Consistently misnamed as the System Tray, the Notification Area has long been a key com ponent of Wi ndows and remains at the forefront of its cheerfully interfering nature.

So, if a warning or an advisory appears anywhere on the screen, it's likely to be here,at the bottom of the Windows Desktop, on the far rig ht -hand side of the Taskbar.AII manner of tools and shortcuts appear here, from power monitors to new email indicators.

All in all, it's a busy part of the Windows Desktop and worth getting to know.We'll look at it in Windows Vista, but it operates in essentially the same way in XP.

SWITCH ON THE PC and let Windows start as normal.Then, instead of ignoring them, have a look at any messages that pop up in the bottom right-hand corner of the Windows Desktop. Depending on how the PC is configured, several important Windows utilities set up shop in the Notification Area and regularly display helpful (or annoying) messages about what's going on. In this screenshot, for example,Vista's Parental Controls utility (see our Workshop on this in issue 248) is reminding us to check the report to make sure the kids haven't been surfing where they shouldn't.

WHILE THESE MESSAGES ARE an important part of the Notification Area, it's also a way of getting at Windows utilities that may need adjusting from time to time or accessing programs that also place icons there when they're installed.Thus,c1icking on the speaker icon will open Windows'volume control and a link to the mixer, while double-clicking the Quicktime icon will open Apple's media player. Anti-virus programs usually install an icon in the Notification Area because it's useful for displaying alerts and offers easy access for scans and so on.

MANY COMPUTERS CONNECT WIRELESSLY to the internet and the Notification Area is also home to Vista's Network Sharing Centre. Hover the mouse pointer over the icon that shows two PCs and a little globe to see a quick summary ofthe current connection, and then click the Network and Sharing Centre link to get the full low-down on the wireless network and how well- or otherwise it's currently working. If the PC comes with its own wireless¬networking software, then that usually has an icon in the Notification Area as well.

USERS OF NOTEBOOK COMPUTERS will find a useful and important program running in the Notification Area - the Power Options utility.This provides a quick, visual indicator of how much battery life is left, and hovering the pointer over it displays more detail. In Vista, clicking on it once displays a mini dialogue box for switching between different modes of power consumption¬Balanced, Power Save and High Performance. It's also possible to jump straight to the full set of Control Panel options from here.

IT'S ALSO POSSIBLE TO customise the Notification Area in various ways. Right-click on a blank part of the Taskbar and choose Properties from the pop-up menu and then, when the dialogue box opens, Vista users should click the Notification Area tab at the top (in Xp, the Notification Area section is visible right away). From here, it's easy to remove rarely used items from the Notification Area by clicking to remove ticks from the appropriate boxes in the Iist.This may be particularly useful for people working on a small screen at a lower resolution where space is at a premium .

ALTERNATIVELY, CLICK THE CUSTOMIZE button and go through the list of programs that are set to display in the Notification Area and change their settings individually.To do this,c1ick on a program in the list with the left mouse button. Notice that the entry under the Behaviour column turns into a dropdown list. Click on it and then choose one of the options there. In this example, we'd like the sticky notes program to stay visible rather than being hidden when it's inactive. Click OK and then OK again to apply any changes.