I don’t have any memory of signing up or approving it, but I am now getting notifications pop up on my Desktop from a couple of Web sites. The notifications come from Microsoft Edge, but they’re on the Desktop itself. How do I turn them off or disable them?
There’s a lot to like about the latest generation of Microsoft Edge. If nothing else, it’s way better than Internet Explorer! Then again, that might not be a very positive endorsement, so let’s instead say that it’s probably the best Web browser to use in Windows 10 nowadays, even better than Chrome, Firefox, and Brave. Since it’s from Microsoft, we can be sure that it’s going to gradually become more and more woven into the underlying operating system too, which is good: So much of what we do on computers nowadays is in a Web browser or otherwise through the Internet. Heck, ChromeOS is an entire operating system built atop the Chrome browser.
Notifications are a relatively new feature on the Web too so if you have been living in an Internet Explorer world, it’s undoubtedly something quite new, the idea that a Web site can pop up notifications on your Desktop without you even visiting the site again. If you want them it’s actually a pretty cool way to keep up with the news or latest posts from your favorite sites – I use it on my GoFatherhood dad blog, for example – but if you don’t want them, well, it’s only a small step away from malicious pop-up ads, right? Yech.
Let’s turn off those darn notifications and fix your computer!
HOW TO ENABLE NOTIFICATIONS FROM A WEBSITE
First off, a quick note that if you visit a Web site and you see a pop-up asking if you want to receive notifications, don’t click Allow! This pop-up can have a variety of different appearances too. A standard Chrome notification for a site looks like this one from the Miami Herald:
It can also be stylized and more attractive too, depending on the site and software being used. For example:
Either way, ignore it and you should be fine. Choose “Block” or “Cancel” and it should not display subsequent notifications and never prompt you again. I have seen one or two sites that I believe were hacking behind the scenes with the buttons so choosing “No” actually enabled notifications, but that’s quite rare and if it does happen, well, after reading this tutorial you’ll know how to disable it anyway!
HOW TO DISABLE WEBSITE NOTIFICATIONS IN MICROSOFT EDGE
As it happens, I have experienced the same unwanted notification problem on my PC too. For me the notifications were from CNet, a site that I generally read and enjoy, but from which I just don’t want random notifications. Here’s the latest that showed up on the Notifications area of my Windows Desktop:
While I’m sure that Halo Infinite is going to be a really cool game, I don’t want this notification from www.cnet.com showing up on my computer.
Don’t just “Clear all notifications”, however, because there’s a hidden button on the notification that can help you quickly disable notifications from this particular site. Move the cursor over the text portion of the notification and a few hidden buttons appear:
The “X” can close the notification, but the gear icon actually lets you access some settings.
Click on the gear icon.
As highlighted, choose “Go to Microsoft Edge notification settings” to disable notifications from this particular Web site.
Edge fires up and jumps you straight to this settings page:
There are a couple of settings worth noting here to start, though they’re a bit confusingly worded. I encourage you to enable “Ask before sending (recommended)” and “Quiet notification requests” which will mute just about all of the Web site notification pop-ups anyway.
Below that, however, is what you seek. There’s a set of sites that are having their notifications blocked, then sites that allow notifications. Notably on the bottom is “www.cnet.com:443” That’s the culprit!
Click on the “•••” adjacent to the site you want to block and yet another little menu pops up:
You can change it with “Edit“, but if you really never want to receive these notifications from the site, choose “Block“. Not sure? Choose “Remove“.
That’s it. Now the site won’t be listed in the “Allow” area and you shouldn’t get any more notifications from it. If you still do, try restarting.
Not too difficult, all in all, but tedious if you get lots of notifications, no question.
Pro Tip: I’ve been writing about Windows 10 for quite some time and earlier versions of Windows before that. While you’re visiting, why not check out my Windows 10 & PC help area? Thanks!