Can we disable the charms bar in Windows 8?

Anonymous
2013-01-22T14:37:05+00:00

Old Title: when I move the mouse around the right hand side bar keeps appearing, when I don't want it to.

I recently bought a new computer with Windows 8 and have managed to work with it OK.  The thing is that when I move the mouse around, the right hand sidebar with the Search, Share, Start, Devices and Settings buttons (and the date and time, bottom left),  keeps appearing.  It is so frustrating as I keep having to click to get rid of it. Ironically, when I am ready to close the computer down, I have to fiddle around with the mouse trying to get the damn bar to appear so that I can get the settings button to shut it down. Are there any solutions for this?

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Anonymous
2013-06-05T09:31:15+00:00

"I am sorry to inform you that we do not have any option to disable the Charms Bar in Windows 8."

OMG, when I pay hundreds of my hard-earned dollars, especially in this economy, I expect to customize my product after purchasing. Did Microsoft have regular people try Win 8 for awhile before releasing it?

Got it!!! Its simple, go to control panel, synaptics touchpad and disable side swipe function, simples. it was really beginning to annoy me.

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Anonymous
2013-01-23T10:24:36+00:00

Hi Deborah,

Thank you for choosing Windows 8 and posting your query on Microsoft Community Forums.

It seems that you are not happy with the “Charms Bar” in Windows 8 as it always appears when you move the mouse pointer to the right hand side of your computer screen and would like to know if we can disable it.

I am sorry to inform you that we do not have any option to disable the Charms Bar in Windows 8. I can definitely forward your suggestions to the concerned department.

Microsoft has designed it for making things faster and easier. The charms bar help you do the things you do most often, like search, share links and photos, connect devices, and change settings without any difficulties.

For more information, please check this link:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/charms#1TC=t1

Hope this information is helpful.

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Anonymous
2013-07-31T18:02:19+00:00

"I am sorry to inform you that we do not have any option to disable the Charms Bar in Windows 8."

OMG, when I pay hundreds of my hard-earned dollars, especially in this economy, I expect to customize my product after purchasing. Did Microsoft have regular people try Win 8 for awhile before releasing it?

Got it!!! Its simple, go to control panel, synaptics touchpad and disable side swipe function, simples. it was really beginning to annoy me.

This issue was driving me crazy with my new week old inspiron 7720 windows 8.  I even spent time on the phone with tech support who suggested using an external mouse. I followed your suggestion to disable side swipe function and it worked perfectly.  Thank you.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-05-12T06:24:01+00:00

    Hi Robert, the regedit described here

     http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-disable-the-edge-panels-charms-bar-and-switcher-in-windows-8/

    "

    1. Open Registry Editor (press Win+R, type regedit.exe in Run dialog and press Enter) and go to key 
       HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ImmersiveShell
    2. Create here a new key "EdgeUI".
    3. Select the EdgeUI key in the left pane and create two new DWORD values in the right pane of Registry Editor.
      • DisableTLcorner - stands for "Disable Top-Left corner". Set it to 1, and Switcher will not appear when you move your mouse to the top-left corner of the screen. Note that it will still appear if you move the pointer to the bottom-left corner and then move it upwards along the left edge of the screen.
      • DisableCharmsHint - Set it to 1 to disable the Charms bar when using the mouse. It will not appear when you move the pointer to the top-right or bottom-rights corners. But as above, if you move the pointer to the top-right corner and then move it down along the right edge of the screen (or from the bottom-right corner up to the screen center along the right edge), it'll appear again.![](http://winaero.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Registy_settings-300x207.png)

    I have double checked the details and I do seem to have done it as per the instructions. ( creating the new EdgeUI Key )

    The touchpad is Synaptics. Driver 16.3.4.0

    Cheers

    Ray

    ps. I don't know if it's my imagination, but since the regedit it seems as if I actually have to try, to get the charms bar to flash up, rather than it constantly popping up every time I approached the right hand side of the screen with my pointer.

    Oops, just re read this,

    "But as above, if you move the pointer to the top-right corner and then move it down along the right edge of the screen (or from the bottom-right corner up to the screen center along the right edge), it'll appear again."

    So. I think the Regedit did sort it.

    Thanks

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-05-11T22:20:51+00:00

    Did the Regedit

    Which changed what exactly?   Both in the registry and in your testing.

    did not work on my Toshiba Satellite

    That's the first mention of that detail in this thread.   What Touchpad does it have?...

    Looks like it is an insufficient specification to know for sure but it could be a Synaptics device.   So which driver version do you have?  

    FWIW I finally tried using my Touchpad last night and discovered that I must still have an old W7 driver, so no EdgeUI stuff in it (but lots of other quirky features that I would have to learn to deal with if they had been enabled.)    If there is a download I can try to get a newer version I will, so I can try to understand what you all are seeing.  

    I still think that using a real mouse--easier to use buttons and more reliable scrolling using a wheel--would be less trouble, especially as I see Touchpads getting wider which means that users are going to get more problems (with who knows what symptom) from "palm" touches while typing.

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