[Tip] Disable Notifications and Action Center in Windows 10

When Microsoft added Charms Bar to Windows 8 operating system, the company received very negative feedback from Windows users. The Charms Bar was annoying a lot of people and they had to use 3rd party software or Registry tweaks to get rid of Charms Bar. To please users, Microsoft added options to disable upper-right hot corner in Windows 8.1 so that Charms Bar doesn’t irritate users. But it didn’t work.

That’s why Microsoft decided to completely remove Charms Bar from the new Windows 10 operating system. To replace Charms Bar, Microsoft added a new program “Action Center” or “Notification Center” to Windows 10 which works like the Notification Center present in Google Android or Windows Phone devices.

No More Charms Bar Annoyance for Windows 10 Users

Action Center can be accessed by clicking on its icon present in Taskbar Notification Area (system tray). Action Center shows toast notifications for various apps and system events.

Although Action Center is an essential and useful addition to Windows 10 but some people may want to remove the notifications and Action Center in Windows 10.

That’s why today in this tutorial, we are going to share a few ways to disable Action Center and turn notifications off in Windows 10.

So without wasting time lets start the tutorial:

METHOD 1: Remove Action Center Icon from Taskbar Notification Area

This method will not disable Action Center. It’ll only remove Action Center icon from system tray in Taskbar. If you want to remove the icon, follow these simple steps:

1. Right-click on the date/time shown on the far right end of Taskbar and select “Customize notification icons” option.

2. Now click on “Turn system icons on or off” link.

PS: In newer Windows 10 versions, you’ll need to right-click on Taskbar and select Taskbar Settings option. It’ll open Taskbar settings page, scroll down and click on “Turn system icons on or off” option.

3. Now just set the “Action Center” item slider to Off.

It’ll immediately remove Action Center icon from Taskbar.

METHOD 2: Disable Apps Notifications in Action Center

If you don’t like the frequent app toast notifications in Action Center, you can turn the notifications off using following steps:

1. Right-click on the date/time shown on the far right end of Taskbar and select “Customize notification icons” option.

2. Now under “Notifications” section, set following options to Off:

• Show me tips about Windows
• Show app notifications

It’ll disable app notifications in Windows 10.

PS: If you want to turn off any specific app notifications, leave the “Show app notifications” option set to On and under “Show notifications from these apps” section, set the desired app notification to Off.

METHOD 3: Disable Notifications and Action Center Using Group Policy Editor

If you want to completely disable notifications and Action Center in Windows 10, you can do this using Group Policy Editor:

1. Press WIN+R keys together to launch RUN dialog box. Now type gpedit.msc in RUN and press Enter. It’ll open Group Policy Editor.

2. Now go to:

3. In right-side pane, double-click on “Remove Notifications and Action Center” option and set it to Enabled.

That’s it. Apply changes and restart, log off or restart Explorer as given here to take effect. It’ll completely disable notifications and Action Center in Windows 10.

PS: If you decide to re-enable notifications and Action Center in future, double-click on “Remove Notifications and Action Center” option and set it to Not Configured.

METHOD 4: Disable Notifications and Action Center Using Registry Editor

If you are using Windows 10 Home edition, you’ll not be able to run gpedit.msc command because this edition doesn’t come with Group Policy Editor.

If you can’t use or don’t want to use Group Policy Editor, you can take help of Registry Editor for the same task.

We have already mentioned the Registry Editor method to disable Action Center in Windows 10 long time back in following exclusive article when Windows 10 was under development and testing:

Collection of Windows 10 Hidden Secret Registry Tweaks

Just check “Completely Disable Action Center in Windows 10” point in above mentioned tutorial to learn about the Registry Editor method.

METHOD 5: Disable New Action Center and Restore Classic Action Center

If you don’t like the new glassy and transparent Action Center, you can disable it and restore the previous classic Action Center with White background in Windows 10.

If you do this, it’ll also disable toast notifications in Windows 10.

This method is also available in our exclusive hidden secret Registry tweaks topic:

Collection of Windows 10 Hidden Secret Registry Tweaks

Just check “Disable New Action Center Sidebar and Restore Previous UI” point in above mentioned tutorial to learn about the Registry Editor method.

NOTE: You can also remove Action Center and its notifications completely with the help of following tutorial:

[Windows 10 Tip] Remove Cortana, Microsoft Edge, Contact Support and Feedback Apps

Also Check:

[Windows 10 Tip] Keep Action Center Always Opened and Showing on Screen

[Windows 10 Tip] Disable “Quick Actions” Buttons in Action Center

[Tip] Disable All Notifications to Play Sound in Windows 10