How to Hide System Tray icons in Windows XP

The System Tray in Windows XP is the area in which icons of running applications/processes are displayed towards the right of the Task bar. Many programs give you an option of letting them minimize to the system tray instead of the taskbar when you run their installations. You can organize the icons on the System Tray and choose to hide them when not active.
You can also choose to completely stop showing any of the icons.
For making your System Tray uncluttered,

    1. Right-Click anywhere on the Taskbar and choose “Properties”. (Or you can even go to Control Panel –> Taskbar and Start Menu). The Taskbar and Start Menu Properties window opens.

    2. In the Notification Area section of the Taskbar tab, tick the “Hide inactive icons” option. This will enable the Customize button.
    3. Click the Customize button to open the Customize Notifications window.
    4.Here you can choose between the options “Hide when inactive“, “Always hide” and “Always show” for each of the icons that are displayed in the System tray.