Came across this great tip on starting software applications in Windows, at a minimized state
in your system tray.  Click on the weblink below for details :

http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_get_a_windows_application_to_start_automatically_on_login_and_start_minimized.html?awt_l=7q7_V&awt_m=1c40xPzmS3dfbL