Starting with Windows 10 build 16184, Windows 10 includes the My People feature. It adds a special icon to the notification area of your taskbar and allows pinning your contacts directly to the taskbar, so you can start messaging, call or compose an email just with one click.
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Today, we'll see how to disable the People bar and all the related features using Group Policy in Windows 10.
"My People" is a special toolbar for the taskbar which shows icons of pinned contacts. Tip: See How to Pin Contacts to the taskbar in Windows 10. It gives you quick access to messaging options via Email and Skype and aggregate information from Skype, Email, People and other apps which have collaboration tasks.
While this feature is available in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, it was initially planned for Windows 10 Creators Update, but the final build (15063) of this Windows version doesn't include this feature.
Tip: see how to pin more than 3 contacts to the taskbar.
It provides a number of useful quick actions. For example, you can quickly create an email message by clicking the icon. Or, if you drag and drop a file on the pinned contact icon, it will be possible to share it quickly.
To disable the People bar in Windows 10 with Group Policy, do the following.
- Open Registry Editor (see how).
- Navigate to the following Registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer
Tip: You can access the desired Registry key with one click. Create the missing subkeys manually if required.
- On the right, create or modify the 32-bit DWORD value named HidePeopleBar. Set to 1 to hide the People icons on the taskbar.
- To make the changes take effect, you need to restart Windows 10.
This change will be applied to your user account only. Other users will not be affected by this tweak.
To save your time, I made ready-to-use Registry files. You can download them here:
Note: to re-enable the My People feature, just delete the HidePeopleBar value and restart the OS.
Using Local Group Policy Editor
If you are running Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, or Education edition, you can use the Local Group Policy Editor app to configure the options mentioned above with a GUI.
- Press Win + R keys together on your keyboard and type:
gpedit.msc
Press Enter.
- Group Policy Editor will open. Go to User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Start Menu and Taskbar. Enable the policy option Remove the People Bar from the taskbar to disable the People bar.
That's it.
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Why don’t you just use the Settings page?
Customization -> Taskbar -> Contacts : Show contacts in taskbar (uncheck) and it is done.
Faster and easier than dealing with regedit and gpedit
Because this article describes the group policy way, for those who need it.