How to Disable Charms Bar and Program Switcher in Windows 8
With the new version of Windows i.e. Windows 8 – Microsoft has introduced New Start and Metro Style Modern UI. So unlike previous Start ‘Menu’, you get a start screen and have to switch between this screen and your running applications.
For this switching, two controls are provided on the left and right edge of the screen. So as your move your mouse pointer to the top right corner of the screen, a menu bar appears – know as Charms Bar or to the top left corner of the screen for Switcher Menu.
You can see both of these menus on the following screenshot:
But if you find these controls annoying as most of your work in on classic desktop then you can disable them with a simple registry tweak.
Using this registry tweaks, these edge panels will be not disabled permanently. You can reactivate them from the Windows Registry by following the same procedure you opted for disabling.
How to Disable Charms Bar and Switcher:
- Open Registry Editor by typing regedit in Run Dialogue box.
- In registry editor, navigate to the following folder:
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ImmersiveShell
- Here, create a new key and name it as EdgeUI
- Now click on the EdgeUI key create two new DWORD values in the right pane, named as:
-
-
DisableTLcorner
- Set it’s value to 1 – Doing this will disable the Switcher to appear if you move your mouse pointer to the Top Left corner.
-
DisableCharmsHint
- Set it’s value to 1 – Doing this will make Charms Bar not to appear if you move your mouse pointer to top right or bottom right corner.
-
DisableTLcorner
-
Note: To enable these menu again, simply set the value to 0 or delete the keys.
UPDATE:
If this trick is not working for you, then try downloading the following ready-made registry files and simply double click on them to Enable/Disable this feature.
Download Charms Bar & Program Switcher Registry
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Doesn’t work. What idiots at MS thought that this insane ‘feature’ of Win8 is useful? It makes it unusable with a trackpad on a laptop with any application. (Future tip: don’t try to converge a phone OS with a PC one.) Now, how do I downgrade back to Win7?
Which version of windows you are using?
Didn’t work for me either. Using Windows 8 Enterprise.
OS Name: Microsoft Windows 8 Enterprise
OS Version: 6.2.9200 N/A Build 9200
Please use this link to download the ready-made registry files.
http://teamwindows8.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/charms_bar_switcher.zip
Post has also been updated.
I am trying to disable the charms. I used the link provided
http://teamwindows8.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/charms_bar_switcher.zip
clicked on them and ran them. What now? I still have the charm.
Thanks,
Christy
Hi Christy,
after doing this, go to the following path and see do you find EdgeUI?
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ImmersiveShell
Why the hell do you not listen to your MCITPs, and deploy this monstrosity?!?! WTF were you thinking?!?! You need to make a few more versions of this O/S for laptops and desktops. Make sure you include a start menu! That start wall sucks ass; I’ve had more complaints from my end users about Win8 than you can even imagine! It also helps if you debug your code before you send it to market! And, one last thing… Stop trying to be everything to everyone! You’re losing your preeminence, and it’s inevitable! d
This seems to work well for most of the time, but when typing in Word, it pops up far too often. I wonder why Word overrides this feature of Classic Shell?
Could you please a screenshot of what you are describing?
I’ve tried going through the registry myself, and it was done correctly, still have the charms bar. I have also tried the downloads here, and the charms bar is still there. It is in the way and pops up constantly when I am working; as a writer, the constant battling with the charms bar is slowing me down and costing me time and money. This is ridiculous. Why in the world did anyone think this is a good idea?
This method does not completely disabled charms but actually disabled the HINT.
It means that when your mouse pointer to any corner Charms Bar won’t show up unless you drag your mouse towards the opposite corner. For example, after applying this tweak, if you move your mouse pointer to top right corner, charms bar won’t show up but moving it towards bottom right corner will make them appear.
This trick is indeed helpful as the annoying bars won’t simply show if you mistakenly move your mouse pointer to any corner.
Windows 8 is crap. This stupid charms bar keeps interrupting me. Morons who came up with this crap.
Windows 8 is so bad i can only assume MS tested it on Stevie Wonder before mass release. I’ve no idea why they thought this was a good OS for Desktops/Laptops. Charms just infuriates me on my laptop because it inadvertantly opens constantly before sending me to metro.
I’ve installed a start button which was a lifesaver and i’ve unpinned/uninstalled everything from Metro now apart from the Desktop tile. Now i can just press enter if i inadvertantly go into metro to switch straight back to the desktop.
The sooner i figure out a way to disable Metro completely the better. I wouldn’t mind half as much if there was an option to use either Metro or the traditional interface but this is beyond pale.
We’ll get back to you with a permanent solution for this, stay tuned.
charms bar………. NOT SO CHARMING!!!!!! rather have windows 7 back charms bar ruined windows 8 for me