By Woody Leonhard
The soon-to-be-released Windows 8.1 Update brings minor improvements that
favor those using a mouse — in other words, most Win8
users.
Anyone currently on Windows 8.1 will want the update; those who still
haven't made the Modern plunge won't be impressed.
Microsoft gives Windows 8 another "tweak"
I know it's hard to believe, but Microsoft released Windows 8.1 just this
past October. At the time, that version seemed like a desperate attempt to
placate traditional mouse users — essentially every Windows user without a touch
screen — who balked at the full-screen–centric, tile-based, "Modern" UI. (For
more on Win8.1's key features, see the Sept. 19, 2013, Top
Story, "Touring through the final Windows 8.1.")
Some of the folks in Redmond genuinely felt that Version 8.1 would compel
the hordes of recalcitrant Windows 7 users to download the new OS — and live
happily ever after in the new Windows paradigm. That mass migration to Windows 8
never happened; customers had something to say about the update — and, for the
most part, the words weren't kind.
How, you might ask, could Microsoft expect to pull the flaming Windows 8
experience out of the fire just five months after releasing its best attempt at
mouse mollification? The answer's quite simple: it doesn't. I think Windows 8.1
Update is a stopgap measure designed to help slow the unprecedented decline in
PC sales. While the 'Softies might be hopeful, they aren't naive. They're
banking on something better in Windows 9 — and so should we.
An important — and quite trivial — change
There's only one — just one — really valuable change in Windows 8.1
Update. Install it on top of a fresh Windows 8.1 machine that doesn't have a
touch screen, and Win8.1 Update sets Windows to boot to the classic Desktop
automatically. (New Windows 8 PCs that ship without touchscreens should boot
straight to the Desktop, too.)
It might sound cynical, but that one change alone should save Microsoft
millions of dollars on tech support calls. I know it'll save me from repeating
endlessly that you can set Windows 8.1 to boot to the Desktop in just a few
seconds. (For those of you who didn't get the memo: right-click the Desktop
taskbar, click Properties, select the Navigation tab, and then check the box
marked "When I sign in or close all apps on a screen, go to the desktop instead
of Start.")
With Win 8.1 Update, the system installer scans for a touch-sensitive
screen. If it doesn't find one, it checks that box. Very simple; quite
worthwhile.
A
few mouse-friendly changes to the Start screen
The Windows 8.1 Update puts two new icons on the Start screen that should
come in handy for mouse-bound Windows users. As shown in Figure 1, a
power off icon appears to the right of the username. It
lets you turn off the machine, switch the user, sign out, or go straight to
Sleep mode.
Figure 1. Windows 8.1 Update adds power and search icons to the main
Start screen.
The magnifying glass icon does almost nothing. Clicking
it pops up the Search pane that lives in the Charms bar. (For
more on using Win8.1 Search, see the companion story,
"Bing: Searching the Microsoft way," in the paid section of this
issue.)
Of course, experienced Windows 8 users know you don't have to click
anything to start a search from the Windows 8 Modern (still commonly called
Metro) UI — you just start typing the search text, and the Search pane
automatically pops up. I'm convinced that Microsoft put the spyglass up there
because so many people asked how to perform a search. Give them something to
click, and they'll go away.
The other mouse-friendly changes to the Start screen are useful only if
you like to customize those cute little (or big and ugly) Start screen tiles.
Right-click a tile, and you get a classic context menu that lets you change the
size of the tile, unpin the tile from Start, pin the program to the taskbar, and
so on.
For touch-enabled users, those options pop up at the bottom of the screen
— just as they do in Windows 8.1. (In its marketing material, Microsoft seems to
think that change is a really big deal.)
Slightly blurring the Modern/Desktop divide
Two changes are supposed to help mouse users work with Metro 8 apps. I've
played with them a bit and I'm still skeptical. Here's what you get; you can
decide.
Every full-screen, Win8 window now gets a title bar. The bar appears when
you hover your mouse near the top of the screen — and disappears when you move
the mouse away.
The new bar looks like a stunted version of the classic Windows title
bar. It has minimize and "X" (exit) icons on the upper right. It also has a
drop-down list that appears when you click an icon on the upper left. That list,
shown in Figure 2, lets you split the screen (in the Metro fashion), minimize
the app, or close it. That's hardly rocket science — there are key combinations
that help you split Win8 screens — but the ability to point and click could be
modestly useful.
Figure 2. The new Metro title bar with drop-down options
menu
With Windows 8.1 Update installed, the Desktop taskbar — the one Win7
users know and love — will show icons for each running Metro app. You can even
pin Metro apps to the Desktop taskbar. For experienced Windows users, that might
be one more nail in the Start screen's coffin.
I've actually used that feature a few times. (Hey, I occasionally use
native Win8 apps.) The benefit of having Metro-app icons in the Desktop taskbar
and a title bar at the top of those apps is one of
continuity. If you're working on the Desktop, it's easy to bring up a Metro app;
it's then easy to return to the Desktop by clicking the "X" in the app's title
bar.
I wouldn't say that this combination has increased my productivity
measurably, but it beats a poke in the eye with a Metro stick — which is how it
usually feels, switching between the Desktop and Metro worlds.
The Desktop taskbar also appears at the bottom of any Metro app's screen
— if you hover your mouse down there long enough. It's hard to imagine how that
might be useful, but if by chance you have a Metro app that you use frequently,
being able to flip over to a taskbar-pinned Desktop or another Metro app could
be handy.
Other small modifications to the Win8 experience
The rest of the changes, in my opinion, rate as minor — or perhaps mildly
amusing.
In the minor category: after applying Windows 8.1 Update, you'll have
Internet Explorer 11. By default, the Metro version will open with the
navigation bar and tabs visible at the bottom of the screen. Never mind the fact
that the major benefit of Metro IE was supposed to be its ability to fade away
and bring websites fully to the forefront. Meh!
Win8.1 Update also changes your default Desktop programs. Before, if you
had the temerity to click an MP3 file, Windows flipped over to the Metro side
and brought up that wicked spawn of an advertising gimmick called Metro Xbox
Music. After the Update, MP3s play in the Desktop version of Windows Media
Player. That change applies to some other Jekyll-and-Hyde, Metro/Desktop apps as
well.
On the Metro side, there's a new Disk Space Tracker in PC
Settings/PC and devices. It shows you how much disk space is
devoted to Pictures, Videos, Music, Documents, and Downloads. You might find
that tool mildly interesting if you suddenly need to delete files from that
brand-new — but relatively puny — solid-state drive.
From there, the new "benefits" get even more minuscule.
Bottom line: Windows 8.1 Update will be offered
via Windows Update on April 8, the next Patch Tuesday (and, ironically, the day
official support for Windows XP ends). If you have a mouse and you use Windows
8, yeah, sure, install Windows 8.1 Update — when you're ready. (See more about
that in the Patch Watch special update in this issue.) If you're living
Microsoft's vision of a tap-and-swipe computing experience, Windows 8.1 Update
doesn't have much for you — but it wouldn't hurt.
On the other hand, as noted at the top, there's nothing in Update that
will make XP, Vista, or Windows 7 users suddenly have good feelings about
Windows 8.
Given the backpedaling on the Metro/Modern UI, it'll be very interesting
to see what Microsoft does with Windows 9.
