System Tray Icon

I tend to remember at one time you could disable or enable showing the Icon down in the system tray, and I had turned it off/disabled. It appears today that all of our systems are now seeing the icon, and I can't find where that can be disabled. Was something changed?

Answers

  • james.carsonjames.carson Moderator, WatchGuard Representative

    Hello @richard_c and @Masters

    The behavior of the tray icon has changed in the newest release. You can read more about it here:

    (Threat Detection and Response Release Notes)
    https://www.watchguard.com/support/release-notes/tdr/en-US/TDR_Release_Notes.pdf

    Windows System Tray Application (GA)
    -The TDR System Tray application in Windows has been updated in look and feel.
    -Administrators cannot hide the system tray icon.

    Thank you,

    -James Carson
    WatchGuard Customer Support

  • Ricardo_ArroyoRicardo_Arroyo WatchGuard Representative

    Good afternoon everyone. As we continue down the path towards merging the experiences of our end host agents we have decided to merge the capabilities of both DNSWatchGO and TDR in that neither system can turn off the System Tray application. This is a common feature for all Endpoint Software like Antivirus and VPN Clients, including WatchGuard's ownVPN client. Feedback is always welcome, so please let us know what your use case is for hiding the system tray icon.

    Ricardo Arroyo | Principal Product Manager / ThreatSync Guru
    WatchGuard Technologies, Inc.

  • I don't mind users seeing the icon, but I do mind if its notifications keep interrupting their work. WE should get to choose what notifications it shows to OUR end users. That decision should NOT be made across the board by WatchGuard. Maybe it does that now...I haven't been paying attention to it, but I have seen mention of it interrupting users.

    Gregg Hill

  • I also dont mind the sys tray icon (I think its a good think).
    I have yet to see a notification...
  • Ricardo_ArroyoRicardo_Arroyo WatchGuard Representative

    This is fantastic feedback everyone! Since the Icon itself is hidden by Windows by default, it seems what everyone is asking for is the ability to show/hide notifications. If we were to allow the cloud configurations of Icon Notifications, how granular do you want the configurations?
    1. Baseline Notifications
    2. Remediation Notifications
    OR
    1. Baseline Notifications
    2. Kill Process Notifications
    3. Quarantine File Notifications
    4. Delete Registry Notifications

    Also, be aware that the goal of the system tray icon is to inform end users when the Host Sensor is performing actions, allowing attribution and awareness. If the performance of the system is slow, you are aware that a Baseline is running. If Microsoft Word suddenly closes, you know the Host Sensor Killed it (probably ransomware). While many of these things are still visible if you were to interact with the icon, the instant notification would be lost.

    I look forward to everyone's feedback. Enjoy!

    Ricardo Arroyo | Principal Product Manager / ThreatSync Guru
    WatchGuard Technologies, Inc.

  • We would be really happy if Baseline Notifications could be centrally disabled for all our users. I agree with Ricardo that it's best practice to notify users about actions like killing processes or quarantining files, but the final decision to show or hide these icon notifications should be made by the customer.

    Thank you and have a nice day everybody :-)

Sign In to comment.