How to disable the edge panels (Charms Bar and Switcher) in Windows 8

Windows 8

by BikerScott on September 18, 2014 06:09am

Scott Davis

BikerScott27 years in ITCCA

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Windows 8 has introduced the new "Modern UI", formerly known as Metro. The Start Menu was replaced with the brand new Start screen feature which splits the Windows UX into two separate worlds - world of Metro apps and the Classic Desktop. To switch between these two environments, Windows 8 offers two panels at the top left and top right edges of screen which are the Switcher and the Charms Bar. But trying to use function on the desktop in those locations can be annoying to do as the charm bar keeps popping up.

After applying these tweaks, the Edge UI panels will not appear when you move your mouse to the top left / top right corners. This does not mean that Switcher and Charms Bar will be completely disabled. You will still be able to show them using keyboard shortcuts.

The "Win+Tab" hotkey shows Switcher whereas the "Win+C" hotkey shows the Charms Bar.

3 Steps total

Step 1: Open Registry Editor

Open Registry Editor (press Win+R, type regedit.exe in Run dialog and press Enter) and go to key

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ImmersiveShell

Step 2: Create here a new key "EdgeUI".

Select the EdgeUI key in the left pane and create two new DWORD values in the right pane of Registry Editor.

DisableTLcorner - stands for "Disable Top-Left corner". Set it to 1, and Switcher will not appear when you move your mouse to the top-left corner of the screen. Note that it will still appear if you move the pointer to the bottom-left corner and then move it upwards along the left edge of the screen.

DisableCharmsHint - Set it to 1 to disable the Charms bar when using the mouse. It will not appear when you move the pointer to the top-right or bottom-rights corners. But as above, if you move the pointer to the top-right corner and then move it down along the right edge of the screen (or from the bottom-right corner up to the screen centre along the right edge), it'll appear again.

So, both settings prevent the Edge UI panels from appearing accidentally. They will take effect immediately - you do not need to restart Windows Explorer or log off. You will still be able to show them when you actually want to use them.

Step 3: Revert Changes at a later date if required

If you want to enable the default behaviour of Switcher, simply set DisableTLcorner value to 0 or delete it. Same goes for DisableCharmsHint value - set it to 0 or delete it to enable the Charms Bar popup.

This How-To was copied and pasted directly from the following URL. I didn't write it but simply put it here as an easy reference for later.