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It looks like the Creator's update pushed out and/or reset new stuff from Microsoft.

I have uninstalled and disabled UWPs as much as I can, along with Cortana and Edge. Yet today I saw a weird green bar popup saying something about "Press Win + G to bring up the game bar". I figured it would have to do with the Xbox UWP app, which I have previously uninstalled. I presume this is UWP functionality, but I'm not sure how to find out for certain.

Can this app or program exist outside of the UWP ecosystem? Is it a part of the Xbox app? What method(s) are there to remove it? Is there a prophylactic to prevent such things in the future?

I'm currently stuck in Windows Home, even though I tried to upgrade to Pro (not me, but gives you context). I will be fixing that sometime soon.

Ramhound
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YetAnotherRandomUser
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3 Answers3

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Can this app or program exist outside of the UWP ecosystem?

The Game DVR feature and specifically the in-game Game Bar that appears in compatible applications, is controlled by the Xbox Universal Windows Platform application, which is one of the default provisioned UWP applications.

Is it a part of the Xbox app?

Yes

What method(s) are there to remove it?

In order to disable the Game DVR you have to disable it within the Xbox application.

How to Disable Game DVR (and the Game Bar)

Unlike most Windows 10 features, which can be configured in the Settings app, the Game DVR and Game Bar features are buried in the Xbox app.

  1. Launch the Xbox app from your Start menu.
    • You’ll need sign in with a Microsoft account if you haven’t already.
  2. Once you’re signed into the Xbox app, click the gear-shaped Settings button at the bottom-left corner of the app and then click “Game DVR”.
  3. Disable the “Record game clips and take screenshots using Game DVR” option at the top of the screen. This will disable background recording, the Game Bar, and other Game DVR features.
  4. Game DVR, including background recording and the Game Bar, will now remain disabled unless you return to the Xbox app and enable it.

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Source: How to Disable Windows 10’s Game DVR (and Game Bar)

Is there a prophylactic to prevent such things in the future?

Once you disable the Game DVR functionality it will stay disabled.

How do I disable UAC on Windows 10 Home?

In order to turn UAC competely, open regedit, and navigate to following location.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

You are going to have to modify the value of EnableLUA to 0. Setting the UAC setting to it's lowest setting, within the Control Panel on Windows 10, does not actually disable UAC.

Ramhound
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Yet today I saw a weird green bar popup saying something about "Press Win + G to bring up the game bar".

I'm not sure if I was having the same problem; I wanted to use Win + G with AutoHotkey and had the problem of getting a pop-up when I pressed it. (I had uninstalled the Xbox app.) I first landed at the question How to disable Windows Gamebar mapping?, which claims to be a duplicate of this one. Making the first registry change according to the accepted answer allowed me to use Win + G without triggering a popup. Here is the PowerShell command to make the requisite change; it requires you to "Run as Administrator":

New-ItemProperty -Path HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\GameDVR -Name AppCaptureEnabled -Value 0 -PropertyType DWORD

The original source of this change is Turn On or Off Game Bar in Windows 10; you can download a .reg file if you prefer to make the registry change that way. If this does not solve the problem in the OP, then the other question I referenced is most definitely not a duplicate of this one.

labreuer
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running this in PowerShell as administrator worked for me on Windows 11:

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay | Remove-AppxPackage

credits to https://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-to-uninstall-xbox-game-bar-on-windows-pc for the solution

hanshenrik
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