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
    2014-06-24T18:32:04+00:00

    I have never cared much for Apple, but if Microsoft doesn't get its act together and create something user friendly like previous versions, I can see myself heading that direction. My step-dad was a computer geek, and so we've had computers since I was a teenager. Even the old versions worked better than this current hunk of junk.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-06-24T18:31:18+00:00

    It should be defaulted to completely disabled out of the box. I know its hard for you to understand what is frustrating about charms bar popping up on you all the time but may I ask why you act as though its no big deal and that the user should have to figure out how to disable out of the box rather than just disabling the "mistake" as default.

    That shows MS thinks they were right about this choice. There are 4 triggers for the charms bar from which I am aware of. I do not know they have a way to disable all 4 triggers but I have been able to get rid of 3 out of 4. I should not have to take time out of my day (not productive) to eliminate a disruptive feature. THe most common area to close a "window" is the top right of the screen. Do you know how many times I inadvertently triggered the charms bar until I finally figured it out on how to disable it.. Mind you, I was on Win8 before Win8.1 release which had those fixes.. But still its a horrible mistake that was not tested properly towards the public before release and it is one of the many things that suck about Windows 8.

    I moved to Apple because of it and that was after 20 years of devotion to MS through thick and thin. They lost me with the charms bar feature and the overall difficulty with doing things I was used to like showing My Computer icon on desktop or just the little quirky things I liked on Win7 that were eliminated because they are trying to "dumb down" the OS which actually makes it worse.

    Now its more about flashy colors rather than stability and compatibility with older programs working fine on Windows7. Maybe you dorks are all high fiving each other in the corner and loving Windows 8 but it did not nearly work out that way for me. I lost alot of money in loss of productivity. I found myself staring at the computer waiting for it to respond... Restarting it constantly, etc. I got the Apple and wow the thing works great. A crash here and there but such fast recovery if it freezes and stays pretty stable. I cannot say the same for Win8. An educated consumer and computer user will know this. People who do not understand they are losing time out of their life when they try to get things done will not see the difference. I however pay attention to how long pages take to load, how long folders take to open and display contents, etc. How fast an image appears as a thumbnail when you click it for preview in the window. This is where Apple blows away Windows. Everything happens faster and you get more done. I do not know how people that back MS do not see this. Next time you are sitting there trying to KILL a program in taskbar or restarting your computer or waiting for programs to open then you can think that if you were on a Mac you would always be moving on to better things...

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