Despite the fact that the "Notification Center" is an extremely useful and informative tool, quite often instead of its practical use, it distracts the user at the most inopportune moment, for example, watching movies, playing games, creating media files, etc.
For those users who have difficulties working with this component of the operating system, in this article we will look at several options for configuring and disabling notifications.
Remember, the Windows 10 operating system is an OS that involves individual optimization for each user. In other words, everything can be configured and it is not necessary to disable the controversial functionality.
How to set the order in which notifications are displayed?
You should start by pinpointing the categories of software or a specific program that will cause maximum inconvenience to the user.
You can do this as follows:
- Open "Start" - "Settings" and go to the "System" section;
- Select Notifications and actions»;
- Scroll down to the "Notifications" section and configure the settings in the way you want;
- Scroll down to the "Get notifications from these senders" section. Here you can disable the display of notifications from a specific software.
For example, the image below does not show notifications from a small utility for creating screenshots of the screen.
The appropriate approach to setting up will allow you to neutralize the negative impact of notifications, without disabling the important functionality of the Windows 10 operating system.
If this is not enough, you should pay attention to the "Focus Assist" function, which became available with the release of the Windows 10 1803 April Update.
Setting up the «Focus Assist»
This functionality (also known as the "do not disturb" mode) allows you to disable the display of notifications, messages from other users, or any other information actions of the operating system during a specified period of time and/or when using the computer in a certain order.
To configure it, you will need:
- In the same section of the System settings, open the focus category»;
- Pay attention to the "Automatic rules" section and select the actions you need:
- "During these times" - allows you to select a time interval during which only messages that meet the selected "Priority" or "Alarms" criteria will appear in the notification center;
- "When I’m duplicating my display" - in fact, does not require comments;
- "When I’m playing a game"
- “When I’m using an app in full screen mode”
The essence is as simple as possible, when you select "Priority" - notifications will only come from those applications that you will select next, and when you select "Alarms" - all notifications will be blocked, except for the alarm.
So, to determine the priority, open the item "Customize your priority list".
Check all the necessary categories and add other software if necessary (if it is not in the list).
To activate "Focus Assist", just scroll up the page or right-click on the notification center icon (lower right corner) and select "priority only" or "warning only".
Leave the "Show me summary of what I missed while focus assist was on" option active - this will really prevent me from missing important messages.
Disabling the Notification Center
If this flexible configuration is not enough for you, you can use the registry editor to disable messages from the operating system more effectively.
IMPORTANT! Before proceeding with the steps below, create a restore point!
Disabling notification display:
- Press the "WIN+R" key combination and run the "regedit" command;
- In the registry editor window, open HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\PushNotifications;
- Create a new DWORD 32 parameter with the value "0" and the name "ToastEnabled";
- Restart your computer to apply the changes.
Disabling the notification Center»:
- Open the registry editor again;
- Go to "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ Policies\ Microsoft\Windows\ Explorer";
- In this section, create the "DWORD32" parameter with the name "DisableNotificationCenter" and the value"1".
These actions will actually remove/disable the Notification Center, and the corresponding icon will become unavailable.
Conclusion
It is up to you to decide which method to choose, taking into account also, what version and edition of the Windows operating system you have installed.
All these materials have been tested in practice and if they did not work for you, write in the comments and together we will find a working solution for you.