Microsoft has made several changes in Windows 8.1 (codename Windows Blue), some large, and some very small. Take the closing of Metro apps in the preview version of the upcoming OS, for instance.
Pulling down the UI of a Metro app was the simplest of ways to close it down quickly. This allowed users to easily manage their running applications. Windows 8.1 Preview, however, has made some small changes to the process.
It now requires users to hold the window at the bottom of the screen for a couple of seconds before it gets closed. A Microsoft support engineer explained this new process of closing apps in a post on the company’s official forums:
“In Windows 8.1 Preview, to close an app you have to drag the app down the screen and hold it for some time. You will see the app rotates and this will close the app completely.”
So, there you have it. Obviously, the closed app will continue to be displayed in Task Manager for a few seconds (10 seconds or so), but no further actions are required and it will automatically close down.
Let’s hope there is some good reasoning behind this new technique of closing programs, if it makes it in the final version of the operating system later this year.
What is your take on this smallest of changes? Is this something you wanted in the vanilla Windows 8, or the previous technique was comparatively better. Share your thoughts in the comments.
All Comments
Wether this this one of the reasonings behind this or not, now it’s possible to say there’s a “restart button” in the apps.