I think a simpler solution would be to create a form that docks ontop of the taskbar and is always on top. This would not be tied into the shell and could work on any version of windows xp. As for portability all our workstations are running the same operation system so I don't think that would be to much of a problem. But I'm not going to waste time creating a com object for my program, I can only find c++ examples online and I am not to familiar with c++. I would have to rewrite a lot of my program.

I might consider going with a docking solution but, for the time being they will have to deal with it being in the system tray.

Thanks for the help gurus