How To Disable ‘Safely Remove Hardware’ Popup Notification in Windows

Apart from disabling User Account Control feature (UAC) which is basically a security mechanism that pops up each time you click on the .exe file, one of the most annoying features in Windows Vista and Windows XP is that each time you remove a USB Flash drive or any other removable media by right clicking on the drive and then selecting ‘Eject’ from the menu; you will be presented with an annoying popup/balloon over the taskbar, telling you that the drive have been safely removed.

If you are like me and feel pissed of each time this pop appears and wish if there is some way to disable it forever, then consider it to be your lucky day! You don’t have to worry about hacking into your registry to disable it, the solution is pretty simple and any one can do it. Here’s how;

Disable ‘Safely Remove Hardware’ Popup Notification

Step #1: Right click on the taskbar and select properties from the menu;

Step #2: For Windows XP users; Under the ‘Taskbar’ tab, click the ‘Customize’ button that appears near the bottom of the window, For Windows Vista users; Click on the ‘Notification Area‘ tab and then click on ‘Customize‘ button;

Step #3: In the new window that pops up, scroll down and look for ‘Safely Remove Hardware‘ option, click on the drop down menu and choose ‘Hide‘ (Windows Vista) or ‘Always Hide‘ (in Windows XP) from the list;

Step #4: Click OK when done.

Next time you remove your USB Flash Drive you won’t have to worry about this pop up anymore. You can also use Icon Remover as an alternative to the above procedure, which basically comes with two options; a button to remove the Safely Remove Hardware icon, and a second button to restore it. Enjoy!