If you are using Windows 8 Release Preview or previously released Windows 8 testing builds such as Developer Preview or Consumer Preview or may be recently released Windows 8 RTM build, you must be aware of new "Charms Bar" feature of Windows 8. Its similar to a dock utility and automatically appears on screen as soon as you move your mouse cursor to top-right corner or bottom-right corner of screen.
It provides quick access to following 5 system components: Search, Share, Start Screen, Devices and Settings.
You can also access Charms Bar using "Win+C" keyboard shortcut. Although Charms Bar was designed to help Windows 8 users in quickly accessing these system tools but sometimes it becomes quite annoying when you move the cursor to top-right corner of screen to close a window or other tasks and Charms Bar automatically appears on screen.
So today in this tutorial, we are going to share a simple Registry tweak which will help you in disabling Charms Bar hint in Windows 8. It'll not disable Charms Bar but it'll turn Charms Bar hint off, so Charms Bar will not appear as soon as you move the cursor to top-right or bottom-right corners. But it'll appear if you move the cursor to top-right corner and then move it downwards. Same case will happen with bottom-right corner. Also the hotkey "Win+C" will also show Charms Bar.
So if you apply this Registry tweak, you'll not accidentally get Charms Bar on screen. It'll only appear when you actually want it.
So without wasting time, lets start the tutorial:
1. Press "WIN+R" key combination to launch RUN dialog box then type regedit and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor and go to following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ImmersiveShell\
2. Under ImmersiveShell key, create a new key EdgeUI.
3. Now select newly created key "EdgeUI" and in right-side pane, create a new DWORD DisableCharmsHint and set its value to 1
4. That's it. It'll immediately disable Charms Bar hint feature. You'll not need to log off or restart the system.
NOTE: If you want to enable the Charms Bar hint feature again, simply delete the DWORD "DisableCharmsHint" or set its value to 0
PS: If you don't want to modify registry and want a ready-made registry script to do the task automatically, download following ZIP file, extract it and run the extracted REG file. It'll ask for confirmation, accept it:
Thanks to our reader "DaNieL" for sharing this tweak...
Do you like Charms Bar feature of Windows 8 or you hate this annoying thing? Feel free to share your opinion in your comment...
Posted by: Vishal Gupta | Categories: Windows 8
dan
GOD BLESS YOU!! What a nightmare is the uncharming charms bar
Carl Vergara
Gonna love Windows 8 more..:) thanks VG
lara
ive done it thank you so much whoever came up with how to get rid of it, it was really annoying me and making me not want windows 8
Liz
Thank you that charm bar was extremely annoying and I can't say I am enjoying anything about Win 8 its really making using my computer a very unhappy experience. I hate the start page, I hate the lock page I just hate Windows 8. But I know next to nothing about computers so I am stuck with it and I just know I am never going to get on with Win8 but I have to use it for work.
dylan
Thankyou, thats a good start. If you find away to completely remove it unless you use the keyboard I would love to know. I am a graphic designer and the amount of programs that have tools right where it sets that junk off is so annoying. Now that I have shutdown and reset as buttons in the start thing, I cant imagine ever needing that bar either, which just rubs salt in the wounds even more!
Steve Jones
Fantastic....It was really annoyong
mark
Great tweak. Very easy to implement.
Thank you for sharing.
Hitch
ps
Thanks a lot!!!!!!
Good work!!!
Its really annoying.....
y
Thankyou sooo much, it was driving me mad :P
Amanda
Thanks for the help!!!!! That bar was driving me nuts.
Anon
Worked perfectly, thanks a million! :-)
Liz McKinley
THANK YOU!!! This Charms Bar was really beginning to get on my last nerve!
Carolyn
Saved me, you have. Or at least my sanity.
David Fischer
I followed the instructions and it worked great. Thank You so much!
Suzie
I hate the charms bar so much that every time it pops up I say the F word 3 times really loud. Even with the registry tweak, it pops up accidentally way more often than I want. I went so far as to get Classic Shell which is supposed to make it stop, but IT DOESN'T EVER STOP!!!! I hate it I hate it and I'm starting to hate Microsoft for doing this to me. I just bought a brand new computer that came with Windows 8 but I'm so irritated and ANGRY about the F'ING CHARMS BAR that I want to throw it away and buy a mac book
Suzie
I think I discovered the answer to charms bar. After installing Classic Shell and the popular registry tweak and finding NOTHING could stop this insidious monster called charms bar, I found one itty bitty suggestion that I think FINALLY fixes this thing for real. It's so simple it makes me feel dumb for not figuring it out myself. Just go to the mouse or touch pad settings and turn off right edge gestures.
