How to use the debug assistant in Windows 11

It’s all too easy to let distractions like social media or videos trick us into what we’re supposed to do, like, say, writing articles on Windows 11. Features like Focus Assist are now included in systems. operating. to try to help us keep our eyes on the road, so to speak.

Microsoft’s Focus Assistant was first introduced in a 2018 update to Windows 10, where it replaced a feature known as Quiet Hours, and although Windows 11 doesn’t offer any drastic updates. , it made the feature easier to use. Focus assist prevents notifications from appearing on your screen and can be activated automatically when you put your screen in presentation mode, play a game, or use an app in full screen mode.

I’ll show you how to edit automatic sessions in a moment. First, here’s how to manually start a Focus support session.

Start a session

In Windows 11, Focus assist was integrated with the Clock application. To start a session manually, type “Clock” into the search icon on your taskbar. You will be guided to a page that helps you configure the duration of the session; you can also set a daily goal if you want. And there are tiles that let you link your Spotify account (if you have one) to your focus sessions or use Microsoft To Do to choose a task for that session. You don’t need either? Keep reading.

If you click on the settings icon at the bottom left of the Clock app, you can adjust the length of your focus time (including breaks) and select a sound to play when your focus period (or break ) end. And you can get rid of Spotify and / or To Do tiles.

The Clock settings page also allows you to choose a theme for the app and change your notification settings, including notifications that should not be filtered during a Focus support session.

To customize this feature a bit more and change the automatic settings, you need to go to “Focus Assistance Settings”.

Focus assist settings

You can access the Focus assist settings in several ways: by clicking on ‘Settings>’ System ‘>’ Focus assist ‘, using the search icon on the taskbar to find’ Focus assist ‘or by clicking on the button. ‘System clock on the right edge of the taskbar, then on “Focus assistance settings”.

Once you are there there are two main sections.

The first section allows you to activate and deactivate the focus assist and to define certain parameters when it is active:

• “Priority only” restricts active notifications to those specified in a priority list. You can configure this list by selecting the “Customize Priority List” link just below the “Priority Only” subheading. You can do this always notify you of incoming calls, always notify you of reminders, or allow notifications of specific apps. New in Windows 11 is the ability to prioritize notifications for contacts that are either pinned to your taskbar, or that you specify via an “Add contacts” button.

• “Alarms only” allows you to hide all your notifications, except for any alarms you may have configured.
• Worried about missing something? If you check “Show a summary of what I missed when tune-up assistance was activated”, you will be automatically notified of all your filtered notifications as soon as tune-up assistance is no longer active.

The second section, titled “Automatic Rules”, allows you to adjust several predefined rules. You can turn each of them on and off from this page, but if you want to change their settings, click on the feature name.

• “During these times” allows you to set specific times and days on which focus assist will trigger. To change the settings, select “During these hours” and then on the next page turn it on. You will be able to choose the start and end times of each session; whether this applies to every day, only weekdays or only weekends; and whether it will allow priority only or alarms only.

The other features under “Automatic Rules” work in much the same way. On the Debug Aid page, click the button to turn them on or off, and then click their name to adjust them.

• “When I duplicate my display” is triggered when you have two displays in progress; activate it so that it can be changed to allow only priority or only alarms.
• “When I play a game” is pretty obvious; again, turn it on to change it to priority only or alarms only.
• Finally, “When I use an application in full screen mode only” can also be changed to be only priority or only for alarms.

One more thing: when Focus assist is active, you’ll see a little moon icon on the far right of your taskbar. Click on it and you should be able to see all the missed notifications.