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The new Notification Center feature in Mountain Lion is a helpful feature for some users, but it can cause a serious headache if you don’t use it. If Notification Center is bugging you, you can disable it with a Terminal command. Continue reading and we’ll show you how.
Disable Notification Center Temporarily
There are two ways to temporarily disable Notification Center. First, you can Option + Click on the Notification Center icon in the menu bar. This action will cause Notification Center to turn off for the rest of the day, and will resume it the next day.
The other option is to open Notification Center by clicking on its icon, and scroll up to reveal the “on / off” switch labeled, “Show Alerts and Banners.” Flip the switch to off, and Notification Center will resume the next day.
Disable Notification Center Permanently
If you wish to go one step further and disable Notification Center permanently, open the Terminal (located in Applications/Utilities), and type in the following command followed by the return key:
sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.notificationcenterui KeepAlive -bool false
You’ll be required to type in your administrator password to continue with the request to disable Notification Center. You can re-enable notification center by replacing “false” in the above statement with “true.”
After doing that, type in the following command to quit the Notification Center:
killall NotificationCenter
When you log out and back in to your Mac, the Notification Center icon in the menu bar will be missing.
Temporarily Re-enabling Notification Center
If you need to use Notification Center, you can temporarily re-enable it by opening the Finder and pressing Command + Shift + G, and typing in the following path:
/System/Library/CoreServices/
When done, press return on your keyboard. Locate the “Notification Center” application and double-click on it. Notification Center will resume running in your menu bar. When logging out and back in, the Notification Center will still remain closed.
Permanently Re-enabling Notification Center
To re-enable Notification Center permanently, open the Terminal and type in the the following command:
sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.notificationcenterui KeepAlive -bool true
To ensure that Notification Center always opens when you log into your Mac, open System Preferences > Users & Groups > Your User Name > Login Items. Click on the + button at the bottom of the listing and press Command + Shift + G in the Finder open dialog. Enter the following path and press the return key on your keyboard:
/System/Library/CoreServices/
Choose “Notification Center” from that directory and press Add. This will cause the Notification Center to launch whenever you log into your Mac.
Cory Bohon is a freelance technology writer, indie Mac and iOS developer, and amateur photographer. Follow this article’s author, Cory Bohon on Twitter.
Mac|Life nor the writer assumes any responsibility for the use of the code in the above article. Use at your own risk.
