One of the benefits of having one company develop and run multiple projects or platforms is integration where features work together well. In the case of Microsoft, combining some of its video game console Xbox platform with its Windows operating system offers a range of potential integration benefits for gamers.
While these benefits might be very helpful to some people, not everyone will want to make use of specific features. For example, in Windows 10, Microsoft includes an “Xbox Game Bar”. The Game Bar offers some potentially useful functionality for gamers, such as taking screenshots, managing screen recordings and broadcasts, and muting the microphone.
These features can be great for gamers that want them, but not everyone will. Furthermore, a vanishingly small number of non-gamers will want to use the feature. Annoyingly though, a keyboard shortcut means that the Xbox Game Bar can still be opened by accident. Even if you don’t use the keyboard shortcut, a notification will pop up to remind you it exists every time you launch a game, unless you disable the feature entirely.
How to disable the Xbox Game Bar when playing games in Windows 10
To disable the Xbox Game Bar in Windows 10, you need to first open the Settings app. You can open it directly to the right page, by pressing the Windows key, then typing “Enable Xbox Game Bar” and hitting enter.
To completely disable the Xbox Game Bar, simply toggle the top slider to the “off” position, the one labelled “Enable Xbox Game Bar for things like recording game clips, chatting with friends, and receiving game invitations. (Some games require Xbox Game Bar for receiving game invitations)”.
When this slider is off, the Game Bar will not open, even if you open a game, or if you press the keyboard shortcut. As the title says, this can affect your ability to join some multiplayer games, so gamers should be aware of that, however, for most users, there’s no downside to disabling the feature.
