We have recently received quite a few questions from Windows 10 users asking to help them get rid of the screen edge swipe feature on Windows 10. For some, it gets in the way of daily operations, and others simply don’t see any advantages to having it enabled. So, if you are also looking for ways to get rid of edge swipes in Windows, keep reading this post to learn methods on how to do just that.
“What If I Can’t Disable Edge Swipes in Windows 10?”
The Windows 10 edge swipe feature lets you swipe in from a screen edge to bring up different system UI elements:
- If you swipe in from the right side of your screen, the Action Center will open.
- If you swipe in from the left, you will see all of your open apps in Task View.
- If you swipe in from the top, this will bring up a full-screened app’s title bar in tablet mode.
- If you swipe in from the bottom, you will be able to view the Taskbar in full-screened apps in tablet mode or when the Taskbar is auto-hidden.
In a lot of instances, this can be quite a handy feature to have on board as it lets you access specific system UI elements quickly, with just a simple swipe. However, some users may find the feature inconvenient as they may end up swiping accidentally, which can be quite a nuisance. A lot of users find the “swipe in from the left” feature the most annoying and end up looking for ways on how to disable the left swipe on Windows 10. If you are having trouble disabling the swipe feature on Windows 10, you’ve come to the right place. Below, we will give you several ideas on how to fix this.
How to Disable Touchscreen Edge Swipes in Windows 10
There are several ways you can go about managing the edge swipe feature in Windows. In this post, we will focus on the two quickest methods that you can use to either enable or disable it:
- Enabling/disabling screen edge swipes via Group Policy
- Enabling/disabling screen edge swipes via Regedit
Below, we will go over both options in more detail and give you the steps for both disabling and enabling edge swipes (in case you want to bring the feature back at a later point in time).
Option one: Enable/disable screen edge swipes via Group Policy
One of the ways you can go about managing the screen edge swipe functionality in Windows 10 is by using the Group Policy Editor. Here’s how to proceed:
- Launch the Local Group Policy Editor.
- Navigate to the left pane of the Local Group Policy Editor and find the following location:
Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Edge UI
- In the right pane of Edge UI in the Local Group Policy Editor, double-tap the Allow edge swipe policy in order to make changes to it.
- To disable screen edge swipes in Windows 10, select (dot) Disabled and click OK.
- Once this is done, close the Local Group Policy Editor.
- Now, in order for the changes to take effect, you will need to restart Explorer, sign out and then sign back into Windows or restart your PC.
If, at some point, you change your mind and decide to enable edge swipes, you can also do it via the Local Group Policy Editor. Here’s how:
- Go to the Local Group Policy Editor and navigate to the same location: Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Edge UI.
- Double-tap the Allow edge swipe policy.
- To enable screen edge swipes in Windows 10, select (dot) Not Configured or Enabled and click OK.
- Restart your PC.
Option two: Enable/disable screen edge swipes via Regedit
Modifying the corresponding DWORD value in Regedit will let you disable screen edge swipes on Windows 10.
Here’s what to do:
- On your keyboard, use the Win + R combo to launch Run.
- In Run, enter “regedit” and press Enter.
- In Regedit, navigate to the following location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\EdgeUI
- Set the value of the AllowEdgeSwipe DWORD to 0 to disable screen edge swipes.
- Once again, you will need to restart Explorer, sign out and sign back into Windows or restart your PC for the changes to take effect.
If you don’t feel comfortable changing DWORD values on your PC yourself, there is another option —downloading a REG file to do this automatically. In this case, here is what you have to do:
Find the needed REG file (the one that will disable the screen edge swipe feature on your PC) online and download it (you can check Microsoft forums or websites that offer Regedit tutorials).
Save the downloaded file to your desktop (or any other location where it will be easy for you to find).
- Double-click the downloaded .reg file to merge it.
- You will see a User Account Control (UAC) message appear on your screen: click Yes and then OK to approve the merge.
- That’s it — to complete the process, you will need to restart Explorer, sign out and then sign back into Windows or restart your PC for the changes to take effect.
- Once the feature is disabled, you can delete the REG file.
Once again, if you later decide to get the feature back, you can do it by following the same steps:
- Download the REG file.
- Save it to your PC.
- Run the file and then restart your computer.
And there you have it. We hope that the solutions above have been helpful in solving the edge swipe issue on your PC and that you have been able to successfully disable it. Which of the above methods has worked for you? Please share in the comments below.
Now, edge swipe troubles aside, you can look into the general performance of your system. Chances are you have recently noticed that your PC is not working quite as fast and efficiently as it used to. This happens — when we first get our computers, they run at their best, but as extra files build up and storage gets cluttered, you may start noticing frequent errors and glitches on your PC. These may not be serious system issues, and your computer may not be in any serious trouble. However, it can get annoying as apps take ages to load and simple commands take way longer than they used to.
If any of the above sounds familiar, we recommend trying a performance-enhancing program called Auslogics BoostSpeed, which will help keep your system in check. Once installed, the software will run a comprehensive scan of your system and locate any unneeded files (such as user temporary files, web browser cache, unused error logs, leftover Windows Update files, temporary Sun Java files, unneeded Microsoft Office cache, and so on). They will then be safely removed from your system without causing any complications. This way, you will be freeing gigabytes of space on your computer and solving lots of errors and inconsistencies without overspending on expensive hardware upgrades.
