Windows 7: Notifications - Change How Long to Stay Open

   Information

Notifications are small pop-up windows that are displayed in the notification area of the taskbar. They provide information about a variety of things, including status, progress, and the detection of new devices. Action Center also displays messages about recommended security and maintenance tasks next to its flag icon in the notification area.

This will show you how to change how long notifications or messages in the Windows 7 taskbar notification area are displayed on the screen before they close automatically.

   Warning

When you make any changes in the Ease of Access Center, the visual effects settings will get reset back to default settings automatically.

OPTION ONE

Through Ease of Access Center

   Note

This option will let you choose to have the notifications stay open for either 5, 15, 30, 60 (1 minute), or 300 (5 minutes) seconds until they close automatically.

If you wanted to specify the amount of time in seconds you want instead, then see OPTION TWO below.

1. Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click on the Ease of Access Center icon.

2. Click on either the Use the computer without a display or Make it easier to focus on tasks link. (See screenshot below)

3. Scroll down to where it says How long should Windows notification dialog boxes stay open, then click on the drop down arrow menu. (See screenshots below)

4. Select how long you would like to have the notifications stay open for until they close automatically, then click on OK. (See screenshots above)
NOTE: The default time is 5 seconds.

5. When done, close the Ease of Access Center window. (See screenshot below step 2)

OPTION TWO

Manually in Registry Editor

   Note

This option will let you specify any amount of time in seconds you want to have the notifications stay open for until they close automatically.

Special thanks to Jeff (aka: Orbital Shark) for finding the location in the registry for this and posting it to share.

1. Open the Start Menu, then type regedit in the search line and press enter.

2. If prompted by UAC, click on Yes.

3. In regedit, navigate to: (See screenshot below)

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility

4. In the right pane, right click on MessageDuration and click on Properties. (See screenshot above)


5. Select (dot) Decimal. (See screenshot below)

6. Type in how many seconds that you want to have the notifications stay open for until they close automatically, then click on OK. (See screenshots above)
NOTE: The default time is 5 seconds. Entering anything lower will still have a 5 second wait though.

7. Close Regedit. (See screenshot below step 3)

8. Log off and log on, or restart the computer to apply.