Nana
Bless you! I was so tired of the bloody thing popping up when I didn't want it to!
Bianca
Thank you Suzie! It was simple following your instructions.
The creating key instructions did not disable the charm bar.
Mike Ehling
Thanks so much for this! That darn thing just keeps popping out all the time, then something else gets enabled from it, and before I know it something's taken over my entire screen and I have to fool around to get back to my desktop. I'd tried retroui but with no success, so now I've applied your registry tweak and I'll see how it works.
Mary
Thanks from me too - much appreciated!
md3
Thank you so much! ^U^ I tried to find tips on this at the Windows 8 forum, and they just got angry at the person asking the question. ;_;
dbm5blue5
Thanks so much for this!
Greg
I was setting up my wife's new HP laptop running Windows 8 and the un-charming bar kept popping up, and I spent all sorts of time looking through all the computer settings to try to disable it. I then noticed in the 'Navigating Windows 8 Start Screen' instructions that came with the new laptop and it called it the "charms" so I searched Google and it came up with these instructions, which were VERY easy to modify in the regedit. Thanks Vishal!
m
combo of this reg setting and config mouse and it's gone
louisehm
Genius......the charms were ridiculous, it kept popping up on mine every time i moved the sodding cursor!!! Infuriating to say the least.....
Haggstrom
Thank you very much! I can still use the functions of the charms bar by placing the cursor in the upper right corner and then moving it to where the Search, Share, Start etc. buttons used to be, but without having them show up when I don't want to. Perfect!
Leonid
Thank you very much! It was really helpful!!
Rob
thank you, that 'charms' crap was driving me nuts
Lily
Suzie, I followed the instructions VG posted but it didn't work for my computer either. I have a brand new HP. Got it less than 2 wks ago. I'd like to try the suggestion you posted but where/how do I find settings for touch pad? Please help!! Thanks
Lily
Never mind! I found the settings for touch pad/mouse( go to Settings, select Personalization, select Change mouse pointers, select Device settings, select Settings, then uncheck "Enable Edge Swipes" It worked like a "charm". Life is good again. Thanks Suzie and this panel
Diane
Have I told you lately that I love you? You 'da best! The Charms Bar was ever so annoying! :)
Kelli
i tried this and it didn't work :(
spanningku
YODA man..thanks
Kelli
Suzie and Lily... i tried to alter the touchpad settings, but when i click on Change Mouse Pointers, i don't see anything that says Device Settings! i'm looking everywhere and not seeing it! i need help, i have to get rid of this charms bar popping up!
s snider
Hey and thanks. Got through all of this until your instruction to 'set its value to 1.' Would you be kind enough to explain, in the simplest terms, how to do this?
Also, I called ms for help, and they said that any fiddling with the registry is fraught with peril. Is this true? In your opinion, how risky is the charm fix you're proposing above? Thanks again.
VG
^^ Double-click on the DWORD DisableCharmsHint and type 1 in value field. Ignore warning message about Registry editing. Its a formality which everyone needs to put while talking about Registry editing. Sometimes Registry editing might be dangerous when you try to change system hardware related settings but above mentioned trick is absolutely safe to try.
s snider
Thanks for quick attention. But when I follow all of your steps, nothing changes. Thoughts? Might it have something to do with mine being a 64-bit device, not 32? Should I click QWORD and not DWORD?
Finally, how do we scream to high heaven and get microsoft to provide a means of disabling this monstrosity?
VG
^^ No. You'll need to create only DWORD value. You can also try following:
http://www.askvg.com/how-to-disable-hot-corners-charms-bar-start-screen-thumbnail-app-switch-list-in-windows-8/
s snider
Thank you again. Any thoughts on why the tweak you provide on this page doesn't work for me? Might it be because my version of W8 came pre-installed with my new hp laptop? If so, any changes that will result in the desired outcome? Again, I'm grateful for your kind support.
VG
^^ The above mentioned Registry tweak doesnt disable Charms Bar. It disabled Charms Bar Hint feature so that Charms Bar doesn't appear as soon as you move the cursor to top-right or bottom-right corners. But it'll appear if you move the cursor to top-right corner and then move it downwards. Same case will happen with bottom-right corner.