Windows notifications can provide pertinent information, but in many cases, all they do is hinder your workflow. That’s not surprising considering that, with the default settings, you’re likely bombarded with superfluous alerts left and right, minute after minute. They not only invade your workspace visually, but also add a constant stream of sound alerts that can easily break your focus.

The good news is that you can easily disable notifications from most apps and services, or even turn them off completely if that’s your preference. Before you go scorched earth, though, disable the following notifications first and see how that works for you.

Most Windows users should disable tips and suggestions notifications

They’re annoying and won’t show you anything you don’t already know

If you’ve ever used Windows, tips and suggestions notifications are completely unnecessary because they won’t tell you anything you don’t already know. Microsoft keeps them enabled by default, though, so you’ll have to disable them manually if you don’t want to keep seeing them.

To disable them, open Settings, go to System > Notifications, and scroll down until you find the Additional settings section. Expand it, then uncheck the “Get tips and suggestions when using Windows” box.

While you’re at it, I also recommend disabling Windows setup prompts

You’ve already set up your PC

While you’re in there, I also recommend disabling notifications reminding you to finish setting up Windows. You know what I’m talking about: that annoying prompt that nudges you to subscribe to Microsoft 365, set up Windows Hello, use Edge as your default browser, and activate OneDrive.

To do this, find the Suggest ways to get the most out of Windows and finish setting up this device checkbox and uncheck it. It’s located in the same place as the previous setting (Settings > System > Notifications > Additional settings).

What’s included?

Device encryption, find my device, firewall and network protection, internet protection, and more

Brand

Microsoft

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You ought to disable browser notifications as well

Both in Windows Settings and in your browser of choice

If you use website notifications in your browser and rely on them, you shouldn’t do this. But if you’d rather not hear another notification from your browser—or any website you visit, since their notifications can also show up in Windows when browser notifications are enabled—you should disable them.

The first step is opening Settings, going to System > Notifications, and then scrolling down to Notifications from apps and other senders. Once there, locate the browsers you use and disable their notifications.

You can also disable individual website notifications right inside the browser if you don’t need them. I’ll show you how to do this in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, but other browsers should offer a similar option.

To disable them in Firefox, open the browser, click the hamburger menu, and then click Settings. Now locate the Permissions and data section and click the Notifications button. Once there, you can either block notifications from specific websites or remove them altogether. You can also block new notification requests, which is a very handy option to have.

In Chrome, click the three-dot menu and then click Settings. Navigate to the Privacy and Security tab, click Site Settings, and then click the “Notifications” button. From there, you can disable notifications for individual websites, prevent websites from asking to send notifications in the first place, and choose how Chrome handles notification requests.

Turning off most game launcher notifications is the way to go

Most of them are just distractions

If you game on your PC, you probably don’t need notifications from your game launchers. They mostly show ads (for instance, the Xbox app used to show me ads for random games I had no interest in playing before I disabled its notifications), remind you about updates, and display similar notifications that aren’t particularly important.

To disable game launcher notifications, open Settings, go to System > Notifications, scroll down to Notifications from apps and other senders, and turn off notifications for the game launchers installed on your PC.

Windows Security doesn’t have to inform you every time it completes a scan

Luckily, you can disable this notification quite easily

Another annoying notification comes from the Windows Security app, informing you that it has completed a scan and found nothing out of the ordinary. I don’t know about you, but I only want to be notified if Windows Security discovers a threat or blocks a file or app.

Luckily, you can disable scan notifications while still keeping alerts for threats and blocked files and apps. Double-click the Windows Security icon in the system tray, click Settings, open the Notifications menu, and uncheck the Recent activity and scan results box.

OS

Windows, macOS, iPhone, iPad, Android

Brand

Microsoft

Microsoft 365 includes access to Office apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint on up to five devices, 1 TB of OneDrive storage, and more.

Bonus: Don’t forget that you can disable individual app notifications

You can even completely disable Windows notifications if you want

There’s a good chance you don’t need notifications from most of the apps installed on your PC, or from many Windows services. The good news is that Windows lets you disable notifications on an individual app basis, so I recommend auditing every app capable of sending them and turning off the ones you don’t need.

Do this by opening Settings, going to System > Notifications, and then locating the Notifications from apps and other senders section. Once there, feel free to turn off notifications for the apps you don’t care about. You can also click any app listed there to fine-tune its notification settings.

For instance, if you still want to receive alerts but don’t want them to play sounds, you can disable notification sounds. You can also hide notifications on the lock screen, decide whether to show notification banners, choose whether notifications appear in the notification center, and adjust their priority. In general, there are enough options here to fine-tune notifications for individual apps and services to your liking.

Windows also lets you disable notifications completely if you want, or just turn off notification sounds and tweak a few other notification settings. I wouldn’t recommend disabling all notifications because some, such as those from the AutoPlay service, can be genuinely useful, as well as low battery and storage alerts. I also like receiving notifications from certain apps, such as GPU driver update alerts from AMD Software. But hey, if you want to live that sweet notification-free life, just go to Settings > System > Notifications and turn off the “Notifications” toggle at the very top of the menu.

Personally, I recommend using Do not disturb instead. This way, you’ll still receive important notifications, but they’ll go straight to the notification center without bothering you with sounds or pop-ups. The Do not disturb toggle is located just below the Notifications toggle, and you can also configure it to turn on automatically if you want.

To continue receiving regular notifications (with sounds and pop-ups) from specific apps while Do not disturb is enabled, click the “Set priority notifications” button and add the apps you want to receive notifications from. You can also choose whether to receive notifications for incoming calls and reminders.

WIndows notifications can be useful, so I don’t recommend disabling them completely

Personally, I keep Do not disturb enabled all the time, but I’ve allowed a few apps and Windows services to send me alerts. For instance, I want AutoPlay notifications to pop up. I also enabled notifications for startup apps so that I’m alerted whenever an app adds itself to my startup apps list, so that I can disable it, which I find very handy.

I don’t recommend disabling notifications completely. Instead, spend some time finding a combination that works for you, whether that’s disabling most notifications and keeping just a few, turning off notification sounds, or, like I do, using Do not disturb while allowing only a handful of apps and services to send you alerts.