The Cluttered Corner
In Windows 11, the bottom-right corner of the taskbar is known as the System Tray (or Notification Area). By default, this area becomes a crowded dumping ground for background applications. Antivirus software, cloud syncing tools like OneDrive or Dropbox, gaming clients like Steam, and audio drivers all place their icons here to indicate they are running. While some users find this visual confirmation reassuring, others find a constantly shifting row of colorful, mismatched icons highly distracting and detrimental to a clean, minimalist desktop aesthetic.
Sweeping the Tray Clean
To achieve a truly minimalist taskbar and completely hide all system tray icons without terminating the underlying background applications, you must adjust the taskbar overflow settings.
Right-click on any empty space on your Taskbar and select Taskbar settings. In the Personalization menu that opens, look for the section labelled Other system tray icons (in some builds, this may be under a dropdown called “Taskbar corner overflow”). Expand this section to reveal a list of every single application currently allowed to show an icon in the tray. You will see individual toggle switches next to each app. The most thorough way to clean the area is to go down the list and flip every single toggle to Off. Additionally, look at the very top of this section for a toggle labelled “Hidden icon menu” (the small upward arrow). Turn this Off as well. All background apps will continue to function normally, but their icons will be completely banished from your screen.