[Windows 8] How to enable or disable app notifications

As you already knew, there are many and many new features in Windows 8. Most of them are focused on touch and mobile experiences. If you have used a smartphone, you problem know about “notifications,” which is the way your apps notify you of something. In Windows 8, there is a notification system that allows Modern apps and the desktop to attract your attention. For example, the Messaging app may show a notification about a new message.

Sometimes, you want to turn off notifications of an app or all of your apps. I will help you figure out how to do that in this article.

HOW TO TURN NOTIFICATIONS ON OR OFF

To manage your app notifications, do the following:

• Press Windows + I (or swipe from the right edge of your screen to bring up Charms and choose Settings, if you are using a tablet) to bring up Settings panel. Then select “Change PC Settings” from the bottom.
• Once PC Settings has opened, you have to choose “Notifications” from the left side.
• From the right side, you will see many options which you can toggle to modify how notifications work:
  • “Show app notifications” — turn on or off all notifications
  • “Show app notifications on the Lock screen” — show or hide all short and detail notifications on Lock screen
  • “Play notification sounds” — turn on or off notification sounds
  • There is also a list of your installed apps which have the ability to show notifications. In this list, you can turn off/on notifications for each specific app.

• Simply toggle whatever settings as you desire, then close PC Settings.

Done!

HOW TO TEMPORARILY DISABLE NOTIFICATIONS

Sometimes I connect my computer with a TV to watch movies, and I need to hide all app notifications for a period of time or my dad and mom may read my messages when the Messaging app shows its notifications. To solve this problem, Windows 8 provides user a very quick way to temporarily hide all notifications. You can temporarily hide all app notifications doing the following:

• Press Windows + I (or swipe from the right edge of your screen to bring up Charms and choose Settings, if you are using a tablet) to bring up Settings panel.
• You will see a “Notifications” icon in the Settings panel — click/tap it, and choose how long you want to hide notifications (for one hour, three hours, or eight hours).
• To turn on all notifications back, you just need to click/tap Notifications icon again and turn them on. If you don’t manually re-enable notifications, they will automatically re-enable themselves after the time period you selected.

CONCLUSION

Despite the lack of a notification center (which is a place to show all notifications, such as in Android and iOS), Windows 8 finally has an effective notification system compared to previous Windows version. And now you know how to enable/disable it. Enjoy!