How to disable gestures (charms bar, edge swipes, etc...) without changing the registry

Anonymous

I've had a Windows 8 laptop for a few days and the charms bar/settings pages that kept popping up out of nowhere were driving me absolutely insane. BUT, I finally figured out how to turn them off.

I went into control panel>hardware and sound>mouse>device settings>settings. From there you can adjust a lot of the trackpad settings, including DISABLE EDGE SWIPES.

I have a Toshiba Satellite with a synaptics mouse/trackpad, so i cant guarantee this works with all models, devices, etc.

Windows 8 for laptop is now tolerable! Hope this helps!

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Anonymous

Try this; maybe it will work:

Control Panel>Mouse>UltraNav>TouchPad Settings>Application Gestures>Edge Swipes>Deselect “Enable Edge Swipes”

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199 additional answers

Anonymous

2015-02-16T23:45:57+00:00

I'm happy the information helped!

There is enough frustration in life, so might as well reduce frustration where we can, Heh! ;) Plus, the info is also a "launch point" for looking up other tweaks and controls.

Meanwhile, I also discovered that touch-pad gestures can be eliminated by opening the WIn8.1 Control Panel, and using the Device Manager to change the "Mice and Other Pointing Devices" to change the device to a generic "PS/2 Compatible" mouse/pointing device. You don't have to delete any existing touchpad drivers, so those should be recoverable any time you might want to switch back -

HOWEVER!, do remember that *all* touchpad "gestures" and other fancy bits will no longer function - you will have only the basic functions, namely: left click, right click, double-tap to open files or directories, and moving the pointer.

Enjoy! ;)
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Anonymous

2015-02-15T18:11:36+00:00

yeeeesssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!! finally whoo hooo. its a laptop not a tablet I don't swipe on it. how stupid is Microsoft. now I can use my computer again thank you so much I have been looking for months, going through endless setup screens.
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Anonymous

2015-02-09T18:05:47+00:00

I also needed a new PC when my WIndowsXP could not interact with the cable-internet upgrade, and got a, ASUS X551MAV laptop pre-installed with 8.1 - the price was great, and I've always had good experiences with ASUS hardware, but I *hated* the whole 8.1 "apps" thing and popup bars and so on.

So, after searching around, I installed "Classic Start Menu", and I REALLY like it a lot - it allowed me to dump the "windows glass" nonsense and a good bit of the other baloney.

More "tweaks" can be done via "Ulitmate Windows Tweaker 3.1" available at wwwDOTthewindowsclubDOT com

There is a lot of information at the site, as well as quite a few downloadable (and free/open-source) programs, so it's a good link the keep on hand.

Now, all I have to do is get rid of all the "gesture" software that makes the touchpad so sluggish and annoying ;)
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Anonymous

2015-02-09T17:44:44+00:00

FWIW, my recent (November 2014) ASUS X551MAV, and it came with their "Smart Gesture" software, which I hate - it, too, seems sluggish/"sticky" to me and I have no interest at all in all of the silly "swiping"; I used a Cirque Glide-Pad for many years, because I couldn't use a mouse ((wrist problem)) and I wish I could get this "touchpad" to work as simply and cleanly. The darned thing does not even recognize a double-tap, and it refuses to keep the buttons reversed. I'm debating whether to disable it and see whether I can get some "plain old-timey" drivers to kick-in...
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