:

with SysTrayX it can look like this:

or even as small as this:

(But note that the "locale/keyboard indicator" was not hidden even if we could - that one is only usable if left in the tray (in the SysTrayX Menu it will always show the locale for SysTrayX)).

SysTrayX  is designed to maximize the way you can use your system tray and is doing that with two main features :

- SysTrayX helps you hide some of the less used icons from the system tray - the hidden icons can still be seen and used in the special SysTrayX menu but will no longer permanently take precious space from your system tray;

- provide recovery for those icons if anything happens to the system tray.


SysTrayX Menu
 Menu

Any  normal mouse action (righ-click, left-click or left-double-click) on a special item in this menu has the same result as after the same action on the icon in the tray!

The SysTrayX Menu is generated after a right-click on the SysTrayX mini-icon in the system tray and looks similar to this:

 (click on the menu items in the graphic below to get more info)


SysTrayX Settings - Tray Programs
 Settings - Tray Programs

SysTrayX can be configured from a special dialog obtained by either double-clicking on the SysTrayX icon in the tray, selecting "Settings" from the SysTrayX Menu or using a special hotkey (default Ctrl + Alt + Num-)

The first page is "Tray Programs" from where it is possible to select which tray icons will be visible in the system tray or in the SysTrayX menu - for more info click on the picture below.


SysTrayX Settings - User Interface
 Settings - User Interface

SysTrayX can be configured from a special dialog obtained by either double-clicking on the SysTrayX icon in the tray, selecting "Settings" from the SysTrayX Menu or using a special hotkey (default Ctrl + Alt + Num-)

The second page is "User Interface" from where a number of options releted to the SysTrayX interface can be changed - for more info click on the picture below.


SysTrayX Settings - Advanced
 Settings - Advanced

SysTrayX can be configured from a special dialog obtained by either double-clicking on the SysTrayX icon in the tray, selecting "Settings" from the SysTrayX Menu or using a special hotkey (default Ctrl + Alt + Num-)

The last page is "Advanced" from where a number of special options releted to SysTrayX can be changed - for more info click on the picture below.


 Using SysTrayX

Everybody can configure SysTrayX in his/her preferred way, but here are some ideas:

only leave in the system tray (as always visible) the icons for important programs = programs that you use very often from the tray or that "signal" an important message - one special program is the "locale/keyboard indicator" which will only be usable if left in the tray (in the SysTrayX Menu it will always show the locale for SysTrayX);

if you don't want a program in the system tray and that program has an internal way to configure that it's better to try to use that way first, and only if it fails use SysTrayX - for instance XDESK has itself a much better control over what to be displayed in the system tray;

you might want to remove from the SysTrayX menu the programs that you have chosen to leave always visible in the system tray.


 Tray recovery

It is possible that in some conditions the system tray will crash - normally the operating system will restart it automatically BUT will NOT place back all the icons that were there before the crash (some smarter programs like XDESK will do that themselves, but NOT ALL).

SysTrayX will take care of that!

Here are two ways to check this (try that ONLY if you know what you do - and be very careful!):

crash the EXPLORER.EXE instance that hosts the system tray - one way to do that under NT4 or Win9x (but not Win2k) is from XDESK / Task List / (select the "Program Manager" window) / Window / Crash - the system will automatically restart it and you can do the test with and without SysTrayX !

you can kill the same EXPLORER.EXE from the NT (or Win2k) Task Manager OR you can close it with a very interesting sequence - select "Shutdown" from the Start Menu - BUT when the dialog asking for your confirmation appears press (at the same time) CTRL + ALT + SHIFT + ESC (or click with the mouse on <Cancel> while pressing CTRL + ALT + SHIFT). This time the system will no longer restart EXPLORER automatically and you will have to start it manually from Task Manager - but after that the result will be the same - without SysTrayX the icons in the tray are lost!


