Imagine turning on desktop notifications
this post was submitted on 27 Oct 2025
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A Boring Dystopia
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It feels like they get re-enabled every update on my work pc.
This is a windows/hollow knight issue.
Firefox has no way of knowing that you're playing a full screen game.
Windows caused the popup, Firefox just gave a notification. The best solution would be to switch to Linux. 2nd best would be a BSD. If you are unable to locate any install media then you can silence notifications.
Firefox finally added desktop client PWA support so they’re announcing it, and for whatever reason Windows didn’t squelch it during a full screen session like it’s set up to do by default.
I'm gonna go ahead and be the guy who recommends LibreWolf. Mozilla has been taking Firefox in an especially fund-seeking direction in recent years (and this fork avoids a lot of it). I haven't seen PWAs appear in LibreWolf as of now.
wtf is wrong with pwas
Nothing, they seem like a good idea. I just don't want my browser throwing new functionality at me without consent. I'd rather have a setting to enable PWAs that's disabled by default.
I LOVE livrewolf!! It's the only browser I know that actually gets out of your way, it doesn't try do sell you anything, it's just a terminal to the internet. It's also really good for privacy.
Recent years? Like at least the last 15.
the functionality is known as progressive web apps or PWAs. Did this notification come up unprompted? You may need to switch off certain settings within Firefox if so.
you can refer to one of my older posts for more info, reach out if you need a hand with anything.
Unprompted, unwanted, in the middle of a very intense game full screen, on a computer used as a game console I had to dig out a mouse to use.
I feel like it’s the OS’s job to provide the means to mute or defer notifications in certain contexts, and the games jobs to enter that context in full screen.
I feel like it's not the browsers job to congratulate me for installing an update that includes new features
I think that’s a fair position.
But the browser is just an app like any other. Apps have notification systems tied to the OSs notification system. Each app independently decides what they think it important to take advantage of that notification system.
The OS should have a notification system that supports mute/deferrals, and other apps, games, media players or whatever else the use wants should use that system for the users benefit.
I feel like a year ago, Windows was much better at not interrupting. There is literally a setting to engage Do No Disturb mode when playing a game. But it definitely seems to have stopped doing that from my experience despite that being a default setting and still enabled on my gaming rig. Something changed, and I doubt it's every game.
I'm sorry that happened. I've never seen stuff like this but this is likely because I disable as much shit as I can every time I set Firefox up on a new system. As you can see from the list of recs I linked above, it's a bit of a chore.
There are definitely smarter ways to go about it, like scripting the disablement of stupid shit in Firefox (or using a privacy respecting fork of the browser), but I like to do this / monitor this manually to keep track of any newly introduced anti features.
I have a mini PC I use as a console, works great. I run Linux and don't get this crap. This is unfortunately a windows "feature", although it's frustrating Firefox is making use of it. Presumably Firefox has an update and is "letting you know" about it's features. Presumably this can be turned off within Firefox, but other apps may do the same from time to time. It's crazy Windows allows this to be drawn over a full screen game.
FYI as an alternative Linux on a mini PC can be set up like the Steam Deck interface to be truely controller only. Windows games run great (I've completed Cyberpunk 2077 on mine for example), but one limitation is anti cheat games may not work. If that affects games you'd want to play then either stick with windows or dual boot Linux and Windows and switch to windows if you ever want to play an anti-cheat game that doesn't work in Linux. But Linux in gamescope mode is perfect for gaming, with none of this type of nonsense.
Recommend extensions as you browse
Recommend features as you browse
turn these off.
if you had these enabled, you are probably running defaults most everywhere and have a dozen more settings in firefox to look at; plus a lot more in chrome or edge if you use those, as well as in windows itself.
Ive kinda started liking PWAs tbh. I love the idea of a website being completely sandboxed and isolated from the rest of my browsing.
PWAs are great. No more Electron apps too! Also, Firefox has no way of knowing you are playing a full screen game, that's the os's job to squelch notifications. Now, Mozilla really shouldn't be using notifications to educate users on new browser features. That should be only on the post-upgrade web page and/or the new tab page only.
