How do I disable the new titlebar in Modern Apps?

Anonymous
2014-04-08T18:42:38+00:00

I installed the new W8.1 update 1 today.  I find the new Metro App titlebar totally stupid, useless, and very annoying.  It apparently only shows on computers with a mouse attached.

Is there a way to disable this titlebar?  I hear it may officially be called a "window menu".

I have been using Stardock's ModernMix to make Modern/Metro useful.  ModernMix is what the new update should have been.  Having this new titlebar popping up across the top of my screen when using windowed modern apps is really annoying!

BTW, what is it nowadays, Modern, Metro, or Retro?  lol

Edit 04-10-2014:  Stardock got this solved real slick with their new ModernMix 1.14 beta.  They even managed to add a window option to the titlebar, which still shows in full screen mode.  Nice!  When you reduce a modern app down to a window, the title bar is disabled.

Pretty slick!  I can't understand why Stardock is so good at this stuff but it takes Microsoft multiple versions over multiple years to get to the same place, maybe!

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Accessibility

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-04-30T14:26:26+00:00

    Another App were it is mostly in the way is the Remote Desktop app by Microsoft.

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  2. @CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2014-05-01T19:54:25+00:00

    No kidding.  It's pretty impossible find anyone, anywhere, saying anything nice about Windows 8.  Negativity sells in magazines and newspapers though, unfortunately.

    I know I'm coming across as a troll but really, I don't see the complaint when the desktop RDP program was built specifically for mouse and refined over decades to be the best mouse experience. If you're not going to use your fingers (which avoids the title bar), then try the desktop RDP.  It has the old title bar that auto-hides, but it doesn't span the full width and you can move it around.  And you don't lose any functionality as far as the remote session abilities.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-05-01T21:40:08+00:00

    So far, I haven't personally ran into it impinging usability of other apps - but I can clearly see how it will.

    What personally bugs me about the bar is that it's a BIG FAT LIAR.

    If you have a title bar with both a "minimize" and an "X" in the corner - the convention is that  minimize will minimize, and the "X" will EXIT. As in EXIT FROM MEMORY. CLOSE. TERMINATE!!!!

    Instead, all it does is totally hide the program in the background. WTF!?!?!

    I still have to "grab, drag to bottom, and hold it down till it strangles" in order to actually kill the process.

    This is just incredibly bad UI form - do not use an "X" there if you do not mean it! Make a new "hide and seek icon", if that's what you want to do...

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  4. @CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2014-05-02T00:18:50+00:00

    That part will never happen: the entire purpose this interface was built was for tablets, phones, and portable devices that manage these for you.  Same reason iPhone and Android and Windows Phone behave that way with apps.  The PC (or whatever) manages it for you.

    Remember:  killing apps actually makes your battery life worse.  This is about iOS but it applies equally to all modern operating systems.  No longer do us humans have to manage the system: we use an app, move to the next one. We, the user, should not have to do anything other than use the device.

    Lifehacker - Quitting All Your Apps in iOS Can Actually ...

    lifehacker.com/quitting-apps-in-ios-actually-worsens-battery-life...

    It's long been prescribed that when your iPhone's battery is running poorly that you close out all the running apps to help preserve battery life (we've mentioned it ...

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  5. Anonymous
    2014-05-02T00:39:15+00:00

    That part will never happen: the entire purpose this interface was built was for tablets, phones, and portable devices that manage these for you.  Same reason iPhone and Android and Windows Phone behave that way with apps.  The PC (or whatever) manages it for you.

    Remember:  killing apps actually makes your battery life worse.  This is about iOS but it applies equally to all modern operating systems.  No longer do us humans have to manage the system: we use an app, move to the next one. We, the user, should not have to do anything other than use the device.

    Lifehacker - Quitting All Your Apps in iOS Can Actually ...

    lifehacker.com/quitting-apps-in-ios-actually-worsens-battery-life...

    It's long been prescribed that when your iPhone's battery is running poorly that you close out all the running apps to help preserve battery life (we've mentioned it ...

    Except my Surface RT won't stop paging unless I terminate apps. And the 100% disk activity makes the system unusable. A different problem but worth mentioning...

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