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?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Email and communications

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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
    2013-11-14T15:20:01+00:00

    Here is some almost complete but partial fix that I figured out... In my pasted article below I may reference like it was completely solved for me but I will clear up that I was able to stop top right corner and middle of the page drags on the right side of my touchpad from triggering the charms bar... I was not able to stop the bottom right portion of the screen from doing it.... Here is a reposted article I made... Before I paste actually one last thing is that to get Microsoft to change we have to go beyond the message boards... Maybe Fox Business? If you hurt their pockets they will finally pay attention.. But it is concerning that MS techs are on this board basically saying it is impossible when they could easily make an option to allow disabling... It is very disturbing they want to force this behavior which is bothering hundreds of thousands of users... Some who are unaware of how to find boards like these and do not even know its called a charms bar...

    Hey I got some good news potentially.. I say potentially because it is only a solution thus far that is working on my Sony VAIO. If there is any specific hardware information you would like that I have not mentioned then please let me know... But basically here is what I did.

    I found on the Synaptics website that there was a version of the touchpad software that had a setting called "Enable Edge Swipes". This was not in my version so I figured my version was out of date... Here is the shocker... My version was current and Synaptics had removed this feature from the software atleast on the latest release I had... Kinda wonder if Microsoft had some influence with that decision....

    I am seeing that going by this link at the end of this paragraph that many users may have the same software under different brand names. You will also see the navigation to the "Enable Edge Swipes" feature in screen captures... One other note is I see a guy in the comments section mentioning a new area of the registry to edit the swipe that I have never tried.... It is comment #2..

    http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/20992-touchpad-edge-swipes-enable-disable-windows-8-a.html

    The guy in comment#3 claims to have updated to the latest version of Synaptics to fix this but in my case it was definitely the opposite. I had to remove the current version and revert back because when I downloaded the appropriate version the installer prompted me that my version was up to date and that the version I was trying to install was old...

    The version I have installed currently is from this link

    http://www.synaptics.com/resources/drivers

    It is v16.3.15.1 25Feb13

    There are many who are saying they are upgrading but I am confused based on my experience above... Could be differences in vendors / software builds. Not sure...

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-11-14T10:57:40+00:00

    Well I now join the throng of frustrated and unhappy people... this awful sidebar thing.

    :(

    Yep, that's all of us with desktops. But let's be clear.

    THESE ARE HARD TIMES! IN SPITE OF THAT (( BUT MOSTLY TO RESPOND TO THE FACT THAT 3 OUT OF 4 COMPUTING DEVICES ARE BEING HACKED AS WE CONSIDER THIS THREAD, AND TO SIMPLIFY GRUNT CAMP NSA SPYING FOR EMPIRE'S U.S. GRUNT CAMP OCCUPYING AMERICAN LANDS AND BENEFITTED BY THE 3 ONE MICROSOFT WAY INVESTMENT SHELL ISSUE )) IN SPITE OF ALL THAT, MICROSOFT HAS BUILT A NEW OS CALLED WINDOWS 8.

    FEATURES !!! WINDOWS 8 KINDA GOT LOST IN RUSHED PRODUCTION SO WHAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A SINGLE IMPROVED DESKTOP GOT SHIPPED IN SHREDS. THE XBOX TEAM SHIPPED FOUR DESKTOPS. THE START BAR TEAM SHIPPED TWO DESKTOPS. MICROSOFT STORE SHIPPED FIVE DESKTOPS.

    CHALLENGE !!! HOW MANY LOST DESKTOPS CAN YOU FIND IN YOUR WINDOWS 8... TODAY?!

    Tomorrow? (groan) LOOK AT THE BRIGHT SIDE! We GRUNT CAMP VICTIMS now get to use Intel CPU dies straight out of Germany (and only 3 years out of date), and the new OS Win 8 is the only OS on earth that fully unleashes that CPU so your system can boot in just 4 seconds. Don't expect me to fall back into the 7'enties swamp (ANY TIME SOON?).

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