Unable to remove a show hidden icon in Windows 10

Hello -

I am working with an end user to resolve an issue with an icon that appears in the hidden tray. The icon appears when the the application is launched and for some reason, when the end user is running automated tests, the icon will begin to morph into multiple icons which impacts the tests. If you connect to the PC, you can hover over the multiple icons which will force them to disappear but this is far from being an ideal workaround.

I've attempted to resolve this issue by going into Settings/Personalization/Taskbar/ but most of the options apply only to icons that appear on the taskbar and not within the hidden icons section. I can drag/drop the icon directly onto the taskbar from the hidden icons section but when I go back to the "Select which icons appear on the taskbar" section, it reappears back within the hidden icons section.

To make things even more challenging, the software in question is homegrown and there's no information online.

I've attached a screenshot for reference. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Hello Brink -

Thank you for reaching out to me and my apologies in getting back you so late as I was out of the office last week. I just tested your recommendation & unfortunately the the issue is still ongoing. Just wondering if you have any other tips/trick that I could try?