When you plug in any external device like your flash drive or camera, using the USB port, you should see a "Safely Remove Hardware" icon in your system tray. The icon looks like this: 
Incase this icon does not show up, or windows has hidden it accidently, you might like to get it back, so that you can do a safe unplugging of your external drive. In the figure below, we do not have this icon displaying, inspite of the fact that a flash drive is plugged into the USB port.
To get this icon showing, right click on the in the notification area in the system tray and click on "Customize Notifications"
In the "Customize Notification" window that opens up, scroll down to "Safely Remove Hardware"
And in the drop down menu box, select "Always Show" and click on "OK"
Click "Apply" to your "Taskbar and Start Menu Properties" and Click "OK" to close the window.
If the icon still doesn't show up, move on to the next step:
Click on "Start" menu and go to the "Control Panel"
In the "Control Panel" click on "Add or Remove Programs"
On the left side of the window, click on the "Add/Remove Windows Components"
In the "Windows Component Wizard" window that opens, double click on "Networking Services" in the list.
A "Networking Services" window opens. There in the list, uncheck the "UPnP User Interface". Click on "OK" to validate.
If the icon appears, well and good but if it doesn't, move on to this step:
Go to "Start" - "My Computer" [Right Click it] - select "Manage"
In the "Computer Management" window, within "Computer Management" navigate to "Services and Applications" and in there in "Services" in the right pane, search and select "Plug and Play"
In the "Plug and Play Properties (Local Computer)" window, select the "startup type" as "Automatic" from the drop down menu, click on "Apply" and "OK" to validate.
Restart your computer to have the "Safely Remove Hardware" Icon displaying in your system tray the next time you plug in any external device to your computer.
Incase this icon does not show up, or windows has hidden it accidently, you might like to get it back, so that you can do a safe unplugging of your external drive. In the figure below, we do not have this icon displaying, inspite of the fact that a flash drive is plugged into the USB port.
To get this icon showing, right click on the in the notification area in the system tray and click on "Customize Notifications"
In the "Customize Notification" window that opens up, scroll down to "Safely Remove Hardware"
And in the drop down menu box, select "Always Show" and click on "OK"
Click "Apply" to your "Taskbar and Start Menu Properties" and Click "OK" to close the window.
If the icon still doesn't show up, move on to the next step:
Click on "Start" menu and go to the "Control Panel"
In the "Control Panel" click on "Add or Remove Programs"
On the left side of the window, click on the "Add/Remove Windows Components"
In the "Windows Component Wizard" window that opens, double click on "Networking Services" in the list.
A "Networking Services" window opens. There in the list, uncheck the "UPnP User Interface". Click on "OK" to validate.
If the icon appears, well and good but if it doesn't, move on to this step:
Go to "Start" - "My Computer" [Right Click it] - select "Manage"
In the "Computer Management" window, within "Computer Management" navigate to "Services and Applications" and in there in "Services" in the right pane, search and select "Plug and Play"
In the "Plug and Play Properties (Local Computer)" window, select the "startup type" as "Automatic" from the drop down menu, click on "Apply" and "OK" to validate.
Restart your computer to have the "Safely Remove Hardware" Icon displaying in your system tray the next time you plug in any external device to your computer.
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