Starting a program directly to the system tray (No window)

Hi all,

I run a VPN on my desktop which autostarts when I boot up, using the VPN's included software. This opens a window showing me that I am connecting and general details. Usually, I immediately close the window, which has the effect of the program minimizing to the system tray, where I can see its icon and know I'm connected. Recently I decided I was tired of closing this and a few other windows from programs I have set to run on startup, and made a task that runs them minimized on startup. The others minimize directly to the system tray, so there is no icon in the taskbar. My VPN software however, shows the minimized window icon, because the window isn't actually closed. I was wondering if there is a way to either start the program without actually opening the window, or close the window right away after opening, but without actually killing the program. I am using cmd to open the program right now, so if there is something I could add or another command I could execute that would be great.

Thanks

I know there are utilities to send windows to tray, but I can't think of one (other than maybe 'Actual Window Manger' or 'Display Fusion' - I am not even sure of these but I can sure check for you) that sends it to the tray on startup unless one of the two I just mentioned can.. Did you try a simple google search for what you want? I know it can be done with an AutoHotKey or AutoIt3 script. Also, depending on the dependencies, RunHiddenConsole.exe might be able to pull the job off

EDIT: which VPN are you using? did you look at their manual or search their site to see if the .exe or whatever starts the VPN has a silent or straight to tray mode?