How to disable Performance Schema in MySQL 5.6.26?

[Alex Birchall]

I want to disable the Performance Schema in MySQL 5.6.26. I thought I might be able to do this via MySQL Workbench 6.3. At first glance, it seems I can by going into Performance Schema Setup and clicking on the Disable button at the bottom of the slider. But the "Apply" button remains grayed out. However, if I now exit from MySQL Workbench and then go into it again, it appears that the Performance Schema is disabled.

What is confusing me is that if I run the query:

mysql> show variables like 'performance_schema';
+--------------------+-------+
| Variable_name | Value |
+--------------------+-------+
| performance_schema | ON |
+--------------------+-------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql>

as you can see, it appears the Performance Schema remains enabled.

I've had a look in the my.ini file and there is no mention of the performance_schema, nor can I find and my.cnf file.

So how on earth can I disable the Performance_Schema?

Many thanks for any suggestions!