If you have an older Mac computer, chances are you've decided against upgrading to MacOS High Sierra even though it's free. That doesn't stop Apple from constantly sending you notifications to do just that.

One of the reasons this notification is particularly annoying is that you can't actually dismiss it.  So how do you turn it off?

The Easy Method

To do things the easy way, open up your Mac App Store and go to Updates. You'll see a large Mac OS High Sierra banner at the top of the screen. Hold down Control and click anywhere in that window and click Hide Update.

The Complicated Method

If the simple method doesn't work for you, there's a slightly more complicated but surefire way to get rid of the notification:

  1. Open your Mac finder and click Go > Go to Folder or use the keyboard shortcut Shift + Command + G.
  2. Type /Library/Bundles in the dialog box that opens:
  3. In your Finder window, you should see a file named OSXNotification.bundle. Move the file to another location on your computer. (You can also delete the file if you're absolutely sure you don't want to receive this notification anymore, but moving it is a non-destructive way to disable the notification.)
  4. When you move or delete the file, you'll be prompted to enter your administrator password, which is the same as the password you use to log in to your computer.
  5. Restart your computer.

Deleting the MacOS High Sierra Install File

Chances are, Apple has already downloaded the OS install file to your computer. To locate and delete the 5.2GB High Sierra installer file, open your Mac finder and go to the Applications folder. Search for Install macOS High Sierra and delete it:

Preventing High Sierra Automatic Downloads

Now that you've deleted the file, you can prevent future downloads by going to System Preferences > App Store and unchecking Download newly available updates in the background.

This of course means that all app updates will not be automatically downloaded in the background, not just OS updates, so if you like to keep your apps up to date, you'll have to update them manually.

If you prefer to keep automatic downloads turned on, you can make a duplicate copy of a small application on your computer and rename it Install macOS High Sierra. (The name has to be identical to the original High Sierra file.)

Once you've renamed it, right click the icon and select Get info. Under the General tab, make sure that Locked is checked.

Have you disabled High Sierra notifications on your computer? Let us know in the comments.

Image Credit: ifeelstock/Depositphotos