How to disable ‘you have new apps that can open this type of file’ notification

In Windows 8, Microsoft removed the ability for program installers to associate automatically with file types. Instead, when you open a file type which multiple programs on your PC can handle, you get a Metro-style toast notification: "You have new apps that can open this type of file". If you click it, you are able to choose the default program that you wish to use for that file type. If you want to get rid of this annoying notification, follow this simple tutorial.

There are several problems with this notification. The first is that it pops up when the user opens a particular file type, and not when a program that handles that file type is installed.
new app notification
The user's workflow is interrupted by this notification. Another problem is that the end user may have no idea what exactly caused this notification to pop up and that he's supposed to click on the notification to configure his default programs. Lastly, if you don't plan to change your file associations, this notification is just plain annoying.

To disable this notification about new apps, you need to apply a simple registry tweak, which changes the appropriate Group Policy setting.

  1. Open Registry Editor (see how).
  2. Go to the following registry key:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer

    Tip: You can access any desired Registry key with one click.

  3. Create a new DWORD value called NoNewAppAlert, and set it to 1.
  4. Now log out of your user account and log in again. Or run GPUpdate.exe /force from an elevated command prompt without logging out to update the policy settings.

That's it. Now the toast notification about newly installed apps that can handle file types in Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 8.1 Update/Feature Pack will be disabled.

If you enable them back, set the NoNewAppAlert to 0 or just delete it.

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Author: Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube.

8 thoughts on “How to disable ‘you have new apps that can open this type of file’ notification”

  1. I’m running 8.1 (updated from 8) and I do not have a listing for “Explorer” at the end of the noted link
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\

    I have Current Version
    EnhancedStorageDevices
    IPsec
    NetworkConnections
    NetworkConnectivityStatusIndicator
    safer
    SettingSync
    Skydrive
    System
    WcmSvc
    WorkplaceJoin
    WSDAPI

    but no ‘Explorer’

    Any ideas?

      1. So I created a key called explorer and then set the Dword NoNewAppAlert to 1. I then ran GPUpdate.exe which reported that the policies had been updated successfully. Then I went to open a seldom used graphic file that had been defaulted to my preferred graphics program, and I got the dreaded “you have new apps for that”.

        I am running a 64 bit machine. Should I perhaps have set a Qword value rather than a Dword value?

          1. He stated that he created a dword.

            Is there an answer to his question or not?

            I don’t mean to be harsh but reading comprehension is a little lacking under the circumstances.

  2. Ii found that shell extensions were causing the “new apps installed that can open this type of file” notifications and were also
    causing the explorer to crash at the same time. Fixed by closing some extensions all autodesk in my case. Im using Windows 10. Download the shexview file. Its clean.

    http://superuser.com/questions/557428/windows-8-right-click-crash

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