 Contact Information

If there is some aspect of SysTrayX  that you would like to see modified or added,  don't hesitate to write us an e-mail - SysTrayX  is experiencing extraordinary growth!

You can find the latest version at http://www.xdesksoftware.com

Also a free mailing list is provided so that you can automatically be informed about latest versions or other special stuff (like beta versions).

At the same site you can now register ONLINE! (actually there are links to our US distributors - they handle all the credit-card part safely and quickly)

The maximum price (but some distributors have smaller fees than other) for EACH SysTrayX license is:

15US$ 	1 license

13US$ 	2-9 licenses

10US$ 	10-49 licenses

  8US$ 	50-999 licenses

  5US$	for 1000 more more licenses

You will generally need a total number of licenses equal to the number of separate SysTrayX  instances that can run at the same time. (if you have three computers and each one has both NT4 and Win95 you only need three licenses, not six!).

Prices for special (= other than e-mail) handling/delivery costs are not included!

Included in this price is:

latest version (by e-mail) registered with a name of your choice - it can be your name or the name of your company

1 year subscription for any other version launched during this subscription (new versions will automatically be delivered by e-mail!).

e-mail based technical support.

In order to get special licenses (very big orders/site licenses or unlimited upgrades & support) you should contact by e-mail systrayx@xdesksoftware.com or xdesk@interplus.ro.


Tray icons

Any  normal mouse action (righ-click, left-click or left-double-click) on a special item in this menu has the same result as after the same action on the icon in the tray!


Auto Repaint

"Auto Repaint" will force a repaint of the SysTrayX menu or configuration dialog each time a new icon is added, removed or changed.


Autostart SysTrayX on this system, but NOT for current user

"Autostart SysTrayX on this system, but NOT for current user" will only disable SysTrayX for the current user in a multi-user system.


Autostart SysTrayX on this system, including for current user

"Autostart SysTrayX on this system, including for current user" will enable SysTrayX for this users and in a multi-user system will potentially enable SysTrayX for all users.


SysTrayX active for new users

This setting might be handy on systems where multple users might exist on the same computer - like in NT4 or Win2k - and will make SysTrayX active by default for all users! (instead of needing to install SysTrayX for each one)


Total disable SysTrayX autostart on this system

"Total disable SysTrayX autostart on this system" will disable SysTrayX autostart for all users.


Default values

The "Default values" can change the way how is handled a tray icon for which there is no rule - changing those two flags will have immediate effect on all those icons!


Autostart delay

"Autostart delay" is the time in milliseconds that will be added before SysTrayX starts on each login (and might be useful in some instances when you have a lot of services that take a long time to start).


The list with existing tray icons

This is a list will all the icons that are now in the system tray.


Tray icon info

That part of the dialog contains extra information about the selected tray icon - like the program and window that registered the tray icon. That information can sometimes be important when you find an unusual program that can not be hidden by SysTrayX (especially when you will email us a "bug report").


Visible in the system tray

From this combo you configure if the selected icon will be displayed in the system tray.


Visible in the SysTrayX menu

From this combo you configure if the selected icon will be displayed in the SysTrayX menu.


Password

With this button it is possible to activate the dialog that will set the SysTrayX password - if one is already set the button will display on the left a "checkmark" while if no password ( = empty) is selected and all SysTrayX security features are disabled an X will be displayed.


Password for SysTrayX menu

When this setting is selected, SysTrayX will also ask for the password (if one is set) before displaying the SysTrayX menu.


Exit SysTrayX

With this button is it possible to stop SysTrayX - this can be handy if for some reason the SysTrayX menu is no longer available.


Add SysTrayX tray icon

With this button is it possible to add the SysTrayX icon to the tray if for some reason that icon was "lost".


Language for the user interface

It is now possible to select a different language for the user interface.


HotKeys

It is now possible to change the hotkey used to activate the SysTrayX Menu (default Ctrl + Alt + Num+) or the SysTrayX Settings dialog (default Ctrl + Alt + Num-).