Windows 8 Border Thickness

How to: Change Windows 8 default border thickness

The default Windows 8 border thickness is too thick for desktop and laptop users.  You can make the border thinner, matching the Windows 7 style. 

Windows 11 Notes:
Border cannot be adjusted in Windows 11.  But note this important thought:  Although the borders display with a thin, 1 pixel thickness, they actually active around 10 pixels.  This setting is no longer needed in Windows 11.

Recommendations:

• Make this change only on desktop and laptop computers.
• For some people this change may not be recommended on touch-screens - the border may be too thin for accurate finger placement.  This is easily tested.

Steps:

This change requires editing in the Windows Registry.

1.  From the Start Page, "other-mouse-click" the background (or swipe from bottom).
Click "All Apps"

2.  From the Charm menu, search for and run "Regedit"



3.  In the Registry Editor, locate this key on the tree-side:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\
Control Panel
Desktop
WindowMetrics

HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics

4.  On the detail side, change these two values:

BorderWidth from -15 to 0 (zero)
PaddedBorderWidth from -60 to 0 (zero)

Click for larger view

5.  Close Regedit

6.  Reboot.  You must reboot to see the change.

Testing

Launch any standard desktop application, such as Notepad; Confirm border width / thickness.
To undo this change, return the two values to their previous value (documented above) and reboot.

Additional Notes:

Unfortunately, this registry change can only be made in the Current User Registry key and cannot be made in the HKLM key.  Because of this, it must be made for each new user in the system. 

This key can be changed in the Default User's key but this will only help new users added to the system (Keyliner, untested).
HKEY_USERS\.Default\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics

Changed Keys:
HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics\BorderWidth
HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics\PaddedBorderWidth