Notifications in Windows 11/10 are present to draw your attention to programs or areas that require your immediate attention. While this helps in resolving issues quickly it can annoy some. Especially the taskbar icons or buttons that flash, once the program is opened or there is a change in the program. Its icon shows up on the taskbar and begins flashing, becoming golden yellow. It will flash 7 times, after which it will continue to throb gently. In this post, we will see how you can disable the flashing of taskbar buttons or icons or change the count for the number of times it can flash using Registry or Windows Settings.
What is Show flashing on the taskbar Windows 11?
Windows notifies users about notification in two different ways. One is via the Action Center. The second one is via the flashing on Taskbar icons. However, the second method works only when you have opened the corresponding app on your computer and the app’s icon is visible on the Taskbar. If that condition is true, you can find flashing on the respective app on the Taskbar.
Disable Flashing Taskbar buttons in Windows 11/10
Open the Windows Registry, by typing regedit in Run box. It’s the Windows Registry that stores configuration information about many important parts of the Windows operating system. By editing it, you can tune Windows to behave the way you want it. However, modifying the Windows Registry can cause serious problems to your system, so make sure you know what you’re doing and create a system restore point first before proceeding further.
Locate and then click the subkey that holds the registry item or items that you want to change. For this, browse the following path:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Double-click the ForegroundFlashCount entry and change the Value data field to 0. The default on my Windows computer is 7 in Hexadecimal.
ForegroundFlashCount specifies the number of times the taskbar button flashes to notify the user that the system has activated a background window. ForegroundLockTimeout specifies the time, following user input, during which the system keeps applications from moving into the foreground. If the time elapsed since the last user input exceeds the value of the ForegroundLockTimeout entry, the window will automatically be brought to the foreground.
So, you may want to also ensure that the value of ForegroundLockTimeout is set to 0. The default on my Windows computer is 30d40 in Hexadecimal.
After having done this, restart Windows and you should no longer see any flashing icon in the taskbar on your Windows 11/10 computer.
Change the number of time Taskbar button flashes in Windows 11/10
If you want to change the number of times the Taskbar button flashes, then you can change the value of ForegroundFlashCount from the default 7 to a number between 1 and 6, and restart your computer. To disable flashing completely, you may set the value of ForegroundFlashCount to 0.
Let us know if this worked for you.
Earlier, you needed to change or disable the flash count using Registry Editor. However, now you can use the Windows Settings panel to get the job done.
How to enable or disable flashing on Taskbar apps in Windows 11 via Settings
To enable or disable flashing on Taskbar apps in Windows 11, follow these steps:
- Press Win+I to open Windows Settings.
- Switch to the Personalization tab.
- Click on the Taskbar menu.
- Expand the Taskbar behaviors section.
- Tick the Show flashing on taskbar apps option to enable.
- Remove the tick from the Show flashing on taskbar apps checkbox to disable.
To get started, you need to open the Windows Settings panel on your computer. Although there are so many ways to do that, you can press Win+I to open it on your PC. Then, switch to the Personalization tab on the left-hand side and click on the Taskbar menu on the right side.
Here you can find several sections, including Taskbar behaviors. You need to expand this section and find the Show flashing on taskbar apps option.
If you want to enable the flashing on taskbar apps, you need to tick the corresponding checkbox. On the other hand, if you do not want the flashing, you need to remove the tick from the respective checkbox.
Read: How to add Task Manager option in Taskbar context menu in Windows 11
How do I stop the Taskbar blinking icons?
To stop the Taskbar blinking icons in Windows 11, you need to follow the above-mentioned steps. First, open the Windows Settings panel by pressing the Win+I shortcut. Then, switch to the Personalization setting and click on the Taskbar menu. Next, expand the Taskbar behaviors section and remove the tick from the Show flashing on taskbar apps checkbox.
Read: How to pin File Explorer to Taskbar in Windows 11
How do I turn off Taskbar notifications?
To turn off Taskbar notifications or notification badges on apps, you need to open the Windows Settings panel first. Following that, go to the Personalization section on the left-hand side and click on the Taskbar menu on the right-hand side. Then, click on the Taskbar behaviors panel and remove the tick from the Show badges on taskbar apps checkbox.
Read next: Microsoft Edge tab flashing incessantly.
