I've always been a pc tweaker and tinkerer. I can't help myself. It's partly why I started this blog: to justify my obsessive hobby.
But the downside of constantly installing, testing and uninstalling so much software and hardware on a pc is that you're always on the verge of a serious conflict that jeopardizes the health of your entire system.
Something occurred following my installation of Windows 8.1 last week that suddenly shut off most touch gestures. I could no longer swipe from any side but the left hand of the screen. Touch scrolling and picking worked, but I couldn't bring up the charms bar or drag a screen down to shutdown a program.
So for a couple of days this week my Surface Pro has been crippled and I had to resort to hovering with the pen around the edges of the screen to bring up the desired menu.
I even considered a system restore, but that is a last resort as it removes desktop applications.
Fortunately, the solution I found this morning is very simple and doesn't even require a reboot. If you ever find your touch gestures becoming wonky, try this solution first and you may save yourself much aggravation.
In the desktop Control Panel, view by large or small icons. Tap the Tablet PC Settings. Under Display options, Reset calibration data.
Your swipe gestures should now work properly.
I'm not sure whether this is a Windows 8.1 bug or a conflict with the Wacom feel IT drivers, but after further testing I can confirm that creating a touch calibration setting with this control panel tool will adversely affect the touch gestures until you reset the calibration. In other words: forget the touch calibration option exists!
