PLEASE READ: The Windows and Wacom Tablet Nightmare is Over

[Update on 2012/08/18] for Windows 8 information go here: http://viziblr.com/news/2012/8/18/windows-8-rtm-and-wacom-tablets-better-but-flawed.html

When Windows 7 sees that your DESKTOP PC has a Wacom tablet attached, it activates a bunch of Tablet PC – based features that annoy most users. This post will explain what these problems are and how to disable them.

NOTE: I’ve covered these topics before, but separately and went into a lot of technical detail – this post is the comprehensive guide that just tells you what you need to know.

YOU HAVE TWO OPTIONS. PICK ONE.

The AUTOMATIC option: use the Fix My Pen! tool.

The MANUAL option: follow the steps below in the order given.

MANUALLY CONFIGURING YOUR SETTINGS

PREFER TO WATCH THE SCREENCAST?

In case you prefer watching me do the steps, you can see this screencast.

STEP 1: DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL THE LATEST DRIVERS

Don’t argue with me on this. Just do it.

You can get the drivers here:

http://us.wacom.com/en/support/drivers

NOTE: When the drivers are first installed is when Windows 7 starts to enable all the unwanted Tablet PC features.

STEP 2: DISABLE THE TABLET PC INPUT PANEL

The first annoying Tablet PC feature is the Tablet PC Input Panel

You’ll typically see it as a little bar on the side of your desktop.

And when your cursor gets close it starts to flaunt itself…

Clicking it will reveal its full monstrosity ….

And there’s more. You’ll often also see a small input panel icon hovering hear any text input boxes

We want to disable this entirely.

Go to Control Panel > Tablet PC Settings

Click on the Other tab

On the Other tab, under Tablet PC Input Panel options, click on Go to Input Panel Settings

Disable all the checkboxes and select OK.

STEP 3: DISABLE FLICKS

The Flicks icon shows up on the notification area.

If you click on the Icon you’ll see some for of the Flick UI

The effect of flicks is that normal gesturing with the pen causes Windows to think you are giving it a command. For example, drawing a short down stroke will cause the following flick notifcation

Of course, we hate this and want to disable it.

Open the Pen and Touch control panel

Click on the Flicks tab

Uncheck the two checkboxes and press OK

STEP 4: DISABLE PRESS-AND-HOLD

Another hated feature. It’s a bit hard to describe in words, so here is an animation of its effect. All I am doing is pressing the pen down and then you’ll see the hated “glowing ring” followed by a property menu when I lift the pen (Press-and-hold things that pressing is an equivalent of a “right click”)

In Control Panel go to Pen and Touch

Under Pen Options, select Press and Hold and click Settings

Uncheck Enable press and hold for right-clicking and press OK

STEP 5: DISABLE DYNAMIC FEEDBACK

This is all the little rings that display whenever you press down with the pen

The is the hardest one to disable because there’s no place in the control panel that lets you disable it.

You are just going to have modify the registry and take care of it that way.I have provided a REG file that will help you do this

Download the ZIP here: http://goo.gl/kgZHv

The file is called disable-pen-feedback-regedit.zip

Extract the contents of the file

Inside are two REG files. One to disable dynamic feedback (this is the one you want) and other file to re-enable it (some people wanted this so I made it for them)

Right-click on disable-pen –feedback.reg and select Merge

Windows will warn you, but just click Run

And Windows will warn you again, just press Yes.

And finally it will tell you that it has merged the settings

In case, you are wondering here are the contents of the file.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\TabletPC]
"TurnOffPenFeedback"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\TabletPC]
"TurnOffPenFeedback"=dword:00000001

ONE LAST STEP

Sometimes all these changes will take place immediately, sometimes it takes a little longer. Usually the easiest way to force the changes is to simply log-off and then log back on. If that doesn’t work just try restarting your machine. (Those who are more technical may choose to simply restart the “Tablet PC Input Service”)