One of the questions consumers have about the Windows 10 Technical Preview is where is the Notification Area would be included. In Windows 8, you had notification balloons and tips; in Windows 10, a Notification Area will be added in the future builds of the preview and the finished product.
However, for now, there’s a workaround to see the bare minimum of what it will look like for users.
See Also: Windows 7 and 8 Collide to Create a Brand New Windows 10 Start Menu
How to Preview the Windows 10 Notification Area
In order to preview the Windows 10 Notification Area, you have to jump through some hoops and take some registry risks. If you’re not comfortable with that, you’ll have to rely on our preview for now.
Thanks to Twitter user Adrian (@adeyblue) and Zac Bowden from WinBeta.org, you can get a sneak peek of what the Notification Area will look like in Windows 10 in its rough form. You can read their guide to enabling the Notification Area here.
Previewing the Windows 10 Notification Area
There are many features in Windows 10 which are disabled by default by Microsoft. There’s many reasons for this: Some are bugged, some aren’t finished, and some just won’t make it into the final version of Windows 10. However, with some creativity detective work, users can find these disabled areas, like the Windows 10 Notification Area.
As you can see, the Notification Area is just barebones for now.
It pops up, and looks like it can be moved into different areas of the screen, although settings aren’t released, yet, in the workaround.
Keep in mind that if you enable the Notification Area, you may run into issues. Although no issues have been reported, you never know what might happen when testing a disabled feature in a technical preview like this. Be wary before you enable the Notification Area.
What Will the Final Windows 10 Notification Area Look Like?
Chances are the final Windows 10 Notification Area will look a lot like what it looks like if you enable it. It seems that it bugs out when there’s too much to open at once in Windows 10 right now, and that’s most likely why Microsoft disabled it for the time being.
Conclusion
The Notification Area is of importance to many Windows consumers, because the way notifications work in Windows 8 is annoying and obnoxious. Plus, they never really worked right to begin with. If Microsoft can fix the issues with them, the Windows 10 Notification Area can make the overall experience that much better for users who abandoned Windows 8 because of issues like this.
What do you think of the barebones Windows 10 Notification Area for now? What improvements would you like to see before it’s integrated into future Windows builds? Let us know by commenting below!
