Raymond Chen suggests the confusion originated with systray.exe, a small application that controlled some icons within the notification area in Windows 95.[10] The notification area is also referred to as the "status area" by Microsoft.[24][25][26] In the current edition of Microsoft Writing Style Guide, Microsoft has clarified that beginning with Windows 11, "system tray" is now the preferred term,[1] while "notification area" is the term used in Windows 10 and Windows 8.[2]
It's a good idea to have a working vocabulary of GUI elements and widgets. Because they're 100% visual these days, without text labels in any language, and there are still scenarios of verbal tech support.