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!

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.

0 comments

Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

Try this; maybe it will work:

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

0 comments

199 additional answers

Anonymous

2013-11-12T15:18:08+00:00

On an Envy, it works much as described for the Toshiba Satellite. Go to Control Panel. There are multiple ways to get there. I have 8.1 and I like to right click (or two finger click if enabled) on the Windows icon in the lower left corner from the desktop. Control panel is in the menu that pops up. (It is also reachable from the Windows 8 Start menu, but I am trying to forget about that GUI abortion.)

Under Hardware & Sound, I go to the Synaptics Touch Pad control. (Hint--going to Mouse doesn't do much good if the issue is your touch padfor most laptops).

Uncheck the Edge Swipe feature to disable it. This disables ALL edge swipes. I will caution that the evil Charm bar is not gone forever. It will still appear when you position your arrow in the lower right corner and swipe straight up. I find this far superior to having it appear every time the arrow makes contact with the right edge.

The other edge swipes have some limited functionality, but their usefulness is far outweighed by the irritation caused by the @#$%^&* Charm bar. IMO, the Charm bar is much more irritating with a laptop touch pad than it is with a mouse. I am right-handed, so my hand naturally hovers close to the right edge. This is one area where left-handers have the advantage, and at least one reason why they will live longer, since their blood pressure won't constantly be skyrocketing over the @#$%^&* Charmbar.

Now that the Charm bar is turned off, I no longer feel the need to begin drinking early in the morning. I can emulate civilized behavior and wait until the cocktail hour.
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments
Anonymous

2013-11-14T23:30:03+00:00

This worked for me on a Samsung laptop running Win 8.1. If you search for "Taskbar and Navigation Properties", then under Navigation/Corner Navigation you have the option to disable the Charms Menu appearing when you point to the top right hand corner. You can then use Win + C to call the Charms menu when required.
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments
Anonymous

2013-11-15T01:07:56+00:00

Thanks. I appreciate the suggestion. I tried that when I first installed 8.1. It didn't work on my HP Envy. That's why I went on a 3 week bender. Found out about the Synaptics Touch Pad fix and now I'm clean (except at cocktail hour).
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments
Anonymous

2013-11-25T14:24:56+00:00

I can't imagine why anyone would want the charms feature in the first place. After an hour on youtube with some well-meaning guy named Dan, none of his methods worked on my computer. The above method worked, so thank you! I was looking for a cheap backup laptop when I came across this Toshiba for $279. When I stared using it and the charms bars kept popping up, I almost threw it against the wall! Now that I've gotten rid of them, and installed a Windows 7 shell, I can get to work!
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments