How do I turn off the gesture swipe from my windows 8 laptop?

Anonymous
2012-12-29T22:23:55+00:00

I am trying to turn off the gesture swipe on my new laptop and no one seems to have an answer. I go online to look for an answer but it gives me some info to copy and use but it doesn't seem to work. Can someone PLEASE give me EXACT step by step directions on how to turn these gestures off? It's EXTREMELY annoying that while I'm playing a game or doing most anything at all that the charm bar opens or the most recent app bar opens!!! Not sure how much longer I can take this!!! Thanks

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Anonymous
2012-12-30T10:40:27+00:00

Hi Josh,

Thank you for contacting Microsoft Community!

I understand that you would like to turn off gesture swipe. I will definitely help you with this issue.

  1. What is the make and model of the laptop?

I would suggest you to follow the steps and check if it helps.

a. Press Windows Key +R, type Control Panel.

b.             Click on Hardware and Sound, select Mouse then right click and select device settings

c.              Click on Settings.

From there you can adjust a lot of track pad settings, including Disable Edge Swipes and check.

If the issue persists or if the settings are not present, I would suggest you to contact computer manufacturer for further assistance.

Hope this helps. Try the above steps and get back to us for further assistance. We will be happy to help you.

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Anonymous
2013-04-14T20:05:48+00:00

OK all you Sony Vaio users, you are absolutely right.  There is no way to turn off the gestures from the mouse settings.  But... I figured out how to do it without having to change the registry.  Go to your apps screen and click on "VAIO Control Center"  form there go to "Mouse and Keyboard",  At the top of the list you will see "Turn on/off touchpad" with an on/off slider under it.  To the right of it is a "Details" button.  Click it.  That will open up another box saying "Enable Multi-touch functions" In there you will see a selection for "Show Charm"  Uncheck that, and you will not have to worry about those accidental swipes again.  YAY!!!

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-12-03T12:55:20+00:00

    I had this problem too and tried to follow your steps but I got lost at step b where you right click and select device settings... I couldn't find anything I can right-click on... Then I tried browsing around and finally found the "Edge Swipes" settings :)

    After going to "Control Panel" then click on "Hardware and Sound" then click on "Mouse" (Under Devices and Printers), you will open the "Mouse Properties" window. Go to the "ELAN" Tab (Elan is the name of my mouse-pad input for my laptop, I am not sure if it is the same for other laptops so if it's not, I'm sorry I couldn't help you then...)  On the "ELAN" Tab, you will see a "Options..." button, click on that and you will see a window that shows the configuration for "Tapping", "Clicking", "Drag and Drop" and "Edge Swipe" for the mouse-pad. Go to "Edge Swipe" Tab and uncheck the "Enable" box. Done :)  

    I am using Acer Aspire IV, windows 8.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-12-16T16:46:17+00:00

    I followed this information correctly - I must have done because it worked! I did have to do it twice because I think I should have clicked 'Apply' and 'Ok' at each stage. I'm so relieved that it worked, I was, like many others on here, being driven insane by the stupid 'feature'. At very least, Windows 8 could have been given a bit of extra thought about when the edge swipes would be appropriate. I can't think of a single reason one would need to use edge swiping features whilst engrossed in a game. My computer rage has abated and I can now enjoy my new laptop in a relaxing way.

    For those of you who feel this information is useless, please remember that it has to be generic info because we all have different computers and, at the end of the day, the guy is just trying to help out. Set your computer rage to one side and try again. Good luck!

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-12-28T02:19:13+00:00

    Just to add on to qurhadnc's post...  Applying the reg settings didn't work for me on my non-Win8 certified Toshiba Satellite A505 laptop (yes, I rebooted).  Since it's older there were no Win8 Synaptics drivers for download from Toshiba.  I tried the generic drivers from the Synaptics site but they failed to install.  What I had to do was download the Synaptic drivers for a newer Toshiba Satellite P75-A7100 from the Toshiba site.  These installed successfully and the registry settings took effect after rebooting.  Frustration alleviated...

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