There are 3rd party programs like tweakui or registry edits that can be used
to hide control panel applets.
http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/522/ covers the second part.

"ajamrozek" wrote in message
oups.com...
ah...that lovely right click. That did it. Cheers!
I do have the classic control panel enabled. Any other thoughts on why
the mail icon isn't showing?

Alex