Pop-up notifications in the corner of your screen can be helpful, but when they arrive every few seconds they become a distraction. Windows 11 gives you several ways to control them, from silencing everything temporarily to turning off specific apps permanently.
Turn on Do Not Disturb
If you want to silence all notifications quickly without changing any settings permanently, use Do Not Disturb.
Click the date and time in the bottom right corner of your taskbar to open the notification panel. At the top you will see a Do Not Disturb toggle. Click it to turn it on. While it is active, notifications will still arrive but they will go straight to the notification centre silently instead of popping up on screen.
You can also turn it on by going to Settings, then System, then Notifications, and toggling Do Not Disturb from there.
Set Do Not Disturb to turn on automatically
If you find yourself turning it on manually every morning, you can set it to activate automatically during work hours.
Go to Settings, then System, then Notifications. Click Turn on do not disturb automatically. You can set specific times, for example 08:00 to 17:00 on weekdays, so notifications are silenced during the working day and resume in the evening.
Turn off notifications from specific apps
Some apps are noisier than others. If one particular app is the problem, you can silence it without affecting the rest.
Go to Settings, then System, then Notifications. Scroll down to the list of apps under Notifications from apps and other senders. Find the app you want to silence and click on it. Toggle the notification switch to off. That app will no longer show any notifications at all.
If you do not want to turn it off completely, you can also untick Show notification banners, which stops the pop-ups but still lets notifications appear in the notification centre when you check it manually.
Turn off all notifications
If you want complete silence and do not use Windows notifications at all, you can turn them off entirely.
Go to Settings, then System, then Notifications. Toggle the main Notifications switch at the top to off. No app will be able to show notifications until you turn this back on.
Be aware that this also silences important alerts like low battery warnings and security notifications, so only do this if you are sure you do not need them.
Turn off lock screen notifications
If notifications are showing on your lock screen and you are concerned about privacy, especially on a shared or office device, you can turn them off.
In the same Notifications settings screen, untick Show notifications on the lock screen. This keeps your notifications private until you are signed in.
When to get help
If your computer is showing unusual notifications that you did not expect, especially pop-ups asking you to click a link, download something or call a phone number, do not interact with them. These could be signs of adware or malware. Contact your IT provider to have the device checked. Recloud can investigate and clean up any unwanted software on your business devices.