I produce a kiosk application which works great on Windows 7.  I have corrected for many of the "features" of Windows 8 (start button, hot corners, etc.), mostly by using a freeware start menu app, but it does not disable the top down swipe or the charms swipe.  How can I disable these (I don't mind a registry update/hack).  Thanks.

P.S.  I am aware of the "kiosk mode" available in Win 8.1 Pro, but would prefer not to have to increase costs by about $100/unit to eliminate this one annoying "feature" of Windows 8.

This may help you

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-tms/how-to-disable-gestures-charms-bar-edge-swipes-etc/0d7021da-9dfe-4bba-8dbf-e5ad15cbec25

http://superuser.com/questions/494705/modify-or-disable-windows-8-swipe-gestures-on-touchpad-laptop

http://www.howtogeek.com/135507/how-can-i-disable-windows-8-swipe-gestures-on-my-laptop/

Regards

Milos

Thanks for the attempt, but the above appears to fairly hardware specific, and geared for touchpads.  I'm looking to disable it either in general or specifically for a Thinkpad Tablet 2.  I've tried searching the registry, but have not been successful yet.

Why Microsoft doesn't have this easily able to be turned on and off from the control panel is baffling.

Hi,

Try steps in these articles:

3 Ways to Disable Windows 8 Gestures

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-ways-to-disable-windows-8-gestures/

How to Enable or Disable Touchpad Edge Swipes in Windows 8 and 8.1

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/20992-touchpad-edge-swipes-enable-disable-windows-8-a.html

Hope these could be helpful.

Alas, those also are for touchpads and do not work for my tablet/touchscreen situation.  Any other ideas?

I've ran into this very issue with windows 8.1. I've tried the "assigned Access" option with IE. But IE runs in metro mode and still allows the lower tab to be pulled up or the side to be swiped, it's not easy but when it does show up, it's something I don't need to appear and effect a public level kiosk. I've tried Registry hacks, Policy changes etc. Nothing worked for Assigned Access. I've pretty much disable all features that would respond to the mouse. But magically become available again when you launch a web browser in Kiosk Mode. I can swipe from the right with my finger and pull out the side bar, I can pull up the bottom tab and have access to the address bar, favorites and a number of other functions including the on screen keyboard.. where as if I use a mouse it does not pull up the side bar. By the way I'm not using a mouse on this as public kiosk. It's simple touch function information display on a locally hosted IIS server. So It really defeats the purpose of even having "assigned access" or even trying to run a kiosk mode browser. The swipe function is not a setting I can find on a windows 8.1 desktop built from a off the shelve computer, and an added touch screen attached to it for visitor use. The manufacturer does not provide a non-swipe option at all. Honestly the manufacture should not have to figure out how to disable a native windows function. This should be an option built into windows. I've looked all over the internet for options, and most are related to a tablet or laptop with a touch pad mouse.  Windows security has always been easy to circumvent because the options to close down windows functions are so awkward or non-existent.

Yes, I've added the registry options to hide charms, corners etc. I've even set policies to prevent some functions. The side effect of policies is that all users are effected. So if I want to login with an administrator account, I have to deal with lack of features I may need.

Please Microsoft, take note. This is a large scale problem, not just for me. I've looked up and down the internet, and nothing has worked for a lot of people trying to perform a kiosk setup.

side note, I tried a charm killer. But the side bar still becomes available again when I launch a browser in kiosk mode from a regular windows session. It's as if it's called on virtually for every application that runs. Pretty much killed that hope...

Hi Brain, have you managed to find a solution? I have the same problem. Searched the web for hours, no clue :(