How to Completely Disable Windows 10 Notifications

Don’t like notifications at inopportune times? Here’s how you can completely disable app notifications in Windows 10.

Unlike the previous versions, Windows apps don’t need to have their own notification system. They can use the built-in notification center to display all kinds of notifications. As you can guess, the notification center makes it easy to keep track of and manage all notifications in one place.

As good as the new notification system is, some apps show constant notifications distracting you from the actual work. This might reduce your overall productivity.

If that’s the case, here is how to disable Windows 10 notifications completely.

Disable Windows 10 Notifications

When it comes to disabling notifications, Windows 10 gives you a fair bit of control. For instance, you can either turn off notifications for specific apps or disable notifications entirely. i.e, for all apps either with the help of the Settings app or the Group Policy Editor. I will show all three methods. Use the one you need.

Jump to:

Turn off notifications for specific apps
Disable all notifications with the Settings app
Disable notifications with Group Policy Editor (permanent)

Note: If you are looking to temporarily disable app notifications, you can enable Focus Assist. To turn on Focus Assist, click on the taskbar Notifications icon and click on the “Focus Assist” button. Focus Assist will automatically turn off itself after a few hours. To turn it off manually, click on the button again.

Disable notifications for specific apps

Turning off individual app notifications is useful when you have an app that is constantly showing notifications for unnecessary things like offers, events, etc. A good example of this type of behavior would be gaming and social media apps.

1. To disable individual app notifications, open the Settings app by pressing the keyboard shortcut Win + I. Alternatively, click on the Notifications icon and then click on the “Settings” button.

2. Go to “System -> Notifications and Actions” in the Settings app.

3. On the right panel, scroll down and you will see all the “Get notifications from these senders” section. This section lists all the apps that can show notifications. Here, “Turn off” an app to disable notification access for that particular application.

That is it. You’ve disabled Windows 10 notifications from specific apps.

To enable notifications again for an app, toggle the switch to “On” and you are done.

Disable All App Notifications on Windows 10

Disabling all Windows 10 notifications is useful when you don’t want to be bothered with any app notifications whatsoever.

1. Open Settings using the shortcut Win + I. You can also search for it in the start menu.

2. Navigate to the “System -> Notifications and Actions” page in the Settings app

3. Turn off the “Get notification from apps and other senders” option. You will find the option under the Notifications section in the right panel.

As soon as you turn off the setting, you will no longer receive any notifications either in the notification center or on the lock screen.

To enable the notifications again, turn on “Get notification from apps and other senders.”

Disable Windows 10 Notifications with Group Policy GPO

If you want to completely disable Windows 10 notifications then the group policy editor is the way to go. This method is especially useful for system administrators or if have multiple computers to manage.

1. First off, Open the Group Policy Editor. To do that, search for “gpedit.msc” in the start menu and click on the top result.

2. Go to the “User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Start Menu and Taskbar” folder in the Group Policy Editor.

3. Double-click on the “Remove Notifications and Action Center” policy. You will find the policy in the right panel.

4. Select “Enabled” in the policy properties window. Click on the “Apply” and “Ok” button to save the changes.

That is it.

Keep in mind that some apps can still show notifications even when you turn off notifications. This is because these apps use their own notification system rather than using the one provided by Windows 10. You can see this type of behavior in applications like antivirus and firewall. In those cases, you have to disable notifications for that app by changing its settings.

That is all. It is that simple to disable notifications on Windows 10. If you are stuck or need some help, comment below and I will try to help as much as possible.