Windows update killed my system tray
 

I just applied the latest windows update, and now my system tray has disappeared. Can anybody help me out here?

Not without a bit more information, no.

Have you tried restarting? That's a good first step.

Does the systray come back when you remove the update (after you've rebooted)?

XP Pro? There's a policy for hiding it, but that wouldn't explain how it would change after an update.

run gpedit.msc
User Configuration->Admin templates->Start menu & taskbar->Hide the notification area

I believe it operates on two registry items but no worry if you have pro.

Nothing certain but something to check.

This may not be the same problem at all...but,
Sometimes my sys-tray goes wonky on me and what brings it back for me is right-clicking on the taskbar [click properties [then select "auto-hide the taskbar" [click "apply" [when it disappears, move your mouse down where it was and when it pops back up, see if it fixed it.
Either way, unclick "auto-hide taskbar" and then "apply" to bring the 'bar back up.

I may be preaching to the choir, I don't know your computer experience, (mine is almost nil)....but...hope it helps. :)

I Google'd the problem and tried a few fixes, but I think it was something in Tweak UI very similar to "Hide the notification area" that changed things up. The odd thing, though, is that I don't recall ever changing anything in Tweak UI before then. Oh well, it works now.