Since I listen to music all day when I am working on my computer, I need quick access to the volume icon so that I can mute it if I need to answer the phone or lower the volume for some reason. This morning the icon disappeared for some reason even though I made no changes at all. Choosing the control panel --> notification area icons and selecting show icon and notifications did not help because the volume icon was gone. So if you are in a situation like mine on a Windows computer, try this:
- Reboot the computer and see if it returns.
- If not, right click on the task bar at the bottom and select Start Task Manager. Go to the processes tab, and find a file called explorer.exe. Select it and click the end process button on the bottom right of the window.
- Now click on the applications tab and click on the new task button on the bottom right. In the pop up window, type explorer.exe and click OK. This should restore it, and most definitely, if you reboot it.