How do I get rid of icons in the system tray?

OK, I know you're immediately thinking about the option to remove icons from the system tray completely, but that's not what I want. In XP I could set an option in the Network adaptor properties so that the Icon appeared only if there was a problem with the adaptor. In W7 that option has disappeared and the Icon is either there all the time or not at all -anyone know how I get the XP functionality back?
I also want to do the same thing with the 'Notifications' flag - why do I need to see a flag when there aren't any messages?

 

I have looked at this before but I think I might have misunderstood what it meant. To me a 'notification' is the balloon text that appears next to the icon, and I always want to see both the notification and the icon, I just only want to see them when appropriate.
Having looked back at these options again now there are a load of icons that weren't there before (Outlook, Media Centre...) and they are listed as 'Notifications only'. It's becoming clear that what they mean by 'notification' is not the message but the event.
The real problem is that they keep talking about 'Icons and Notifications' as though they are two separate objects - what they should say is:
Do you want the see the Icons:
- All the time
- Only when there is a message or alert
- Never

Is that so difficult - why talk about notifications at all?

Anyway, back to the problem - setting the network icon to 'notifications only' doesn't help as it no longer appears at all. If I disable the Network connection the 'notification' doesn't appear. It is there, with it's red cross, as I can see it if I click on the triangle in the system tray, but that's not a lot of use! As one of the problems I have with W7 is that it randomly disables my network connection it's vital that I can see if this has happened, so I guess I need the icon to be there all the time. Seems like we're going backwards here - I think the 'show icon only if there's a problem' has been around since Win95, so why throw it away now?

 

Try removing these two registry keys but create a system restore point before deleting them, just in case something goes wrong.

Click the Windows Orb (Start), type regedit, press Enter and navigate to registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\TrayNotify.

In the right-pane there are two entries: IconStreams and PastIconsStream, right-click and delete them, then restart the computer. You may have to right-click the Taskbar > Properties > Notification Area > Customize and put a tick in any that are missing.

 

Don't know if this helps, but for the network icon appearance in XP:

click on My Network Places on Desktop
(on can go to Control Panel > Network Connections)
View Network Connectins (ususally on left listings)
Right click on Local Area Connection
Properties
General
see 2 check off boxes on bottom for Show Icon ..... and Notify Me ....