How to disable Windows Backup notification in Windows 7 and 8

By default, in Windows 8, Windows 7 & Windows Vista, Windows Backup notifies end-users to configure Windows Backup. Notifications can appear in the Action Center after seven days without having configured Windows Backup, or when an end-user attaches an external hard drive.

Disable Windows Backup Notification

If you do not intend to enable Windows Backup, and instead provide a third-party backup solution to end users, you may disable the Windows Backup notifications.

Windows Backup notifications are controlled by a registry key. This registry key is not present in default Windows installations. To disable Windows Backup notifications, you must manually add a registry key.

To do so, open regedit and navigate to the following location:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsBackup

Now under WindowsBackup, in the RHS pane, open a new DWORD and name it as DisableMonitoring, and set its value to ‘1‘.

Exit regedit.

If this key is set to 0, or if this key does not exist, then Windows Backup will display notifications to the end user to configure Windows Backup.

If this key is set to 1, and an end-user has not already configured Windows Backup, then notifications to configure Windows Backup will not be displayed to the end user in the Action Center, or when a user attaches an external hard disk.

Sourced from: Technet Libraries.

UPDATE: You can also do the following. Open Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Action Center\Change Action Center.

Check, un-check the options you want, click OK and Exit.

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How to Disable / Enable the Windows Firewall When the Options Are Grayed Out

There are many situations in which a user may need to disable / enable the Windows Firewall application. However, a common problem is the disabling of the ability to turn the firewall off from the graphical application. Users will see that any option available is grayed out, and nothing can be chosen. However, the firewall can be disabled through another route.

Note: Before you start save the registry preferably on a separate media from the computer hard drive. This will be used in the event of an unrecoverable error.
Launch the regedit application. This application can be launched by clicking on the "Start" button in Windows, and typing "regedit" into the "Run" box.
Export the registry. This can be done by clicking on the "File" menu option of regedit, then clicking on the "Export" option. A dialog box will open requesting the location for saving the registry.  

Locate Windows Firewall by following this path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall.

Delete the "WindowsFirewall" branch by right-clicking on the "WindowsFirewall" branch and choosing the option to delete. Answer the confirmation to complete the deletion and Restart Windows.

 

After the reboot open the Windows Firewall application by double-clicking on the icon for Windows Firewall in Control Panel. The options will no longer be grayed out, allowing the firewall to be turned off / on by selecting the appropriate radio button next to the option.

Click "OK" to save the settings.

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