The Ribbon Explorer in Windows 8 includes most commonly used shortcuts in a ribbon, like copy and move to user library, remove properties, hide file name extensions, etc. It’s true that ribbon occupies most space on the Explorer window. Implementation of ribbon UI is similar to that seen in Microsoft Office 2010 programs. There are easy ways to hide and get rid of ribbon top bar in Windows Explorer on Windows 8 systems

1. Open Run box by pressing Win and R keys at a time
2. Then type gpedit.msc and press enter
3. Next Local Group Policy Editor Window will open
4. Navigate to Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components and Windows Explorer
5. In the right pane double click on the Start Windows Explorer with Ribbon minimized option
6. Then setting option will open
7. Choose Enabled and click OK to keep ribbon minimized in Windows 8 Explorer
8. Now when you launch Windows 8 Explorer, it won’t show you the ribbon on top

If you want to maximize the Ribbon Explorer, then you can use the Expand icon present underneath the Close button