Within this week Microsoft is arranging a developers conference in San Francisco. This is an important event before the release of Windows 8.1 Update 1 on April 8th. The development of Windows Phone 8.1 is the most important topic of discussion.
To compete with Siri, it is going to launch Cortana. The major thing will be the announcement of the update to Windows 8.1. It is good news to mouse-and-keyboard users of the Windows operating system, according to its VP, Joe Belfiore.
Woody Leonhard of windowssecrets.com doesn’t anticipate any significant changes in this new update. He also doesn’t mention that users of Windows 7, Vista, or XP are likely to adopt the new version. Just to follow suit with Microsoft’s idea of contemplating change for its old OS users.
What are the Windows 8.1 Update 1 Features and Expectations
The changes are trivial, and you will not notice anything drastic to hail the updates. But truly speaking, Microsoft has heard its mouse-and-keyboard customers and is making some amendments in this update.
Changes Not Noticeable but Significant…
The thing that is most worthy to talk about in this update is the “Boot to Desktop” feature. Suppose you own a PC and installed Windows 8.1 freshly, and over that, Update 1 is made; then you will directly boot to the classic desktop. Even new Windows 8 PCs without touchscreens should have the same feature.
This will save a lot of tech-support calls for Microsoft, as many customers are requesting this feature. In case this didn’t work out for you, there is a small tweak that needs to be made.
Right-click the desktop taskbar, click Properties, select the Navigation tab, and check the option that says, “When I sign in or close all apps on a screen, go to the desktop instead of Start.”
With the Windows 8.1 Update 1, the installer scans for touch-screen devices, and if it doesn’t find one, it will take the above option.
Some Changes to the Start Screen
It may not be that significant, but these are helpful for mouse users. There are two new icons on the Start Screen that come in handy for the casual Windows user.
[Image Source: windowssecrets.com]
So before you enter the desktop mode, if you decide to “get out” of the OS, then this power-off icon just to the right of the user name will be useful. Using this, you can turn off the machine, switch the user, sign out, or go straight to sleep mode.
The Search icon is for the adapting users of Windows 8. An advanced user already knows that by going to the Start Screen and typing some text, you can automatically search for anything. But for previous users who are more accustomed to clicking something to get Search, this will be useful.
Changes to Window Title Bar of Metro Apps
When the Windows 8 Metro apps are in full-screen, you will get a title bar. The bar appears when you hover the mouse at the top of the screen and disappears when you move away from it.
The look of this window title bar is like that of the classic version of Windows. It has “_” and “X” icons at the upper right-hand side to minimize and close. There is also a drop-down list of options when you click the icon on the upper left-hand side. For example, the “Weather” Metro app can be seen here.
You can split the screen to the left or right, minimize the app, or close it.
Changes to Support for Universal Apps
Update 1 brings compatibility of apps. If an app is developed for one device, it works on other devices also. For example, if you have developed an app for Windows 8.1 Desktop, it works on other devices like Windows Phone 8.1 and Xbox One.
Changes to Windows Store App Navigation
The Store apps are one of the significant features of Windows 8.1. Now the navigation of these apps has become a lot simpler. There are more options and more clickable elements in the new update, such as improved app organization and enhanced user interface features that facilitate easier access to frequently used applications.
Changes in Web Browsing
IE11, which is the new Metro browser for Windows 8, has brought new developments. Now there is seamless browsing without any interruptions. Suppose you have left somewhere in the browsing mode; you can continue from where you left off.
Changes to Taskbar and Start Screen
Without this new update, it was difficult to pin the Metro apps to the taskbar. Now going with the rumors, you can pin them. You can also right-click on the tile and have several options. This option reduces the headache of customizing the quick-access feature.
The start screen has also some changes. Just like the opening screen, you also have the “power-off” and “search” icons on the top right-hand side. These are useful features if you are a mouse-and-keyboard user.
Changes to Performance Improvements
You may think that only UI changes are being done in Update 1. But there are significant performance improvements, like better memory efficiency via the Process Lifetime Manager and better system compatibility with IE11.
The other significant improvement is in the RAM and footprints. Earlier it required 2GB RAM to run the Windows 8.1 system, which has been reduced to 1GB in this new update. Also, the installation footprint has decreased from 32GB to 16GB.
This is a significant improvement when the competition becomes rough with Chrome OS, as it allows users with lower-spec devices to run the operating system more efficiently and enhances overall performance. Also, some modern Metro UI apps require a lot of memory, which has been reduced a lot with this new update instead of running in the background. The update will also speed up start-up times.
For the ultrabooks, some important SSD storage will be saved.
Changes to App Notifications
Earlier in 8.1, when you installed a new Metro app, a new tile was ‘automatically’ added to the Start Screen. But this behaviour changed with the new update. So if you want to pin any new app as a tile to the Start Screen, you have to do it ‘manually.’
You will also get a notification when a new app is added, and that will be pointed to the Apps screen. You will have a label “NEW” beside the app, which is highlighted in the list of apps. That notification all depends on the color scheme of the app’s screen.
Changes to Hot Corners
This feature is one of the hottest in 8.1. If you move your mouse cursor to any of the corners of the desktop screen, there will be some shortcuts. This is for non-touch users. But for tablet-like devices, you can use swipe-like gestures.
But sometimes these movements can create confusion. Normally a Windows user would like to minimize or close a window and can move to the corners. At the same time, these hot corners come up annoyingly. In order to minimize this ‘clumsiness,’ Update 1 has added a longer time delay before hot corners are triggered.
Conclusion
Whether you like this update or not, Microsoft is making it mandatory in order to have any new patches installed in further releases. This benign attempt is to make mouse-and-keyboard users happy and let the dragon of touch-UI capabilities shower less fire on the calm.
Also, Windows is toying with the idea of a FREE OS for more important devices like phones, etc. Keeping this in view, this update should make existing 8.1 users happy, and one should not expect too much from a common update like this.