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, by default, enters Do Not Disturb mode whenever you have an application running in fullscreen mode, but there’s also a manually activated Silent Mode, that will suppress notifications regardless of whether you’re in fullscreen 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.
Depending on how you have your manually enabled Silent Mode and automatically activated Do Not Disturb modes configured, resource-intensive tasks such as Avast’s scheduled scans and Windows Updates may be delayed for a future point in time when Do Not Disturb functionality is active.
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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 using Avast’s settings
- Select Notifications
- Enable silent mode
- Check your Do Not Disturb settings
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 using Avast’s settings
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. Click Settings – second down, with the gear icon next to it.
Step
3Select Notifications
The settings window will open on the General > User Interface tab. Two down from User Interface, click Notifications
Step
4Enable silent mode
Tick the first box on the list, next Use silent mode and turn off all pop-ups, alerts and messages. Probably best to disable sounds while you’re here, unless you’re a particular fan of random alert noises.
Step
5Check your Do Not Disturb settings
Now click the Performance tab at the bottom of the leftmost column. All notifications from both avast and third-party applications should be set to be silenced here, except the Don’t show Do Not Disturb notifications box. If this isn’t the case, tick the boxes to silence each type of potential distractions. You can now close the Settings screen.
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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Essential Virus Protection
Our 5-star rated anti-virus blocks malware and viruses in real time and stops hackers, now 50% off at just £12.49
- Kaspersky
- Was £24.99
- £12.49 per year
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.