Five Windows 8.1 Features
Mouse Users Will Love
Right-Click
Menus in Modern UI
The made-for-touch half of Windows 8—which Microsoft calls its Modern UI and used to call Metro—now offers right-click menus just as the old Windows desktop has for ages. On the Modern UI Start Screen, either right-click on your mouse or hold down the control key and click to bring up a right-click menu.
The made-for-touch half of Windows 8—which Microsoft calls its Modern UI and used to call Metro—now offers right-click menus just as the old Windows desktop has for ages. On the Modern UI Start Screen, either right-click on your mouse or hold down the control key and click to bring up a right-click menu.
If you click on
an app tile, you will get a menu next to the tile that will allow you to unpin
an app from the Start Screen, change the tile size, pin it to the task bar
(more on this later) or even uninstall the app. You can also hold the control
key to select multiple items that you can then right-click to change the
properties of all at once. This is certainly a welcome change.
Modern UI Apps
on the Task Bar
As mentioned above, you can now pin Modern UI apps to the task bar alongside non-Modern UI apps such as Adobe’s Creative Suite or Microsoft Office. Since you can launch Modern UI apps from the desktop, you’ll spend less time jumping between desktop and Start Screen just to open an app.
As mentioned above, you can now pin Modern UI apps to the task bar alongside non-Modern UI apps such as Adobe’s Creative Suite or Microsoft Office. Since you can launch Modern UI apps from the desktop, you’ll spend less time jumping between desktop and Start Screen just to open an app.
‘Close’ and
‘Minimize’ Buttons
The 8.1 Update also brings “Close” and “Minimize” buttons up—seen on just about every Windows desktop app—to Modern UI apps. This is a hugely welcome change that’ll make it easier to get in and out of apps when using a mouse. Just move your mouse cursor up to the top of the screen in a Modern UI app and the buttons will appear.
The 8.1 Update also brings “Close” and “Minimize” buttons up—seen on just about every Windows desktop app—to Modern UI apps. This is a hugely welcome change that’ll make it easier to get in and out of apps when using a mouse. Just move your mouse cursor up to the top of the screen in a Modern UI app and the buttons will appear.
Another nice
desktop-friendly touch: Move the cursor to the bottom of any Modern UI app and
the task bar with all of your pinned apps pops up. This makes app switching and
multitasking quicker, too.
Power
and search buttons are now placed in the upper-right corner of the Modern UI
Start Screen, making them easier to get to for those without a touchscreen
New PC Settings
Tile
Like power and search, pulling up your PC settings menu from the Modern UI also once required a swipe in from the right. The Windows 8.1 Update adds a new “PC Settings” tile to the Modern UI start screen, which makes it easier to get into settings without a touchscreen. Like any other Modern UI tile, this can be removed as you wish.
Like power and search, pulling up your PC settings menu from the Modern UI also once required a swipe in from the right. The Windows 8.1 Update adds a new “PC Settings” tile to the Modern UI start screen, which makes it easier to get into settings without a touchscreen. Like any other Modern UI tile, this can be removed as you wish.
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