BackWindows 10’s Quiet Hours gets smarter at pausing distracting notifications
Windows 10 users can not only block notifications, but will soon be able to filter out unwanted notifications when they are busy
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Notifications keep users posted of new emails, calls, messages, tweets and other notifications. Every time Windows users get a notification, a small slide pops up at the lower right corner of the screen. Though it shows only for a few seconds, it can be quite distracting if the user is in the middle of something really important.
Microsoft is improving a feature called Quiet Hours in Windows 10, which works on the lines of Do Not Disturb mode in macOS. It works by restricting all notifications during the hours users don’t want to be disturbed. Users could go back to all the notifications in the action centre later.
With the latest Windows 10 Insider Preview, Microsoft has made a few improvements in the Quiet Hours which will make it smarter. These features are currently available only to Windows Insiders and will roll out to all users with the next Creators update.
The new version of Quiet Hours will be activated by itself in certain scenarios where distractions by notifications can be embarrassing and may affect user experience.
One of the scenarios is presentations. Quiet Hours will automatically turn on during presentations from the moment the notebook is connected to a projector or a bigger screen.
The other scenario is gaming. So if users are playing a game in full-screen mode, Quite Hours will activate automatically. So even if users forget to switch it on manually, Quiet Hours will step in and when the task is complete, it will switch off again.
Quiet Hours now gives users the option to choose the time period during which they can take advantage of it. This way they won’t have to switch it on and off manually. By scheduling the time, users can ensure Quiet Hours will always stay on when they want them. Users can schedule Quiet Hours in Settings-> Quiet Hours->Schedule.
To make sure users are accessible to friends and family members in emergency, Quiet Hours gives them the option to pick people and apps they want to stay in touch with even when Quiet Hours is on. This will also help users filter out irrelevant notifications and focus on the ongoing task. Also, people pinned to the task bar will be exempted from it.
Mac OS’s Do Not Disturb feature also allows users to schedule the hours they don’t want to see notifications and the option to block notifications when they are mirroring the screen for a presentation
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