padlock icon in system tray, can it be turned off?

[ThisSiteHasLostItsCharm]

Does anyone know how to stop the little padlock icon showing up in the system tray?

As far as I know it can show when the event log is full and when a service fails to load.

[+BudMan MVC]

Um thats is not a standard win7 icon - that must be some 3rd party application your running.

I can tell you I have not seen that icon on none of the win7 machines I have setup.

[ThisSiteHasLostItsCharm]

Um thats is not a standard win7 icon - that must be some 3rd party application your running.

I can tell you I have not seen that icon on none of the win7 machines I have setup.

Um, I think you'll find it is part of windows. It's not a 3rd party application, when I hover over it, it says the event log is full. So I cleared it again and rebooted, and its not there now. Also, once I stopped the GPC service and it appeared in the tray when the desktop had loaded saying the GPC failed to start. That's how I know it's part of windows.

I prefer to clear my logs manually, I just wondered if the little icon can be turned off, I already have balloon tips off.

[Jan Veteran]

Click the UP arrow, customize, then set the icon to Hide Icon and Notifications??

[Phenom II]

I cant find anything on the net about a padlock for system event logs being full

Only that the event log being full is an error in itself, that you can stop by setting the event log to overwrite once it reaches max size

[ThisSiteHasLostItsCharm]

Click the UP arrow, customize, then set the icon to Hide Icon and Notifications??

Not quite what I was thinking, as I like to either have them show or disable them completely.

I cant find anything on the net about a padlock for system event logs being full

Only that the event log being full is an error in itself, that you can stop by setting the event log to overwrite once it reaches max size

I too have searched, but not everything is documented on the web, as I couldn't find anything either.

[+Chsoriano Subscriber²]

I cant find anything on the net about a padlock for system event logs being full

Only that the event log being full is an error in itself, that you can stop by setting the event log to overwrite once it reaches max size

+1

Determine which log is filling up, then open up eventvwr and make sure that that log is being overwritten (as needed, 3-7 days, etc.) . You could also increase the size if necessary... but I would advise against that, but that may be due to my days as a server admin where fat logs would cause a lot of problems.

[+BudMan MVC]

"once I stopped the GPC service"

And what service is that??

Do you mean?

SERVICE_NAME: gpsvc

DISPLAY_NAME: Group Policy Client

That service is pretty much locked down -- so curious how you went about shutting it down, and WHY??

But your right that icon is standard, just have never seen it since have never run into my logs being fulled, since they default to what 20MB ;) And then are set to overwrite.. So how in the world would you fill them up ;) hehehe

But sure enough, I cleared my security log set it to min size 1MB and then turned on every audit item I could and then started doing stuff -- sure enough.

So to not see that -- let your event log overwrite or achive itself, and prob not dick with the default settings would be the best bet ;) Or if you having something filling it up -- what?? You most likely have a problem.

[+jamesyfx Subscriber²]

I would fix the problem instead of just hiding it or ignoring it - that's what the notification area is for.. to notify you.

[grunger106]

I would fix the problem instead of just hiding it or ignoring it - that's what the notification area is for.. to notify you.

Yup, the eventlog is there for a reason.

Fix the problem and your icon will go away.

[devHead]

Um, I think you'll find it is part of windows. It's not a 3rd party application, when I hover over it, it says the event log is full. So I cleared it again and rebooted, and its not there now. Also, once I stopped the GPC service and it appeared in the tray when the desktop had loaded saying the GPC failed to start. That's how I know it's part of windows.

I prefer to clear my logs manually, I just wondered if the little icon can be turned off, I already have balloon tips off.

So, you've gone in tweaking things in your configuration of your PC or something? What did you do to make your event log fill up and not start replacing the logs when it reached a certain size? What is the GPC service, and why would you stop the service? What do you mean you prefer to clear your logs manually? Logs should just be overwriting themselves (older entries that is) when it reaches a certain size. Sounds like you've done some rather odd tweaking; it might be good to inform everyone what you've changed already.

[ThisSiteHasLostItsCharm]

"once I stopped the GPC service"

And what service is that??

Do you mean?

SERVICE_NAME: gpsvc

DISPLAY_NAME: Group Policy Client

That service is pretty much locked down -- so curious how you went about shutting it down, and WHY??

But your right that icon is standard, just have never seen it since have never run into my logs being fulled, since they default to what 20MB ;) And then are set to overwrite.. So how in the world would you fill them up ;) hehehe

But sure enough, I cleared my security log set it to min size 1MB and then turned on every audit item I could and then started doing stuff -- sure enough.

So to not see that -- let your event log overwrite or achive itself, and prob not dick with the default settings would be the best bet ;) Or if you having something filling it up -- what?? You most likely have a problem.

About the GPCSVC service, if you remove the security sub key in the registry you can turn off the service, and if you don't use any group policies you can turn it off, although the padlock will come up on every boot, so I left it on. Back to event logs though, I've disabled all the logs I don't require and set them all to the lowest size, that's why they fill up so quick and to tell you the truth, I rarely have the need to check the logs for problems. I could disable the event log service but I prefer to keep it on, just in case :)

[ThisSiteHasLostItsCharm]

So, you've gone in tweaking things in your configuration of your PC or something? What did you do to make your event log fill up and not start replacing the logs when it reached a certain size? What is the GPC service, and why would you stop the service? What do you mean you prefer to clear your logs manually? Logs should just be overwriting themselves (older entries that is) when it reaches a certain size. Sounds like you've done some rather odd tweaking; it might be good to inform everyone what you've changed already.

my logs are set to Do not overwrite events, clear logs manually. Because that's the way I like it, all I wanted to find out is if it's possible to disable the logs full notification, You can disable just about everything else in windows, just wondered about this thing.

