disturbing bell icon -system tray

Question

disturbing bell icon -system tray

Patrick E 0

I have tried to get rid of the do not disturb bell in my system tray. I have turned off all I can think of. I want the time and date in the system tray, nothing more.

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3 answers

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Answer 1

DaveM121 939.6K Independent Advisor

Open the Settings App.

Go to System - Notifications.

Expand the Notifications section.

In there, disable this setting - 'Show Notification Bell icon'.

Does that not remove the annoying bell icon on your taskbar?

Patrick E 0 Reputation points

2026-10-13T13:31:53.4266667+00:00

It does for maybe an hour or so. But there it is again, in the system – notifications, the do not disturb is turned back on.
Patrick E 0 Reputation points

2026-10-13T13:42:22.7633333+00:00

Thanks, for taking the time to respond.
DaveM121 939.6K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-13T13:45:09.9633333+00:00

Thank you for that information.

Click your Start Button, type regedit and hit Enter to open the Registry Editor.

Click View and make sure 'Address Bar' is turned on.

Paste this into the Address Bar at the top and hit Enter.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\FocusAssist

Please provide a screenshot of that Registry Editor page.
Patrick E 0 Reputation points

2026-10-13T14:07:28.0166667+00:00
DaveM121 939.6K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-13T14:12:51.1666667+00:00

Thank you for the screenshot.

In the registry editor, paste this into the address bar (indicated below) and press Enter, then please provide a screenshot of that window.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\FocusAssist
Patrick E 0 Reputation points

2026-10-13T14:43:42.7433333+00:00
Sigh. The regedit appear different than when i opened it at 9:45am.

Now it looks like this:

I typed this in
DaveM121 939.6K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-13T14:49:08.6933333+00:00

Did you press Enter on your keyboard after pasting that into the address bar in the registry editor to navigate to that folder.
Patrick E 0 Reputation points

2026-10-13T14:51:38.0766667+00:00

yeah, the interface between you and I is buggy.

and this was the result:
DaveM121 939.6K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-13T14:59:27.9466667+00:00

Okay, thank you for the screenshot, there is no problem indicated there.This is very strange.

Open the Settings App.

Go to System - Notifications.

Expand the 'Turn on Do Not Disturb Automatically' section.

Please provide a screenshot of that window.
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Answer 2

Patrick E 0

Screenshot 2026-10-13 110723

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Answer 3

DaveM121 939.6K Independent Advisor

Thank you for the screenshot, disable these 4 settings, then restart (not shut down) your PC and check if that resolves the problem.

2026-10-13_162450

Patrick E 0 Reputation points

2026-10-13T17:15:15.76+00:00

I did what you said.

It's been more than an hour. So far, so good, the bell is gone.

Question:

In your previous message why did you say to restart, rather than to shutdown?
DaveM121 939.6K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-13T17:21:02.0533333+00:00

For many problems with Windows and to apply new settings in Windows it is always best to restart your PC, not shut it down, because that is the only working method to flush out the RAM, because Windows uses a process named Quick Startup that writes the current state of Windows to the drive when you shut the PC down and then reads that back when you start Windows again.