How To Manage Website Notifications In Chrome And Firefox

Managing Website Notifications in Chrome and Firefox

Website notifications can be both useful and intrusive, depending on your preferences. Here’s how you can manage these notifications in Chrome and Firefox to tailor your browsing experience.

Managing Notifications in Chrome

Disabling All Notifications

To completely stop all push notifications in Chrome, follow these steps:

• Open Chrome and click on the three-dot menu in the top-right corner.
• Select Settings > Privacy and security > Site Settings > Notifications.
• Choose Don't allow sites to send notifications. This will block all push notifications, including those from productivity apps like Gmail and Google Meet.

Muting Notifications

If you prefer to keep notifications but make them less invasive, you can set Chrome to use quieter messaging:

• Go to Settings > Privacy and security > Site Settings > Notifications.
• Select Use quieter messaging. This will keep notifications but make them less intrusive, and a bell icon will appear in the URL bar when a message is blocked.

Managing Notifications for Specific Sites

To control notifications for specific sites:

• In the Notifications settings, you can add sites to the blocked section by clicking the Add button and entering the URL of the site.
• For sites you have already allowed, you can click the three-dot icon and choose Block.

Managing Notifications in Firefox

Disabling All Notifications

To disable all notifications in Firefox, you can use the following methods:

Temporary Disable

• Go to the browser menu and select Settings.
• On the left, click on Privacy & Security.
• Scroll down to the Permissions window, and select Notification.
• Check Pause notifications until Firefox restarts. This will disable notifications until you restart Firefox.

Permanent Disable

For a more permanent solution:

• Type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return.
• Click the button promising to be careful.
• In the search box, type or paste webno and pause while the list is filtered.
• Double-click the dom.webnotifications.enabled preference to switch its value from true to false. This is a master switch that will disable all desktop notifications from sites.

Managing Notifications for Specific Sites

To control notifications for specific sites in Firefox:

• Go to the browser menu and select Settings.
• On the left, click on Privacy & Security.
• Scroll down to the Permissions window, and select Notification.
• Next to each site, there is a dropdown menu where you can allow or block push notifications. You can also remove all websites from the list by clicking Remove All Websites.

Blocking New Notification Requests

To block all new notification requests:

• In the Notifications settings, check the Block new requests asking to allow notifications checkbox. This will prevent any new sites from asking for notification permissions.

Additional Tips for Firefox

Site-Specific Permissions

If you find that your site-specific permissions are forgotten:

• Ensure that Firefox is not set to clear site preferences when it closes. Go to Options/Preferences, and if you have "Clear history" set, check to the right of it for a Settings button. Make sure that Site Preferences is not checked.

Background Updates

To block background updates (which are not visible notifications but can still be used by sites):

• Type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return.
• In the search box, type or paste dom.push.enabled and double-click the preference to switch its value from true to false. However, this may block useful services from trusted sites, so use with caution.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Forgotten Site Permissions

If you lose site-specific permissions, it might be due to Firefox's settings to clear history when it closes. Ensure that Site Preferences is not checked in the settings for clearing history.

Persistent Notifications

If you are still receiving notifications despite your settings, check if the site has installed a service worker. You can see the list of installed service workers by typing about:serviceworkers in the address bar and uninstall any unwanted service workers.

By following these steps, you can effectively manage website notifications in both Chrome and Firefox, ensuring a more tailored and less intrusive browsing experience.