Avast provides effective protection against malicious software, but it can be a bit chatty, with regular pop-ups to update you on its status and activities. Here’s how to turn off its notifications.
Avast’s entire range of antivirus software benefits from a manually activated Silent Mode, which will suppress notifications regardless of whether you’re running an application at full screen or not – this is useful if you’re screen sharing, streaming or simply wish to avoid interruptions.
Disabling notifications does not affect your antivirus suite’s ability to protect you. Avast’s real-time scanner will remain active and watching for threats from files, web pages, your local network and more.
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What we used
- Any Windows 10 or 11 computer with Avast installed
The Short Version
- Enable Silent Mode via the notification area
- Ensure silent mode is enabled in the Avast client
- Open Settings
- Scroll down
- Enable Silent mode
Step
1Enable Silent Mode via the notification area
Click on the ^ arrow in Windows’ notification area at the bottom right of the screen. Click Silent Mode in the menu, or confirm that it’s already selected. If you want to double check all notification options, however, you’ll find more granular options for both Silent Mode in its Settings screens.
Step
2Ensure silent mode is enabled in the Avast client
Open the Avast client using its desktop icon, the Start menu, or by left clicking on its notification area icon. Click Menu towards the upper right hand corner. If you’ve enabled silent mode, the client’s Home tab will tell you this. To access advanced notification settings, click Account: the fourth tab down on the left.
Step
3Open Settings
On the Account tab, click the button marked Settings.
Step
4Scroll down
The notification options are all at the bottom of the Settings page. Scroll down.
Step
5Enable silent mode
To enable silent mode, tick the first box under Notifications, marked “Don’t show any pop-ups, alerts, or messages (Silent mode)”.
If you choose to routinely run your antivirus software in silent mode, you may wish to occasionally open the client to see if it’s quarantined anything lately.
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Troubleshooting
Disabling notifications does not affect the suite’s protection. The scanner remains active and watching for threats.
No. If you need to disable the detection engine, you’ll have to manually do that from the notification area or settings.
Just open the Avast client and click the big TURN OFF button on its status screen.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.