Windows 8.1 Spring Update 1 observations

[xpclient]

Here are my observations about Windows 8.1 Update 1:

1. If Explorer.exe crashes or exits & restarts, the behavior hasn't improved. It's the same as Windows 8 and 8.1 RTM. Metro apps simply disappear from the Alt+Tab & Win+Tab lists even if their processes don't exit. But now, the Taskbar shows them as running even after Explorer restarts (if the option to show Store apps is on). Switching to them once makes them appear in Alt+Tab/Win+Tab lists.

2. Metro apps pinned to the Taskbar aren't stored at %appdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar like desktop app shortcuts. Somewhere else. No idea where, don't care, haven't bothered looking.

3. Two features are now shared by the top left corner - the App Switcher and the window menu (or icon of Modern app). You've to precisely move the mouse pointer to the app's icon (but not the top left corner) to avoid accidentally showing the Switcher thumbnail.

4. The window menu of Modern apps (Alt+Space) can't be used using the mouse if you simply move the mouse pointer to the top left corner. Nor does the title bar show just by moving the mouse to the top left corner. You have to touch the top edge of the screen first to show the title bar and then move to top left corner. Even if you disable the top left corner switcher from Taskbar and Navigation Properties, the title bar of Modern apps still doesn't show automatically. But it does show for the top right corner.

5. Close button doesn't close apps but suspends (I guess everyone knows this). Alt+F4, and dragging from top to bottom after app flips are two ways to fully close apps. You can tweak how much you have to drag and how quickly the app flips using Winaero's Close Threshold tool: http://winaero.com/comment.php?comment.news.218

6. Taskbar is on autohide inside Metro obviously but that kind of makes it useless for fast app switching. Sometimes it also fails to appear for me when the mouse moves to the bottom screen edge, sometimes it appears. There is no way that I know of to always show the taskbar nor the title bar, that is, prevent the both of them from disappearing.

Any more peculiarities anyone noticed?

P.S. The Taskbar changed significantly but the NT main version didn't so 7+ Taskbar Tweaker is broken again.

Edited March 30, 2014 by xpclient

[Aloha]

Xpclient,

Thank you for sharing your observation. Is there any special screenshots of the update that you can share too? It would be nice if you could post some.

[bigmuscle]

My small observation:

1. In Win8.x, right-clicking on tile/icon on Start screen displays action menu where I can delete (etc.) the icon. In Update 1, right-clicking only tick the icon and nothing more. No action menu is displayed.

2. Aero Glass is working at 100% B)

[xpclient]

@Aloha, Google for screenshots. They're all over the web. Plus it will be released soon after //build/ starts.

Apparently, with Update 1, you can now hold down Ctrl and use Space bar to select tiles/items on the Start screen like you select files with the keyboard in Explorer.

[Aloha]

OK, perhaps these two searching results are good enough for me:

http://www.howtogeek.com/184152/screenshot-tour-whats-new-in-windows-8.1-update-1/

http://www.neowin.net/news/latest-windows-81-update-1-screenshots-show-changes-to-start-screen

I am more interested in updates related to Windows appearance.

[kupapiachu]

1. In Win8.x, right-clicking on tile/icon on Start screen displays action menu where I can delete (etc.) the icon. In Update 1, right-clicking only tick the icon and nothing more. No action menu is displayed.

That's because you're using an incompatible theme. Switch back to the default one and you'll get a context menu.

2. Aero Glass is working at 100% B)

ETA?

Edited April 1, 2014 by kupapiachu

[bigmuscle]

1. In Win8.x, right-clicking on tile/icon on Start screen displays action menu where I can delete (etc.) the icon. In Update 1, right-clicking only tick the icon and nothing more. No action menu is displayed.

That's because you're using an incompatible theme. Switch back to the default one and you'll get a context menu.

Nope, I don't. It is clean Win8.1 32bit installation just with all updates installed.

[Dreamweaver01]

1. In Win8.x, right-clicking on tile/icon on Start screen displays action menu where I can delete (etc.) the icon. In Update 1, right-clicking only tick the icon and nothing more. No action menu is displayed.

That's because you're using an incompatible theme. Switch back to the default one and you'll get a context menu.

Nope, I don't. It is clean Win8.1 32bit installation just with all updates installed.

If you're using Start is Back or Classic Shell there's a setting to get the context menu back.

[helmutcheese]

@ BM : Not sure if same issue but press SPACEBAR and you see titles and menus.

Edited April 2, 2014 by helmutcheese

[bigmuscle]

helmutcheese: that's it. Pressing spacebar displays the menu, a bit stupid.

[Aloha]

If you're using Start is Back or Classic Shell there's a setting to get the context menu back.

Could you tell what this setting of StartIsBack is? I'd like to keep the context menu when applying a theme different from the default one. Thanks in advance.

[NoelC]

Explorer dialogs (e.g., copy progress or "confirm the file replacement") still pop behind Explorer windows.

Microsoft is circling the drain.

-Noel