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Disable icon in notification area

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heireen
Posts: 8
Joined: February 22nd, 2017, 10:53 am

Disable icon in notification area

Post by heireen »

Hello everybody, :welcome:

I search a solution for disable the Rainmeter icon in notification area (for users dont see it)

Of course, I can remove the icon by hand (masking it), but what I want is to be able to remove it (by script for example) for all users (with GPO).

I know that there is a registry key name "Tray notification" but this key contains all icons, and I need disable Rainmeter icon only.

Thank's for reply
Last edited by heireen on June 7th, 2017, 1:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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jsmorley
Developer
Posts: 22628
Joined: April 19th, 2009, 11:02 pm
Location: Fort Hunt, Virginia, USA

Re: Disable icon in notification area

Post by jsmorley »

This can be set in the Manage dialog:

https://docs.rainmeter.net/manual/user-interface/manage/#SettingsTab

The result is written to the Rainmeter.ini file for the user.
heireen
Posts: 8
Joined: February 22nd, 2017, 10:53 am

Re: Disable icon in notification area

Post by heireen »

Thank's for your fast and clear reply ! :thumbup:

Effectively, the lines "DisableVersionCheck" and "TrayIcon" appear in the Rainmeter.ini now

Well thanks to you
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jsmorley
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Joined: April 19th, 2009, 11:02 pm
Location: Fort Hunt, Virginia, USA

Re: Disable icon in notification area

Post by jsmorley »

Glad to help.

Be aware that those settings are designed on purpose to be under the control of the end-user of Rainmeter. They cannot be distributed in a .rmskin, and the end-user can never be locked out of simply changing them. We don't recommend or in any way support "distributing" Rainmeter in some organization, locking it down to some pre-configured set of skins or settings states. That will just never work, and that is what we intend.
heireen
Posts: 8
Joined: February 22nd, 2017, 10:53 am

Re: Disable icon in notification area

Post by heireen »

In fact, i had read that the user would still have control of the application, and that consequently it's not meant to be deployed.

However, I added the lines by hand in Rainmeter.ini, and as the icon no appear, users have no way to change the configuration (not including the directory "rainmeter" in C:\).

So i don't understand why Rainmeter is not recommanded for distributing. :confused:
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jsmorley
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Joined: April 19th, 2009, 11:02 pm
Location: Fort Hunt, Virginia, USA

Re: Disable icon in notification area

Post by jsmorley »

heireen wrote:In fact, i had read that the user would still have control of the application, and that consequently it's not meant to be deployed.

However, I added the lines by hand in Rainmeter.ini, and as the icon no appear, users have no way to change the configuration (not including the directory "rainmeter" in C:\).

So i don't understand why Rainmeter is not recommanded for distributing. :confused:
Everything is also available from the right-click menu on any skin...

Rainmeter simply cannot be "locked down". The folder where Rainmeter.ini is stored (either in the user's AppData folder if a normal install is done, or in whatever folder is defined in a portable install) MUST be set to read and write for the user, or Rainmeter won't work right at all. All attempts to lock down Rainmeter, removing the tray icon, disabling right-click on skins, anything else you might do, are at best "locks to keep honest people honest". Rainmeter is this way by design. We want the end-user to have full control and it's just not intended as a commercial or business tool.

As far as distributing it in general in a work environment, nothing precludes that, given the above of course, but it's not designed to be "secure". The end-user can install skins they get from who knows where, they can change any skin you give out, and for at least some users, you are just putting a "toy" on their machine that doesn't seem like a good fit for a business environment to me. I personally would never allow it on any machine in a workplace I controlled.
heireen
Posts: 8
Joined: February 22nd, 2017, 10:53 am

Re: Disable icon in notification area

Post by heireen »

Thanks for your explanations.

Of course, if a user installs skins, this can cause problems. Users have no rights to install programs.

I tried to get around the problem, via a script: if rainmeter directory is changed, I copy the old one.

But I take your advice.

For now, rainmeter is the best solution that I found to directly display the ip of a user on the desktop, and it's very beautiful.
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jsmorley
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Joined: April 19th, 2009, 11:02 pm
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Re: Disable icon in notification area

Post by jsmorley »

Yeah, not trying to be discouraging, and if you are in an environment where you can say "we are putting this little dealeo on your desktop to display your IP address, don't mess with it or I will punch you in the ear" and you can expect that to be effective. then fine. I'm just saying that you can't lock it down in any effective way, and you have to depend on the honor system to some extent. My fear is that the powers that be at your company, particularly any security guy working for IT, is likely not to be a huge fan of the honor system.

Just trying to be clear that this has come up before on a number of occasions. The short answer to the question "Can I lock Rainmeter down so I can safely distribute it in my company?" is "No". the long answer is "Oh, hell no". There are no steps you can take that can't be circumvented in a trivial way by anyone who is even moderately familiar with Windows.
heireen
Posts: 8
Joined: February 22nd, 2017, 10:53 am

Re: Disable icon in notification area

Post by heireen »

Exactly we warned the users, and I deployed it with the agreement of my superiors.

I understood that we could not totally locked Rainmeter. :-(

For the moment, the case is stable..

Thank's and have a good day