Get rid of the keyboard icon on the Windows 8 taskbar?
By Dave Taylor
The Question:I’m using Windows 8 on my laptop and so far the experience is really good, except for some reason it thinks it’s running on a tablet. Not just the touch interface, but there’s even a pop-up “touch” keyboard icon on the Taskbar. Nice, but, um, I have a keyboard. How can I get rid of the keyboard icon entirely?
Dave’s Answer:
I know what you mean about Windows 8 really wanting to be on a touchscreen, and really being designed for tablets. In fact, if you use it for long enough, it actually makes you want a tablet so you can experience the full and proper design of the system. Well, maybe that’s just me, but still, it’s the most tablet-like, touch-friendly OS I’ve ever run on a non-touch device, for sure.
What’s cool with the pop-up screen keyboard in Windows 8 is that it gives you a way to do handwriting recognition. Couple it with a cheap input tablet and you could scribble away on a small metal plate and have it turn that into text with remarkable speed and accuracy.
But, um, that’s not what you asked me!
Turns out it’s something you can disable, but only once you realize that the touch keyboard isn’t a Taskbar icon after all, but a Taskbar toolbar. Seriously. Look…
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This post is excerpted with permission from Dave Taylor.
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