Show Transform Gizmo toggles the display of the Transform gizmo axis tripod for all viewports when objects are selected and a transform is active.
Additional controls for the Transform gizmo are found on the Gizmo Preferences settings.
When the Transform gizmo is turned off, Show Transform Gizmo controls the display of the axis tripod on selected objects.
The state of Transform gizmo is saved in 3dsmax.ini, so it's maintained between scenes and sessions.
The related entries in the 3dsmax.ini file are:
The visibility of the Axis tripod overrides the visibility of the Transform Gizmo. If you turn off the Transform Gizmo in Preferences, the Axis tripod remains on the selected object. If you then turn off the Show Transform Gizmo in the Views menu, it actually turns off the Axis tripod. When the Axis tripod is disabled, the Transform Gizmo is also hidden.
To scale the transform gizmo, do one of the following: