How to Enable / Disable Security and Maintenance

This practical guide walks through how to enable / disable security and maintenance, explains the main requirements, and highlights common issues that may appear along the way.

You can enable or disable Security and Maintenance notifications in Windows 10 by using:

• Applet Control Panel Security and Maintenance
• Group Policy Editor
• Registry Editor

Find out in detail how to do this through the article below!

1. Use the Control Panel Security and Maintenance applet

To open the Security and Maintenance window, type Security and Maintenance in the Search box on the Windows taskbar and select it from the results.

Click the Change Security and Maintenance settings link on the left side.

Select (to enable) or uncheck (to disable) the security and maintenance messages you want, and then press OK.

Now you can exit the Security and Maintenance window.

2. Turn off the Security and Maintenance notification using the GPO

Run gpedit.msc to open the Group Policy Editor and navigate to the following settings:

User Configuration> Administrative Templates> Start Menu and Taskbar

Double-click on Remove Notifications and Action Center and set it to Enabled.

This policy setting removes Notifications and Action Center from the taskbar notification area. The notification area is at the far right of the taskbar, including icons for current notifications and the system clock.

If this setting is enabled, Notifications and Action Center will not be displayed in the notification area. Users will be able to read notifications as they appear, but will not be able to review any notifications they miss. If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, Notification and Action Center will be displayed on the taskbar. Restart is required for the policy to take effect.

3. Turn off the Security and Maintenance message using Registry Editor

Run regedit to open Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindowsExplorer

Right-click on Windows, choose New> Key. Name it Explorer.

Now, right-click on Explorer, choose New> DWORD (32-bit) Value.

Name it DisableNotificationCenter. Next, double-click on it and set its value to 1.

If Explorer doesn't exist, you need to create it.