Sometimes when you browse the web, you accidentally allow sites to send pop-up notifications to your computer. You might not realize it at the time, but at some point, you'll start getting notifications in the lower right corner of your computer. Here's an example, but it could be from travel sites, news organizations, adult content, or really from just about anything.
Fortunately, your computer isn't 'infected' with anything. You likely don't have a virus, and your computer hasn't been hacked. At some point, the website (or websites) asked if you wanted notifications in a pop up and you pushed the "Allow" button. But it's easy to go to your list of Allowed Notifications and remove the ones you don't want.
How to stop the Chrome pop-up notifications?
- Click on the triple dots in the upper right corner of your Chrome browser to open the menu.
- Select "Settings."
- Select "Privacy and security."
- Select "Site Settings."
- Select "Notifications."
- In the "Customized behaviors," look for the offending site in the "Allowed to send notifications" list and select the triple dots to the right of the URL.
- Select "Remove" from the pop up menu to turn off notifications for that site (though you will be able to opt in again in the future) or choose "Block" to remove notifications and prevent opt in popups from appearing again for that site.
You'll see there are some notifications you'll want, and you should recognize those: things like drive.google.com or mail.google.com. You should be able to spot the offending notification and block or remove it. If for some reason you've blocked the wrong site, you can always go to the section called "Not allowed to send notifications" and change the behavior.
In the same section about notifications in Chrome, you can also tell the browser to stop asking you if you want to allow those notifications. Chrome also has a notification setting called "Use quieter messaging." It blocks popups from appearing and instead lets you know that a site wants to send you notifications in the URL bar. You'll see the words "Notifications blocked" briefly in the URL bar along with a bell with a slash through it.