page_title: Features new to Windows 8
section_title: Notifications
hierarchical_section_title: Features new to Windows 8 / Shell and user interface / Notifications
caption_attribution_description: English: Windows 8 showing a Notification.
context_page_description: The transition from Windows 7 to Windows 8 introduced a number of new features across various aspects of the operating system. These include a greater focus on optimizing the operating system for touchscreen-based devices and cloud computing.
context_section_description: Windows 8 introduces new forms of notifications for Metro-style apps and for certain events in File Explorer.
  Toast notifications: alert the user to specific events, such as the insertion of removable media
  Tile notifications: display dynamic information on the Start screen, such as weather forecasts and news updates
  Badge notifications: display numeric counters with a value from 1-99 that indicate certain events, such as the amount of unread e-mail messages or amount of available updates for a particular app. Additional information may also be displayed by a badge notification, such as the status of an Xbox Music app.
  The PC Settings component includes options to globally disable all toast notifications, app notifications on the lock screen, or notification sounds; notifications can also be disabled on a per-app basis. In the Settings charm, Windows 8 provides additional options to suppress toast notifications during 1 hour, 3 hour, or 8 hour time intervals.
  Windows 8.1 introduces a Quiet Hours feature, also available on Windows Phone, that allows users to suppress notifications based on the time of day (e.g., notifications can be disabled from 12:00 AM to 6:00 PM).
caption: A Windows 8 toast notification informing the user that a removable drive has been attached. Clicking or tapping the notification brings up the AutoPlay dialog, allowing users to configure actions that Windows should take after the insertion of a removable media device.
exif: {}