How to disable Metro toast notifications on the Desktop

With Windows 8, Microsoft has introduced a new notification system: instead of balloon tooltips in the tray, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 use toast notifications, which appear on the right side of the screen and fade away after some time.

Such kind of notifications perfectly fit the Modern UI of Windows 8, which has a flat and touch friendly design. However, the classic Desktop is another story. These new toast notifications look out of place on the Desktop. In this article,  we will look at how we can disable Metro toast notifications on the Desktop.

There is a setting called 'Show app notifications' inside the PC Settings app which allows you to disable toast notifications. In Windows 8, it is located at PC Settings -> Notifications. In Windows 8.1, Microsoft has redesigned the PC Settings app, so you need to go to PC Settings Search and Apps -> Notifications.

Here are step-by-step simple instructions to disable them using the PC Settings app:

1. Press the Win+C shortcut on the keyboard. The Charms Bar will appear on the screen.
2. Click the 'Settings' gear icon and click the PC Settings item at the bottom of the screen.
3. Go to PC Settings -> Notifications section, if you are in Windows 8 RTM, or PC Settings Search and Apps -> Notifications in case of Windows 8.1
4. Turn off the 'Show app notifications' option:

If you are using Windows 8.1, you can bring up these settings directly with a special shortcut. See how to create a shortcut to open Notifications in Windows 8.1.

Alternatively, you can apply the following registry tweak to your OS:

1. Open Registry Editor (see how).
2. Go to the following key:

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\PushNotifications

   Tip: You can access any desired Registry key with one click. If this key doesn't exist, just create it.

3. In the right pane, modify the ToastEnabled value and set it to 0. If this value does not exist, you should create a new DWORD value and name it ToastEnabled. This DWORD value is responsible for the state of the toast notifications feature. Set it to 0 to disable  toast notifications. To enable them again, set it to 1.
   
   Bonus tip: To resize all columns to fit quickly in the right pane of Registry Editor, please refer to the following article: Use this secret keyboard shortcut to fit all columns in Explorer and other apps.

Download ready-to-use "Disable toast notifications" registry tweak.

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