Windows 11 includes a feature where application icons on the taskbar will flash yellow (or orange) when the program requires your attention. This usually happens when you receive a new message in Teams, an error dialogue box appears in the background, or an application finishes a long-running process.
While this flashing is intended to be helpful, it can be incredibly distracting when you are trying to focus on a complex task or sharing your screen during a presentation. Fortunately, Microsoft introduced the ability to disable this flashing behaviour entirely.
How to Disable Taskbar Flashing
This setting was added in a later update to Windows 11, so ensure your system is fully up to date before proceeding.
- Click the Start button and select the Settings gear icon (or press Windows Key + I).
- In the left-hand sidebar, click on Personalisation.
- On the right side of the screen, scroll down and click on Taskbar.
- Scroll down again and click on Taskbar behaviours to expand the section.
- Look for the setting labelled Show flashing on taskbar apps.
- Click the checkbox to remove the tick and disable the feature.
Once disabled, background applications will no longer pulse or flash to demand your attention, allowing for a much calmer and distraction-free desktop environment.
How to Disable Notification Badges
Even with flashing disabled, you may still find the small red notification circles (badges) on taskbar icons distracting. These badges display an unread message count for apps like Mail or Slack. You can disable these within the same menu.
- Remain in the Settings > Personalisation > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviours menu.
- Look for the setting labelled Show badges on taskbar apps.
- Click the checkbox to remove the tick.
With both flashing and badges disabled, your taskbar will remain completely static, regardless of what the applications are doing in the background. If you rely on these alerts for urgent work communications, you may want to leave badges enabled while disabling the flashing animation.