Icon in Taskbar - Dell Common Settings

Question

I have a new Dell Inspiron 3847 running Windows 10.  An icon has appeared in the taskbar that I can't do anything with except mouseover, which displays 'Dell Common Settings'.  It looks like a white gear on a blue background.    Can anyone tell me just what this is?   I doesn't seem to be doing anything that I can tell - other than just aggravating me!  Appreciate any ideas about it's purpose.

msw192 · Accepted Answer

I just removed it by uninstalling the Dell Foundation Services program. I have no idea what it did, but it's gone now.

jamie9562 · Answer

ditto,,,hope someone has an answer

itsupportABC · Answer

I have a few users with this as well.  Anyone?

xx201 · Answer

having the same over here. can't find any information on it. when i go to right click the icon it also doesn't do anything.

rdhulse · Answer

I have a new Dell Inspiron 7348. I have the same icon. Aggravating not knowing what it is.

JohnBurns · Answer

At least I know I'm not alone - maybe someone from Dell can give us an answer!

Guido Janssens · Answer

Same here, on Dell XPS 8700, WIn 10.

IanFM · Answer

Ditto

JohnBurns · Answer

Thanks, msw192!

Igorbras5 · Answer

Yes, same happened in my company... This week some notebooks Latitude E7440 received a Dell Foundation Services update, version 2.2.65.0.... After this update a bunch of invisible icons has appeared in the taskbar that We can't do anything with except mouseover... and the notebook has been very slowly.

Also there was a process that was appearing and disappearing in the tasklist called dfssystrayui.exe

The only solution was uninstall the Dell Foundation Services =/

jcheffy · Answer

I didn't notice the icon until stumbling across this thread, but I have the same "issue" on a Dell Inspiron 15 (5558).

Upgraded from 8.1 to 10 week or so ago and it wasn't there at that time.

I think I'll leave it alone for a bit and see what Dell does about it...

Update on 8/29: It's gone. Dell must have pushed some sort of update.

Guido Janssens · Answer

It appears Dell Foundation Service is a part of Dell Data Protection Encryption., whatever that is. But if you don't use it, it is safe to delete.

I don't like it when computer manufacturers add memory eating useless-ware without informing the user about it. Same goes for that Dell Backup icon that apparently took over 500MB on my disk and all it did was trying to sell me Dell's cloud backup.

lati97 · Answer

I just purchased a new Inspiron  7000 series and  I had the same icon appear. I deleted the Dell Foundation Service and it went away...hope I didn't need it. :) Thanks!!!

rdhulse251 · Answer

I noticed one more thing about the icon. It disappears and reappears at different times. The icon will appear every time if you sign out and sign back in with a different user account. Just as the icon says 'Dell Common Settings' the file must contain common files and settings that are used between different accounts, apps, and programs on the PC, thus using common files instead of duplicating the same files for each account, which would use up more hard drive space. Some people on this thread have deleted files to get rid of this icon without really knowing what it is or what it does. I hope that is not a mistake. Especially if their PC is still under warranty. I really don't know what it is, this is just my idea of what it could be. I'm going to leave it alone. I really doesn't bother me. Don't want to screw up my new PC.

rdhulse251 · Answer

I hope it works out well for you. And, I hope it will not be a problem if you need warranty work on your computer from the manufacturer. My computer is brand new and I don't feel its very wise to be deleting things from your computer without knowing what its actual purpose is. But, that's just my opinion. Good Luck!

Windows General

Icon in Taskbar - Dell Common Settings

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