Windows pop-up notifications alert you to certain events that take place and some are useful, like calendar events, but others just irritate. Control notifications and when they appear.
One of the differences between Windows 10 and 7, which many people still use, is notifications and you can be alerted when events take place. For example, Start screen apps like Alarms, Calendar, News and others can display pop-up messages informing you of something that just happened.
Sometimes, though, you just don’t want to be disturbed and you can suppress notifications permanently or temporarily. You can choose which notifications are useful and should be shown and which ones should not appear on the screen.
View notification settings
There are a lot of notifications settings and probably more than you realise. They are also scattered across several locations in the Settings app. To see them all, open the Settings app, click in the search box and enter ‘notifications’. Click Show all results to see everything.
There are currently 16 results for ‘notifications’ although this may change in future releases of Windows. let’s take a look at some of the most useful notification settings.
Main notification settings
Open the Settings app and click System > Notifications & actions. Under the Notifications heading is a master on/off switch that can be used to disable notifications completely. Both settings are too extreme and it is best switched on and then you can customise the settings and block those you don’t want to see while allowing those you do.
For example, the two items highlighted show adverts and information from Microsoft and some people are irritated by them. Clear the two checkboxes if you don’t want pop-up Microsoft ads.
Under Get notifications from these apps is a list of apps that can display notifications and there are on/off switches next to each one. Use them to prevent unwanted notifications from being displayed.
Also in this section is an option to show or hide notifications on the lock screen. Set it as you prefer.
Limit notifications with Focus assist
You might want to work without unnecessary interruptions, such as when a deadline is approaching or you simply need to get things down. It is possible to switch off notifications or limit them until you have time to deal with them and this enables you to focus on your work.
Open Settings > System > Focus assist and near the top are three options, Off, Priority only, and Alarms only.
- Off: This is the normal state and notifications from apps and Windows can appear at any time.
- Priority only: This shows important notifications, but hides unimportant ones, so you will not be distracted as often. Click the link Customise your priority list to choose what notifications are considered priority.
- Alarms only: No notifications, except for when you have set alarms.
Focus assist blocks notifications and it can be manually enabled here in the Settings app, or by clicking the button at the right side of the taskbar to open Action Center. Tiles at the bottom of Action Center include Focus assist (click the Expand link if you don’t see it.
Also in the Focus assist section of the Settings app is a section called Automatic rules. Instead of manually enabling Focus assist, rules can be defined that enable it automatically and certain things can trigger it.
It looks like there are simple on/off switches for each rule, but they are clickable and show additional options. For example, the first one is During these times and clicking it enables you to set the times of the day when Focus assist is automatically enabled. You might want to set it to 9 AM to 5 PM so you can focus on work for example.
Notifications from People
You might think that is all there is to notifications, but there are others elsewhere in the Settings app. For example, go to Settings > Personalisation > Taskbar and there is an option to show People on the taskbar.
Both notifications can be seen and sounds can be heard and they could be distracting. Either turn off People on the taskbar or disable the notifications if you don’t want to see them.
Shorten notifications display time
There are more settings and notifications appear for a time on the screen and then disappear automatically. Is the length of time they stay on the screen annoying? Reduce the time.
Go to Settings > Ease of Access > Display and scroll down to the setting Show notifications for. Select the time you prefer, from five seconds to the super annoying five minutes.
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