Turn Windows notifications on or off to focus

Windows 10 notifications are great if you want to be informed at all times about the emails that enter your mailbox, to remind you of a calendar appointment or to notify you when your antivirus expires. This helps you so that nothing happens to you and, therefore, to be more productive. However, so many messages on your screen can also be distracting and annoying instead of benefiting you. If you are fed up with this feature, the good news is that it is very easy to get rid of it.

All the changes you need to make can be made, either from the action center in Windows 10 (also known as action center) or through the notification setting screen. From either of the two you get to the settings that allow you to change the settings, both to add new notifications and to remove them. From this same site you can also rearrange the quick actions.

Two options to change settings

Open the notification setting screen

To enter the notification setting screen, put the cursor on the Windows bar, type Settings, then click on System and then on Notifications and Actions. And it is also possible to get here by pressing the Windows key plus the letter I.

Access from the activity center

Once here, from a link on the right, you can open the activity center. Another option to open the action center: press the icon located just to the right of the PC clock, in the lower right corner of the screen. You also enter this window with the Windows key plus the A key.

In the Windows 10 action center you will see all the notifications together, at the top, and from there you can manage them (by clicking on the Manage notifications link). In the same window, at the bottom, the icons appear to quickly access some functions (Settings, airplane mode, tablet mode …).

Turn off notifications completely

Once inside, you will see a sliding button that says Notifications. If you want to completely deactivate these messages that warn you of everything that happens on the PC, simply move it to deactivate them (you will see that the blue color disappears). It couldn’t be easier.

Of course, then you can change according to your preferences which notifications you need me to send you and which ones not. With the Notifications button activated in blue, you will see that just below it gives you some interesting options that customize this function. Among them, for example, if you want to link messages with a sound, which are displayed on the lock screen or receive tips and tricks from Windows itself.

Select alerts based on sender

In the same notification setting screen of the Notifications and Actions section, you will see another option titled Get notifications from these senders, and just below it you get all the applications and functions that send notifications. Some are external (for example, Dropbox, Google Chrome …) and others are internal, that is, from Windows itself (Security and maintenance, Configuration …).

If you click on the senders, you will see that you can choose if you want that notification to reach you only in the activity center or if you prefer to see it as a small banner on the screen itself (bottom right) or directly on both sites. Something very useful is that it is also possible to choose the priority when displaying notifications from that sender in the activity center (high, normal or top), as well as the number of notifications.

Yet another option: the concentration assistant

For those who do not want to give up being informed with notifications, Windows offers another alternative that consists of configuring these warning messages based, for example, on the hours of the day, among other alternatives. Specifically, it is called Concentration Assistant (before it was called Do Not Disturb). To access this section and configure it, it is not necessary to leave the notification setting screen. You will see the link to enter it just below the sliding button that enables or disables notifications completely.

This setting makes it easier to manage notifications in a personalized way. Thus, above shows three possibilities:

• You can mark Off to get all the messages from your applications and contacts.
• Another possibility is to see only those that you have selected as priority. The other notifications would only reach the activity center. From this option there is a link to Customize the priority list. And it gives three alternatives: in reminders, text messages and calls (including VoIP) you can give priority to incoming calls or show notifications regardless of the application they come from. Also to the Contacts of the mail, Skype or any other program that are anchored in the taskbar. Or to those of the applications that you choose from all the ones you have installed on your PC that allow this functionality (it is possible to add as many as you want).
• Receive only alarms, that is, it eliminates the rest and will only send you those of this type.

In the lower half of the concentration wizard you will see all the options to create Automatic rules that prioritize notifications based on different parameters:

• Hours: you can choose a specific time for the concentration assistant to activate. You only have to put the start and end date, and if you want it to be repeated every day, only on weekends or if you want only those determined as priority or only alarms. For your convenience, it is also possible to mark the option to notify you with a message when this assistant is activated (it is displayed in the activity center).
• When you mirror the screen: in this case it is only available as an alarm.
• When you are entertained with a game and you don’t want anything to bother you (only the priority ones).
• When you use an application in the full screen mode (alarms only).

Relax, setting the concentration assistant or focus aid does not mean missing notifications. Windows gives you a summary of everything you have missed while you were focused on a task.

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