Disable Notification Bell 23H2

Hello,

I have searched everywhere for a solution to this and I haven't found anything. I do not want to install 3rd party software for this tweak, if it it is not possible natively, I will not worry about it.

In 22H2 (build 22621.2283), when notifications are turned off, there is no bell on the taskbar. This is what I want


I have a test machine running the most current Insider Beta build (22631.2338). For a while now, the bell icon shows up even when notifications are turned off.


I've tried comparing registries to see if maybe there is leftover code to disable the bell, but haven't had any luck. The closest I can get is to disable the notification area entirely via a gpo, but that also removes the calendar flyout, which I still want.

Speaking of the calendar flyout, I would love to have only the calendar flyout and not the notification flyout as well. I Also do not want the "Focus" setting either.

I've been kind of hoping Microsoft would add an option to remove the bell soon in a new Insider Build, but with 23H2 right around the corner I don't think they will.

Again, with how much searching I have done I don't think it's possible and will accept it if it's not. Just thought I'd see if anyone has come up with a way.

Thanks!

The only way to get rid of the bell symbol is to switch off action center.
I do that with a registry entry, please see:

After done that you need to log off and on again.
You don't need to switch off notifications, if you leave that on, you will receive notifications in a normal notification box and you can select which ones you want to see too (all in the normal taskbar setup).

If you switch off the action center, you will not be able to use the (standard) Microsoft calendar anymore!

Kees said:

The only way to get rid of the bell symbol is to switch off action center.
...
If you switch off the action center, you will not be able to use the (standard) Microsoft calendar anymore!

Click to expand...

Yeah, I had found that too.... But I like the calendar flyout. I thought maybe since there is still somewhere in this build that disables the bell that I can somehow tweak the registry to hide the bell but keep the calendar.

Thanks for your help!

For the calendar, I use the calendar of T-Clock 2.4.4.492.
You can download that old app from Github.
Download T-Clock.zip and unzip it to a Folder that suits you (I made a special folder Program Files Portable in my C:\)
You can then setup the calendar by linking to:
"C:\Program Files Portable\T-Clock\Clock64.exe" /prop
The /prop switch is needed for the setup mode.
That setup includes the normal T-Clock Clock itself, but that's not usable anymore under Windows 11 (unless you use a taskbar tweaker like ExplorerPatcher or StartAllBack).
However, the calendar still is usable.
You only need to put a link to it on your desktop or in the start menu:
"C:\Program Files Portable\T-Clock\misc\XPCalendar.exe"
I put that link in the right lower corner of my screen, just above the time.
My calendar looks like this:



That's my solution for the missing calendar of Microsoft if you switch off action center.
But there are other apps that do the same. I found none that I liked (and that displays a dutch calendar).

Edit:
The language of the calendar is the system language, but you can change it in the T-Clock settings:



This is how you can manage the settings of the calendar:

What was wrong with the old notification system? It was perfect and unobtrusive with badges, and not annoying like that of Windows 10. Microsoft is gone crazy with Windows 11, it's changing what it shouldn't, always for the worse and never fixes the real bugs.
Fortunately, I am with 22h2 and remain with 22h2 updated to last February, I have original W11 notification badges, without all these horrible worsening, slowdowns, lags and explorer bugs, introduced in the last months by windows updates, or rather windows worsening. I deleted the outrageous defender too, along with all the other M.$ crapware. I closed WUS permanently.
Shame on M.$!