Taskbar icon keeps popping up that is associated with nothing - cause?

[Liberty610]

Hi all,

 

Recently I started getting a Windows icon in my task bar that I can not close. I was wonder if anyone knows how I could go about finding what is causing it. It's happened a couple times now, and I am not sure exactly when it starts, and I can't close it. When I left click it, nothing maximizes from it, and when I right click on it, all it says is "close all windows" (see attached picture). And when I I click on that, it doesn't do anything - it just stays there.

 

Any ideas?

[Eigenvektor]

First thing to check would be Task Manager. If it has an icon, it should appear in running programs.

[Liberty610]

Just now, Eigenvektor said:

First thing to check would be Task Manager. If it has an icon, it should appear in running programs.

I did, but the only icon it has is the one in picture and there are several of these in task manager.

 

[Eigenvektor]

10 minutes ago, Liberty610 said:

I did, but the only icon it has is the one in picture and there are several of these in task manager.

What I mean is, it should appear in the top section ("Apps"), rather than "Background processes", since it is associated with a window. Anything suspicious in there?

 

In any case, you may want to run a malware check

[Liberty610]

11 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

What I mean is, it should appear in the top section ("Apps"), rather than "Background processes", since it is associated with a window. Anything suspicious in there?

 

In any case, you may want to run a malware check

No there is nothing odd in the apps section. I know everything that is running there.

I'll run a malware check and see if anything comes back.

[Liberty610]

21 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

What I mean is, it should appear in the top section ("Apps"), rather than "Background processes", since it is associated with a window. Anything suspicious in there?

 

In any case, you may want to run a malware check

I have used Malewarebytes, and nothing came back. I also ran Windows Defender and nothing came back there either.

[thevictor390]

Honestly I'd close everything I can and just start killing stuff in task manager until it goes away. Something is creating it. It's on the left of the arrow which means it is not a normal system tray icon. For example, on my laptop there is a battery icon there created by Lenovo Vantage.

[Liberty610]

4 hours ago, thevictor390 said:

Honestly I'd close everything I can and just start killing stuff in task manager until it goes away. Something is creating it. It's on the left of the arrow which means it is not a normal system tray icon. For example, on my laptop there is a battery icon there created by Lenovo Vantage.

Yea, I am not sure what's causing it. This just started happening the other day. I will continue to keep an eye on it and see if it continues. I'll report back if I figure out what's causing it.