[+BudMan MVC]

"I've disabled all the logs I don't require and set them all to the lowest size"

:blink: WTF for??

As to how to disable gpcsvc -- Yeah I know what is required to do it, which again I have to ask WHY??

What exactly do/did you expect to gain by setting the event log size so low, and then not setting it to overwrite??

If you would of just left it at default you would not be having these issues, and would have a nice long logs to use if need be.. You can not seriously be worried about a few MB that the logs would take up with their default sizes???

Do you actually think that disabling logging and disabling system service would make any difference in your performance?? You know they lock them down like that for a reason ;) So that people don't DICK WITH THEM!!

[sc302 Veteran]

some computer experts are so expert that they dont need no stinkin logging to be able to troubleshoot a computer. format and rebuild is always the answer, no logging needed...it wastes space, time, effort, etc. we are too 1337 for you. virus, format; malware, format; word not acting right, format; firefox won't come up, format; hell even format ever week just to format. We know what we are doing, we just need fdisk. hell we are so 133t we don't need no stinkin mouse or keyboard, osmosis is how we fix things, we just touch it and think it and it is fixed with a format.

[Singh400]

Ignoring the lectures from above, I'm not sure you can disable the notifications of the event log being full. Although I would say the registry is your best bet.

[ThisSiteHasLostItsCharm]

Ignoring the lectures from above, I'm not sure you can disable the notifications of the event log being full. Although I would say the registry is your best bet.

Yea, looks that way, funny how you always get the same old replies. I'll have a little root around in the reg.

@ the WTF? posts, it's not a question of performance, I just like a tidy hdd, I do regular clean outs of logs and junk, the less the better imo.

[Singh400]

Yea, looks that way, funny how you always get the same old replies. I'll have a little root around in the reg.

@ the WTF? posts, it's not a question of performance, I just like a tidy hdd, I do regular clean outs of logs and junk, the less the better imo.

That's not to say that I don't agree with them - I do. But it's your PC do what you want. It's not exactly best practice but that's how you learn ;)

[+BudMan MVC]

"I just like a tidy hdd"

There is ANAL, and then there is just nonsense... What your doing is NONSENSE! Plain and simple.. You don't disable logging to keep your hdd tidy.. Run a script to delete your temp files every 20 minutes if you want ;) But disabling logging and turning of system services does not keeping your hdd tidy and it sure is not the way to learn anything.

But I have to thank you -- I have learned something.. If someone lowers the size of their log files to lowest possible size, and then disables overwriting or achieving of said log files they will get annoyed by a padlock icon in their tray ;) heheheh

[sc302 Veteran]

This screams a ask a ninja webisode. How does a ninja repair a computer?

Followed by, how does a ninja keep his computer clean?

[ThisSiteHasLostItsCharm]

"I just like a tidy hdd"

There is ANAL, and then there is just nonsense... What your doing is NONSENSE! Plain and simple.. You don't disable logging to keep your hdd tidy.. Run a script to delete your temp files every 20 minutes if you want ;) But disabling logging and turning of system services does not keeping your hdd tidy and it sure is not the way to learn anything.

But I have to thank you -- I have learned something.. If someone lowers the size of their log files to lowest possible size, and then disables overwriting or achieving of said log files they will get annoyed by a padlock icon in their tray ;) heheheh

Do you even know how many logs are created in the background? A sh*t load. Some are hidden and some are not. Also you do learn stuff by going through things like logs and finding out what each one does. I never said disabling services keeps a hdd tidy, that's a different discussion. You ask one little question and you bombarded with silly answers, think I'll just stick to using search engines or find another tech forum.

Thanks to those of you who gave some useless responses.

[Southern Patriot]

You ask one little question and you bombarded with silly answers, think I'll just stick to using search engines or find another tech forum.

Thanks to those of you who gave some useless responses.

You did not get "bombarded with silly answers", you got people asking why you would do something so utterly pointless that ended up causing you more problems than it is worth. You did something that is completely stupid, it caused you problems, so you posted here asking why you were having this problem. People told you what to do to solve the problem (i.e., set the logs back to their default settings), and you cried "waaaaa, I like them that way". What other kind of response did you expect?

[sc302 Veteran]

What rr said.

"Stupid is what stupid does". Stupid padlock caused by stupid action, multiplied by stupid whining = stupid defense when told done something stupid. I am done with this stupid thread.

O and there are 6 log files that get created. For each type of log there is 1 log file. But each action that you do can create another log file, ie installing updates. By disabling the system log files you are only killing 5 out of the hundreds or thousands that will get created when you do something. It is usually part of the install to create a log file, you can't stop that by simply disabling the system logs.

System32/config/*.evt are your system event logs (system, application, security, etc). *.log are completely different and are usually created by app installs or updates.

[sc302 Veteran]

Sorry there are hidden log files for the evt files. So double that, but they are hidden. Ether way all of your event logs are in the config folder tucked away from the main files. Not messing up your "neat" looking folders.

[LiquidSolstice]

We know what we are doing, we just need fdisk. ?hell we are so 133t we don't need no stinkin mouse or keyboard, osmosis is how we fix things, we just touch it and think it and it is fixed with a format.

YOU sir, have just made it into my signature.? :laugh: