Sometimes browsing the web feels like a psychological test. Auto-playing videos and pop-ups that fly left and right, asking for permission for more pop-ups, are enough to drive anyone to the brink of madness. Fortunately, with a few small changes to your browser settings, you can stop sites that make such invitations from bothering you in the future.
Below are instructions for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.
- In the upper right part of the window, press the three dots and select “Settings”.
- Scroll to the bottom of the screen, click “Advanced” and then under the “Privacy and security” menu select “Site Settings”.
- On the next screen, select “Notifications”.
- Press the blue button which will change color to gray to change the suggested setting to block.
If you only want certain sites to send you notifications, you can add them as exceptions on the same Chrome settings page.
- Press the “Add” button next to the word “Allow”.
- Type the address of the site you wish to add to the exceptions.
The asterisks as symbols are used to allow notifications from any site that begins with the address you typed.
- In the upper right part of the window, press the three dots and select “Options”.
- Select “Privacy & Security” in the left menu.
- Scroll down to the “Permissions” section, select the “Settings” button next to “Notifications”.
- Check the box next to “Block new requests asking to allow notifications.”
- If you wish to remove some sites that you have already given permission to send you notifications, on the same screen you can select the “Remove Website” button. Selecting “Remove All Websites” will remove all sites from this list.
Unfortunately, Firefox doesn't allow you to add specific sites to exceptions. So, to receive notifications from them, you have to visit them first, approve their notifications, and then follow the previous steps to block them from everything else.
- In the top bar, select Safari > Preferences.
- Select Websites and then Notifications in the menu on your left.
- Any site that has asked you for permission to show notifications will be on this list. You can browse through it and allow or deny access to any or all of them.
- At the bottom of the window you can also uncheck the option: “Allow websites to ask for permission to send push notifications”.
You can also silence all notifications from Safari by going to Mac .
- Select System Preferences and then Notifications.
- Find Safari in the list and select it.
- Under “Safari alert style:” select “None.” This will only affect the banners that appear when you receive an alert.
- Remove the default setting from as many of the following as you want: “Show notifications on lock screen,” “Show in Notification Center,” “Badge app icon,” and “Play sound for notifications.”
If you want system to be temporarily muted, you can select “Do Not Disturb” in the top left list, filling in the time or occasion for which you want to silence all notifications.
