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

Anonymous
2012-12-23T17:49:41+00:00

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!

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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Anonymous
2013-05-23T18:33:46+00:00

Try this; maybe it will work:

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

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-08-18T01:41:03+00:00

    thank you, thank you, thank you!

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-08-23T16:58:15+00:00

    Hi, I too have a a problem with the dreaded swipes......but when I look in control panel as you suggest I cant follow the same way as it warns that I am changing the registry, which I do not want to do.

    Any suggestions out the will be welcome.

    Christine

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-08-23T17:59:36+00:00

    If you have a Synaptics touchpad, just search Trackpad from the Start Screen.  Click the Settings tab in the side and open the Settings result.  Uncheck the "Enable Edge Swipes" box and click OK.  This does not involve changing the registry.  If you go into the Change PC Settings in the Settings Charm, you can disable the left edge swipe under the General tab by setting the "Allow switching between recent apps" switch to No.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-08-31T13:07:43+00:00

    I have a Toshiba satellite, not a touch screen and this problem has been bugging me from the off with windows 8.  Someone told me how to fix it, and this is what she did:-

    Bring up the charms

    choose Settings, then Control Panel at the top

    In Control Panel click Hardware and Sound, then click Mouse (on the top right)

    Click the Device Settings tab, and choose Settings

    This brings up the panel for touch screen users so its of no use to you.  At the bottom you'll see a box to Enable Edge Swipes - untick this box.

    Bingo!

    You can still bring up the charms menu from the top right or the bottom left, but it stops the black charms bar and clock from interrupting your work/play.

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