Plus you get web extensions like ublock.
I don't use them for many things but in terms of UX, I can totally agree with that. my guidance would just be to disable unprompted suggestions on the desktop rather than the functionality of PWAs.
Is it that a popup notification occurred during your full screen game? Or that it’s Firefox making the popup? I’m confused what makes this dystopian.
Yeah, seems like a "click no thanks and go on with your life" scenario. Some folks have an extremely low dystopia threshold.
OP commented above:
Unprompted, unwanted, in the middle of a very intense game full screen, on a computer used as a game console I had to dig out a mouse to use.
Hey everybody hates pop ups; no shade there. And I get it, when you’re neck deep in whatever game you’re playing it sucks to have interruptions. But calling it dystopian is cray cray. Sorry, not sorry. 😂
Ohh I just noticed the community. Yeah I agree, not really dystopian.
Clearly the end of civilized life.
Counterpoint: you're in Boring Dystopia, which usually for content that is dystopian but isn't exciting nor civilisation ending kind. It's boring, and it's boring to kinda have unwanted popup interrupting fullscreen application.
My issue is that this is like having the tab snap off of your pop tin and declaring it to be a sign that we're in a dystopia. It sets the bar so low that the word "dystopia" loses its meaning completely.
I mean it's kinda sounds like the enshittification of firefox at first glance, which is often regard as reliable browser. But it seems the issue is on windows end?
Idk, imo this place often give me the impression that it's about a slow but steady dystopian future creeping in, but in the same time it's boring and uneventful.
Silksong spotted :D
What’s wrong with this? The notification itself? Because desktop PWAs is a sorely needed feature!
Done you have to enable notifications for this to happen?
"Hello user, instead of viewing this information as a website that you can modify locally and adjust to your heart's content, how about you view it as an app where doing anything like that is a felony with a jail sentence?"
Dude, look up what a progressive web app is. It's just a standards-compliant web page with some reactivity done locally using javascript. Some of them even work perfectly offline because the whole page is cached locally. No jail sentences needed.
I know what a PWA is, let me curmudgeon dammit.
Upvotes for curmudgeons.
in my (albeit limited) experience, that isn't how it works. for example, ublock origin should still filter content as you'd expect, and I'd imagine inspect element would work on desktops too.
this just renders a webpage without the typical UI chrome (tabs, address/omnibar). it can be handy on am android phone for webapps like pixelfed (which is the only thing I use as pwa so far).
Sure but I consider coding your website to work correctly as a regular website to be a bare minimum requirement for me to want to use it. I've never used pixelfed and if their site doesn't work well without being run as a pwa, then I probably never well.
I don't think PWAs are necessarily at odds with this? One use case I could imagine is setting up a website that a parent or grandparent frequently uses as an app icon on their phone's home screen, it can help avoid a lot of browsing UX hurdles people like us often take for granted
pixelfed offer an app and a responsive website; you can think of it as an open source and federated alternative to Instagram (I'm not sure why I use it besides welcoming people leaving meta's services and up voting pictures of cats and dogs).
The web experience is technically more capable than the android app, which I believe uses react native anyway. Having it as a pwa kind of neatly tucks it away from my other browsing on my phone.
One use case I could imagine is setting up a website that a parent or grandparent frequently uses as an app icon on their phone’s home screen
...A URL alias?
sort of like a more accessible bookmark, separated out so as to not get buried within 800 tabs (if you're anything like my mum). it's not anything groundbreaking in actual use, I guess it kind of just appifies a given webpage (there is some technical nuance that I'm kind of glossing over to assure standards compliance and help them perform better offline).
It can be kind of nice on a phone to eliminate some of the UI chrome given the limited screen real estate you have.
I don't understand how this is dystopic?
because fuck pop ups
Imagine, you're busy dying in the sands of karak (I think) and then Firefox makes you die instead of it being your own inability to chain 20 dashes