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How to Turn Off Live Tiles in Windows 8.1

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Introduced in Windows 8, live tiles are what happens when you mesh an icon and notifications. They not only take you to the apps that are most important to you, by default they also show information. That’s great, since just hitting the Start button on your device will immediately show you how many pending emails you have or what the weather is like outside.

Unfortunately, if you have something loaded on your Windows 8 tablet, laptop or notebook that you’d prefer friends or co-workers not see, live tiles can be a bit of a security risk. Here’s how to turn off individual live tiles so that people looking at your Windows 8 device’s Start Screen see only what you want them to see.

In order to use this tutorial you’ll have needed to have installed the Windows 8.1 update. To check if you have it, go to the Windows Store and look for the banner that says Update to Windows 8.1. If the banner is there then you’ll have to install Windows 8.1 then go through this tutorial. Typically, the process takes about an hour.

Go to the Start Screen by pressing the Windows key on your keyboard or the Windows button underneath your tablet or 2-in-2’s display.

How to Turn Off Live Tiles in WIndows 8 (1)

Mouse users should right-click on the live tile they’d like to turn off. Touch users should place their finger on the tile they’d like to turn off and hold it there. If you’d like to turn off more than one live tile, tap or right click on more live tiles.

How to Turn Off Live Tiles in WIndows 8 (2)

At the bottom of your screen is an app bar that contains a few different options for what you’d like to do with that app. To simply remove the Live Tile tap or click on Unpin. From this point on you’ll need to dive into your device’s complete list of apps to open this app. To simply turn off the live tile and hide your personal information, tap or click on Turn live tile off.

How to Turn Off Live Tiles in WIndows 8 (3)

Remember, Windows 8.1 doesn’t have any type of notification center like what you would find on your Android smartphone or iPhone. As such, it’ll only surface a notification once. Turning live tiles off means you’ll only have a single opportunity to be notified of updates or new emails inside your apps. You’ll need to dive into each app to find out how many emails you have or how many stories you’ve missed if you miss it.

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