Quick Tip: How to turn off Enhanced Notifications for Windows Defender

By default Windows Defender notifies you in the Action Center when scans are completed on your system even if there are no issues. This tip will show you how to stop those while still getting your critical alerts for malware and virus related detection/activity.

Richard Hay, Senior Content Producer

November 14, 2016

1 Min Read
Quick Tip: How to turn off Enhanced Notifications for Windows Defender

One of the popular additions to Windows 10 is the Action Center that channels alerts from your system and other apps to keep you apprised as things occur on your device.

These alerts can be customized in many ways including prioritizing the order in which they appear in the Action Center or how many alerts are allowed for each app/system. Many of the alerts are also actionable which means you may be able to interact with that app/system service directly through the notification in the Action Center without opening the app/service.

One program that can not be adjusted in the Windows Settings > Notifications & actions area is Windows Defender.

By default, when Windows Defender scans your system it will send an alert to the Action Center to let you know the scan was completed and there were no issues.

For some users this is unnecessary information and they only want to be alerted if a virus or malware was detected during that scan.

So how do you turn off these extra notifications for Windows Defender?

Step 1: Open Windows Settings > Update & security

Step 2: Turn off Enhanced Notifications

Once Update & security is open select Windows Defender on the left and then scroll down on the right side until you find Enhanced notifications.

Just toggle that On button to Off and then exit the Windows Settings app.

As you can see above this will turn off the nice to know my system was scanned and clean notifications and only push the critical items to Action Center.

But, wait...there's probably more so be sure to follow me on Twitter and Google+.

About the Author

Richard Hay

Senior Content Producer, IT Pro Today (Informa Tech)

I served for 29 plus years in the U.S. Navy and retired as a Master Chief Petty Officer in November 2011. My work background in the Navy was telecommunications related so my hobby of computers fit well with what I did for the Navy. I consider myself a tech geek and enjoy most things in that arena.

My first website – AnotherWin95.com – came online in 1995. Back then I used GeoCities Web Hosting for it and WindowsObserver.com is the result of the work I have done on that site since 1995.

In January 2010 my community contributions were recognized by Microsoft when I received my first Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award for the Windows Operating System. Since then I have been renewed as a Microsoft MVP each subsequent year since that initial award. I am also a member of the inaugural group of Windows Insider MVPs which began in 2016.

I previously hosted the Observed Tech PODCAST for 10 years and 317 episodes and now host a new podcast called Faith, Tech, and Space. 

I began contributing to Penton Technology websites in January 2015 and in April 2017 I was hired as the Senior Content Producer for Penton Technology which is now Informa Tech. In that role, I contribute to ITPro Today and cover operating systems, enterprise technology, and productivity.

https://twitter.com/winobs

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