Taskbar add-in on Windows XP - which process?

Question

I'm putting together a package to deploy across multiple desktops, and I am trying to find out what process is calling a little taskbar add-in that attaches itself under Windows XP (Think language toolbar, or Windows Media Player under Vista). This is part of a desktop search utility and consists of a little text input box which sits just to the left of the system tray.

Are taskbar attachments not treated as a separate process? I just hope they are not loaded dynamically using the Explorer process. I ask because there is nothing obvious to me in Task Manager that is loading this little thing. I need to be able to dynamically kill it. Assume that the application provides no mechanism to disable it.

Answer 1

While it might be possible to create a "taskbar attachment" by subclassing some of Explorer's windows, it's orders of magnitude easier to just write a shell extensions, so unfortunately it's safe to assume it's a shell extension hosted in explorer.exe.