avast logo not showing in toolbar

I have avast installed on my win xp machine. My security center says avast is running and current av, but I dont see the avast icon in my toolbar next to clock lower right side of screen. When I look at others computers using avast, the blue round circle with a inside appears there. Is my computer not currently protected?

This happened to me once on one of my XP computers. I just rebooted and the icon came back. But I did know that I was protected when the icon was missing as I verfied that the count of files checked was increasing.

The short answer is yes you are still protected, the avast icon is an interface to other aspects of the program, resident scanners, manual updates, on-demand scans, program settings, etc. so it is important but not a security issue.

The slightly longer answer:
avast! icon missing - As a temporary measure until this is resolved you can create a desktop shortcut for this file C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashDisp.exe (the avast icon and interface to the providers). Right click on the file and select Send To, Desktop (create shortcut). You will need to run this after each boot until the problem is resolved.

What other security based software do you have that might block new startup entries, e.g. Spybot S&D (TeaTimer), AdAware (AdWatch), SpySweeper, Spyware Doctor (StartUpGuard or OnGuard), PrevX, WinPatrol, ProcessGuard, etc. ?

Check the option in the Appearance tab of Program Settings. Or Make a link to ashdisp.exe in your startup folder.