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- How to Clear Past Items from the Notification Area in Windows Vista
- Home
- Windows Vista
- Scripts
- How to Clear Past Items from the Notification Area in Windows Vista
How to Clear Past Items from the Notification Area in Windows Vista
Summary
This article describes how to clear the Past Items list in the Customize Notifications window.

Clearing the items in Customize Notifications dialog
Automate: You can automate the following task using the script clearpastitems.vbs available for download at the bottom of this page. The script can be run in Windows XP and Windows Vista systems.
To clear the Past Items list manually, follow the steps below:
- Click Start, type regedit.exe and press Enter
- Navigate to the following branch:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\TrayNotify
- Delete the values IconStreams and PastIconsStream
- Quit the Registry Editor
- Open Task Manager (taskmgr.exe), click the Processes tab
- Select Explorer.exe, and then click End Process
- In Task Manager, click File, click New Task, type explorer, and then click OK.
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7 Responses to "How to Clear Past Items from the Notification Area in Windows Vista" 
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said this on 01 Apr 2007 7:42:05 PM PST
EXCELLENT !!
It only clears the past items. The tool
I used with XP cleared all items than
it was necessary to reconfigure.
One click and it is done.
Thanks
Richard
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said this on 29 Jul 2007 3:58:22 PM PST
Awesome. The VBS file was the only thing on the web I found that actually worked on my PC. Thanks a million...
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said this on 28 Jan 2008 12:45:16 PM PST
Works Perfect! but ya may erase the boths values... not only the PastIconStream...
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said this on 01 Jul 2008 10:14:49 AM PST
Thank you very much! The only problem that occurred was the fact that it deleted both current, and non current items. It doesn't matter that much, but it should say that it is going to do this, as they have to be reconfigured.
Thanks again! :)
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