How to Stop Android Notifications from Turning on the Screen

Notifications are an important part of the Android experience, but they can be abused. Some apps go out of their way to be noticed, which is very annoying. We’ll help you wrangle up those Android notifications that turn on your screen and stop them.

A typical Android notification will simply ring or vibrate your device. Enabling Do Not Disturb mode will silence these. However, some apps will actually turn on the display to really grab your attention. Not only can this drain your battery quicker, but it’s also just kind of annoying and rude. Unfortunately, Android does not have a system-wide setting to prevent apps from doing this. Some devices allow you to make all apps wake the screen, but the option to do the opposite doesn’t exist.

So, what are your options? Well, there are two things that you can do. First, go to the source of the problem and see whether the app has an option to disable waking the screen for notifications. This is going to vary greatly depending on the app.

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How to Hide Sensitive Notifications on Android

Your phone or tablet’s lock screen prevents people from getting into your device, but there’s still information that can be gleaned from notifications on the display itself. Thankfully, Android makes it easy to hide content on your lock screen.

Android allows you to hide what it calls “sensitive content” from notifications on your lock screen. The notification will still appear, but the content of it will be hidden. What exactly qualifies as a “sensitive” notification is up to the app developers, so it can vary.

To get started, swipe down from the top of your device’s screen (once or twice, depending on your phone or tablet’s manufacturer) and tap the gear icon to open the Settings menu.

Next, select “Apps & Notifications.”

Now, choose “Notifications.”

Scroll down to the “Notifications on Lock Screen” section. First, select “Notifications on Lock Screen.”

If you’d like to hide all notifications, select “Don’t Show Any Notifications.” You also have the option to “Hide Silent Conversations and Notifications.”

For a less aggressive solution, toggle the switch off for “Sensitive Notifications.”

You’re all set! Again, the “Sensitive Notifications” method doesn’t offer a ton of control. What’s considered “sensitive” is completely up to the apps. It may work for the apps that you use, or it may not.

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How to Take a Windows 10 Screenshot without a Keyboard

What if you need to take a screenshot in Windows 10, but you don’t have a “Print Screen” key on your keyboard—or you don’t have a keyboard at all? Luckily, it’s easy to capture your screen using only a mouse thanks to a built-in tool called Snip & Sketch. Here’s how.

To run Snip & Sketch without a keyboard, open the Start menu and locate “Snip & Sketch” in the alphabetical applications list. Click its icon to launch it.

With Snip & Sketch open, click the “New” button.

Using a toolbar that appears at the top of the screen, you can perform a rectangular snip, a freeform snip, a window snip, or a fullscreen snip. Click the option that matches what you want to capture, then select part of the screen if necessary.

After you’ve captured your screenshot, you’ll see a preview of the output in the Snip & Sketch window. To save the screenshot, click the “Save” button, which looks like a tiny floppy disk.

In the file save dialog, browse to where you want to save the screenshot. The neat thing about Snip & Sketch is that it automatically names your screenshot with a timestamp so that you don’t need a keyboard to type in a new name. When you’re ready, click “Save.”

Your screenshot has now been saved, no keyboard required.

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How to Add a Gmail Account to Outlook Online

Microsoft Outlook Online has a dedicated button for adding a Gmail account to your online email client. Here’s how to pull your Gmail emails into Outlook in just a few clicks.

We’ve shown you how to add other email accounts into Outlook Online, but that process involved configuration pages that wanted to know things like port numbers and POP or IMAP server names. Granted, Outlook would usually fill that information in for you if it could, but it’s still a bit intimidating.

In an effort to make the process simpler and as an acknowledgment that there are well over 1.5 billion Gmail accounts, Microsoft added a dedicated “Add Gmail Account” button to Outlook Online. Here’s how it works.

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How to Refund a Game on Steam

One of the problems with video games is that it’s hard to know if we’ll like a game until we buy it and play it. That’s why it’s a good thing that Steam, the biggest digital game retailer around, offers refunds for purchases you’re not satisfied with.

If you’re unlucky enough to experience buyer’s remorse early in your gameplay experience, Steam will painlessly return your money. All you have to do is submit a request, and the game will be taken out of your library, and your money will be refunded.

1 Go to “Steam Help.” Log into your Steam account. Click on the “Steam Help” tab near the top of the screen.

2 Specify you need help with a purchase. When you click on “Steam Help,” you will be redirected to a list of options. Near the bottom of the list, you should see the option “A Purchase.” Click on this.

3 Select the game you want to refund. After you click “A Purchase,” you should be directed to a list of games you purchased on Steam. Select the game you’re looking to refund.

Explain the problem. You will then be presented with options to specify the problem with your purchase. Select the reason you’re refunding the game. Options include things like “Gameplay or technical issue” or “I purchased this by accident.

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How to Stop “Your Phone” From Opening at Startup on Windows 10

The Your Phone feature in Windows 10 is a handy way to link your PC with your smartphone. Sometimes, Your Phone might keep popping up at startup when you don’t want it to. If so, there’s a way to disable the Your Phone popup.

First, open Task Manager. To do so, right-click your taskbar. In the menu that appears, select “Task Manager.”

In the Task Manager window, click “More details” if you start with a simple view, then click the “Startup” tab.

In the “Startup” tab, locate “Your Phone” in the list and select it. Next, click the “Disable” button in the lower-right corner of the window.

After clicking disable, you’ll see “Disabled” in the “Status” column beside Your Phone in the Task manager Startup list. When you’re done, close Task Manager. From now on, Your Phone will no longer launch on Startup.

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Reset Network Settings on Samsung Devices

While most manufacturers are moving to Android uniformity with the “stock” interface, Samsung is one of the few manufacturers that continues to use its own interface (most recently named “One UI”) for Android smartphones and tablets.

If you’re trying to reset your network settings on a Samsung Android device, start by tapping the “Settings” app in your app drawer. Alternatively, swipe down from the top of your screen to view the notifications shade, then tap the gear icon.

In the “Settings” menu, tap the “General Management” option.

In the “General Management” menu, select the “Reset” option to view the available options for resetting your device.

Tap the “Reset Network Settings” option in the “Reset” menu to proceed to the next stage.

Resetting your network settings on Android will wipe all previous settings for your Wi-Fi and mobile data connections as well as any previously connected Bluetooth devices.

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