Usability Forum

The case of the missing power meter

By Eddie LopezEddie_Lopez. Tuesday, March 20, 2007 2:50:29 AM

What more, as a user, can I do in this case? There's a slight madness when you purposly go in to a series of Windows dialogs, seeking out a specific option, only to check it and find the action not being done. How helpless it feels to sit and see the box checked and get nothing in return!
Update: I did save/apply changes

Simplicity vs. CustomizabilityFrom the department of redundancy department

Comments

Antonie PotgieterContrid # Tuesday, March 20, 2007 3:19:33 PM

I think the system tray icon will only appear once you have clicked "Apply" and "Ok".

Eddie LopezEddie_Lopez # Tuesday, March 20, 2007 3:40:36 PM

I did

-in fact- it's already checked for me when I loaded that dialog (from the last time I checked the box)

Eddie LopezEddie_Lopez # Tuesday, March 20, 2007 7:10:18 PM

windows update was ready

- I was working against a deadline and the "Restart computer" dialog kept coming up. NO! I'll restart it when I'm ready!

I which that dialog had a "do not ask me again" option.

...I'll have to double check the third party battery management. I don't believe so, but that's the only thing that would make sense to me too.

Edit- nope! don't see any 3rd party stuff there for battery management.

Unregistered user # Tuesday, March 20, 2007 8:15:52 PM

Lion Kimbro writes: I've seen this same exact thing. It bugs me to no end.

Unregistered user # Friday, March 23, 2007 8:09:49 PM

Jon writes: I've been using such dialog boxes for 12 years now, and I still don't see what the difference between apply and ok is. Is there one?

Eddie LopezEddie_Lopez # Friday, March 23, 2007 8:33:37 PM

well, the Ok will apply and then "go away" whereas the Apply just keeps the dialog open...presumably you still have other options you'd like to configure.

I read somewhere (and understand) that if you just had the OK button there, and the user moves to another tab to make some other changes (changes across multiple tabs) they feel like the changes made in the previous tab weren't save, even though they would be when the user clicks OK. So- the Apply button is there to make us all feel nice and warm and fuzzy between tabs I guess.

Unregistered user # Tuesday, March 27, 2007 11:54:21 AM

Anonymous writes: One thing at a time... 1. You may discover that unchecking "show icon", clicking Apply, then rechecking (followed by Apply again, or OK) will bring the icon back. 2. Ha ha. I agree entirely with regard to the "restart now or later" dialog after an update. Who's supposed to be in charge here? Certainly doesn't appear to be the user. 3. The Apply button lets you mess around with settings (and seeing their effect) before dismissing a dialog box - for example the operation described in (1) above!

Unregistered user # Tuesday, April 10, 2007 11:17:00 AM

Anonymous writes: Windows XP appears to be doing the same thing to me at the moment with one slight twist - it refuses to add or remove the icon from the task bar when the power supply is not plugged in. With it plugged in, I can add or remove to my hearts content. With it out again? Nothing. Which also means starting up on battery power causes no icon. Very annoying... (This doesn't bode well for me looking for a fix, either)

Unregistered user # Tuesday, June 5, 2007 10:43:38 PM

Anonymous writes: i had this same problem. this is how i fixed it. Open run and type in PowerCfg.cpl from there go to power manager, and click Launch Power Manager. this might be unique to my IBM computer, but i'm not sure... click Options in the lower left hand corner and select Show... Ok Ok and you're done.

Unregistered user # Thursday, June 28, 2007 2:41:24 PM

LudoErgoSum writes: Got the exact same problem as the poster. And we all know enough to be frustrated about Microsoft. I'm wondering if someone out there have a solution that dosent include using run to get a menu easily accesed elswere. Summary: Help! How do i get my power meter back! P.S. I dont even see a icon when the laptopp is hooked to the power grid.

Unregistered user # Wednesday, September 19, 2007 11:19:42 AM

Sarah writes: "1. You may discover that unchecking "show icon", clicking Apply, then rechecking (followed by Apply again, or OK) will bring the icon back." Thank you! I did it and it worked! Sarah

Unregistered user # Friday, January 11, 2008 8:35:51 PM

Hal writes: I have the exact same problem. I tried the "uncheck - check again, hit apply and ok" hint. It still did not solve the problem. Any other good ideas?

Unregistered user # Friday, January 11, 2008 8:47:16 PM

Hal writes: ... and to avoid the obvious comment: I did "1) uncheck, hit apply, hit ok. 2) check, hit apply, hit ok" and it did not work. Tried it several times. But my power meter is now back. I ran Unblue RegistryBooster2 to clean up my registry and rebooted. I am not claiming that the registry cleaning did the trick: it may have just been the reboot. I am just describing what I did. In any case, my power meter is back. It bugged me too and I am happy now. What a waste of time, though...

Unregistered user # Sunday, February 3, 2008 8:38:39 AM

Neil writes: I found this and it worked for me. Happy hunting. "Ahh i think i may have fixed it. =) Went into run > services.msc and then double clicked on SSDP Discovery Service and disabled it. Now im able to see the power meter every reboot. Someone else who has this problem see if they can confirm this as a working fix".

Unregistered user # Friday, February 15, 2008 12:52:50 AM

HissinSid writes: Spot on Neil that worked a treat. I had exactly the same problem and nothing I tried would bring the icon back to the taskbar. How the heck did you come across that little gem and what is this SSDP service?

Unregistered user # Tuesday, May 20, 2008 12:43:49 PM

outlander writes: Sorry, but Neils's fix did not work for me... any other fix to try?

Unregistered user # Tuesday, May 20, 2008 12:53:14 PM

Outlander writes: Guys.. try.. http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm did the trick using "hide or show all listed tray icons" cheers.. oh!! surce here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=83794

Unregistered user # Monday, August 4, 2008 8:20:13 AM

Pete writes: If Explorer missed detecting the power meter setting as it was starting up, you can generally get it back by using Ctrl-Alt-Del to bring up Task Manager, kill Explorer, then restart it by using File--New Task and typinng "explorer" into the entry field. Yes, this does suggest it's an Explorer start-up bug on XP. (NFI if this is still an issue in Vista.)

Unregistered user # Monday, August 25, 2008 2:33:29 PM

Geoff writes: Thanks Outlander, kellyscorner did it for me - very useful utility. New Advent 4211 netbook (MSI Wind clone).

Unregistered user # Monday, October 13, 2008 9:19:51 AM

dorah writes: i dont have anything at the moment

Unregistered user # Monday, December 15, 2008 1:27:33 AM

Anonymous writes: Disabling the "SSDP Discovery Service" worked for me too.

Unregistered user # Sunday, May 17, 2009 12:29:53 AM

HalOfBorg writes: SSDP disabled worked for me as well. I don't know what it will hurt. I DO us uTorrent with uPnP enabled in it and my router so it might slow down some.

Unregistered user # Saturday, February 20, 2010 6:06:26 PM

Anonymous writes: Pete's trick of killing explorer in task manager and putting it back with file and new task, then typing in explore worked for me. Thanks very much, Pete.

Unregistered user # Tuesday, May 4, 2010 8:46:05 PM

Mishu writes: I confirm. It works with TaskbarRepairToolPlus! :)