- Windows 7 no longer pops up programs to the foreground ("stealing the focus") as some older versions of Windows did, instead flashing their taskbar button in yellow-to-orange glow:
...Just click on the application to see what it wants - subtle, elegant, and unobtrusive! - But Windows 7 doesn't do away with "taskbar notifications", these info-balloon tooltips or bubble callouts as you may know them. Some programs implement their own notifications, like Windows Live Messenger pictured below - use that app's settings to turn them off:
- To prevent a program from ever showing any notification, click on the "Show hidden icons" button and select "Customize": scroll down until you find the program in question.
- Click on the dropdown next to its name, select "Hide icon and notifications", and click "OK" (the same process explained in the space-saving "show / hide taskbar icons" tutorial).
- That program will no longer be able to communicate its messages, unless it uses another mechanism like the taskbar flash, or you manually "re-allow" it.
Note: some applications will "force" taskbar notifications that can't be blocked, like Windows Updates and some antivirus software packages (which you shouldn't want to block anyway!)
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