Windows XP Toolbar icons missing after applying NIS2010 17.1.0.14 patch

Windows XP Pro SP3 (up-to-date).

 

I also experienced the problems with add-ons disappearing in Firefox 3.5.3/4 and wasted ages trawling for solutions. Having fixed that, the many reboots involved have confirmed that some icons now consistently fail to appear in my taskbar after a restart or a shut-down and reboot.

 

For example, the volume control icon is not there; I have to go into the control panel to disable and re-enable the icon.  Netmeter is running but has no icon. I have to kill it and restart it. All this is irritating and time consuming - and costs me money in lost work time. This has cost me - in real dollars - far, far more than the purchase price of NIS 2010.

 

My guess is that efforts to improved the load time of NIS mean it is preventing other tasks from completing. I have a brand new computer with a quad processor and 4G of RAM (even if it's not all usable in 32-bit XP).

 

As a software developer, I understand the concept of a limited release of a major upgrade. However, our guinea pigs are carefully selected; they know that's what they are, and we keep in constant contact  with them.

 

I've been a user of Norton products since the mid 1990s. At this moment I'm a very unhappy user.