This browser is no longer supported.
Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(128, 8%, 22%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EA%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
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?
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
"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.
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.
"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.
I'm selling the ASUS I've had for only 5 months and buying my first ever Apple.
It would be cheaper to buy a real mouse and disable your Touchpad.
These laptops are sold with the touchpads as an integral part of the system and as such should be fully functional.
They are--when emulating a mouse. When emulating touch screen features (remotely) it is up to the user to do the necessary mental gymnastics (and feature tweaking) to make the functionality work adequately. The user has not been well prepared for doing this by either the hardware provider or by Microsoft. Of the two I would blame the hardware provider more. It's their device and their device support software trying to do something that is really only meant to work (directly) using a Touch screen.
It's not rocket science. If it can take up or otherwise waste screen space, it should be able to be customized or hidden. Period. It is 100% MS fault that they decided to stuff this annoying bloatware on us with no way to hide or change it. Oh, by the way, I have a touch screen laptop. I use it ocassionally to access the charms bar. But using a trackpad or a mouse, I regularly have to stop and wait for the stupid thing to go away because I was a little careless trying to close a page or scroll down. Reread the thousands of requests - we just want a way to be able to decide what tools are going to stop us from working or otherwise using our computers.
