The System Tray (Windows)

Located: The right side of the task bar (the bottom right corner of the screen in a default Windows configuration).

The system tray shows programs running in the background that want to provide the user with more information or add functionality. This takes the form of small "icons" which are usually interactable in two ways:

1. Left-click or double-click to open the associated program
2. Right-click to open a context-sensitive menu with other options

A common example is the volume icon (appears a speaker in the above picture). This is the graphical manifestation of the service Windows Sound. Normally, if you want to adjust the volume level, you have to go through a convoluted set of menus, but this can all be bypassed by simply clicking on the icon, which brings up a simplified volume slider. Double-clicking brings up a menu with more options.

These nifty icons have a downside, however: they consume system resources (as do the parent programs that installed them). If your computer is running slowly, and your system tray is filled with lots of icons (>10), you may be experiencing a system memory shortage. See here for more information.