Writing app in C# to manipulate taskbar/notification area

[archcommus]

Hey all,

First post on thescripts, this site has answered many of my questions in the past via searching.

Basically, my philosophy on the taskbar and notification area is that what's displayed shouldn't necessarily represent what is running, but what is running that requires interaction. Some things simply require no interaction and so shouldn't be displayed. My anti-virus program and Windows Sidebar are two apps for me which require no interaction and I don't want to see them by the clock. They do not provide ways to hide their icons, and I don't want to close them, either. I could use the "hide icons" feature of the taskbar, but I dislike it as it sometimes arbitrarily hides and shows things, and I don't like wondering what might be hiding behind that arrow that I don't know about.

So I'd like to write a small app, probably in C#, that at the very least allows for hiding of notification area icons, and at the very most would become a program to hide/show anything on the taskbar, and maybe even re-arrange things. I know programs already exist for this but they all seem to suck. I'm looking to write something that's small, reliable, and doesn't need to always be running, is just launched when I want to make a change.

I need some assistance on where to get started. I have to find out how to access the collection of icons that are already by the clock and how to start manipulating them. It sounds like this would violate some program protection rules, manipulating other programs' junk and stuff, but I know it must be possible somehow since other programs already do this.

Thanks.