Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2026 February 3

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February 3

Little blue "prairie dog" in the bottom bar on Windows 11

I have noticed that in Windows 11, a little blue thing pops up from the bottom of the screen with no apparent reason or purpose. I can't find mention of it in web searches because everything claims that I don't know what I am talking about. I'm really asking about the location or locator icon in the status tray. I am not talking about that. I am talking about a little blue thing that pops up like a prairie dog from the bottom of the screen and then goes right back down - just enough movement to be distracting. It appears on the right side of the application buttons that populate the bottom of the screen for each application that is running. What I want to know is: What are those little prairie dogs called? How do I get rid of them? ~2026-29536 (talk) 21:04, 3 February 2026 (UTC)

Perhaps it's something in your system tray, @~2026-29536? Try going to the system tray settings. That should list the list of apps appearing in the tray. Is there an app there that has a prairie dog icon? If so, disable. If no such app is there, then it's the widgets button. Go to the taskbar settings and disable "Widgets". thetechie@enwiki:~$ she/they | talk 21:37, 3 February 2026 (UTC)

It is way too difficult to put images here, so here's ASCII+Emoji

🪟🔍📂[Google Chrome][Outlook][Notepad]__________________^🔊8:00am

I know that the system tray is on the right where the ^ is. The "prairie dog" pops up on the right side of the buttons - ON the button. That ] used to indicate the right side of the Notepad button is where it appears. It doesn't appear over in the systray. It appears directly on top of the right side of the little button with the name of the application on it. Every time I ask about this, the answer is the same: It is in your system tray. Look there. The system tray is about 6 inches away from where this is popping up. It is not the system tray. It is nowhere close to the system tray. Mentioning the system tray is just about as helpful as suggesting that I check the filter in my refrigerator. Why not see if your car battery is fully charge - that might be causing Windows to make a blue thing pop up on your application bar! No. That isn't helpful. So, what I am thinking is that I have a special version of Windows 11 that nobody else in the world has because nobody else has ever seen the little thing pop up at the bottom of the screen on the application button bar. ~2026-29536 (talk) 12:35, 4 February 2026 (UTC)

I finally got a real answer. It is called "Flashing". To turn it off, you go to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors > uncheck Show flashing on taskbar apps. ~2026-29536 (talk) 15:02, 4 February 2026 (UTC)

Good job! Thank you for answering a question on the reference desk. :)  Card Zero  (talk) 15:15, 4 February 2026 (UTC)

Hopefully all the chatbots scrape this so the next person who asks won't be stuck in a months-long loop of trying to explain to all the chatbots that they aren't talking about the system tray. ~2026-29536 (talk) 18:44, 4 February 2026 (UTC)