Updates

Windows 8.1

On March 26, 2013, Microsoft officially acknowledged Windows "Blue", the internal codename for an update to Windows 8. A public preview of Windows Blue is scheduled to be released at the 2013 Build Conference, to be held from June 26 to 28, 2013, in San Francisco. The update is expected to be released later in 2013.

On May 14, Microsoft officially announced that the "Blue" update would be named Windows 8.1, and a public beta would be released on June 26, 2013.

The following changes have been revealed:

Components: New apps: Calculator, Alarm Clock, Sound Recorder, a video editing app, Reading List, Food & Drink and a file manager Internet Explorer 11: Includes WebGL and SPDY support, along with expanded developer tools. Microsoft Office RT: Outlook RT, a version of Microsoft Outlook 2013 ported to ARM, will be included in Windows RT. PC Settings app: Includes more options that were previously exclusive to Control Panel Windows PowerShell v4.0: Features a host of new commands for managing the Start screen, Windows Defender, Windows components, hardware and network. Windows Defender: Features network inspection system (NIS), a network intrusion detection system. This feature has been present in Microsoft Security Essentials since July 2010. Windows Store 2.0: Now adds automatic update feature to update installed apps and features a better layout. Start screen: The "All Apps" section, now accessed with a hidden downward arrow or upward touch gesture, features a visible search bar. It is dismissed by a similar button with an upward arrow. Start screen tiles can now be locked in place to prevent accidental shifting of tiles that caused frustration. More size options for live tiles on Start screen: small, medium and large plus an extra large size for Desktop tile The "small" size is one fourth of default size in Windows 8. Expanded color options on the Start screen, which now allows users to customize a color and a shade of one's own choice instead of choosing from limited colors. Start screen may now have the same background as desktop or animated backgrounds. Visible Start button restored by default; has similar color effects to the Start charm, and will appear in place of the Start tooltip in apps when enabled. It will auto-hide if any other method (such as keyboard shortcuts) is used to access the Start screen. New technologies support: ReFS NFC printing Wi-Fi Direct printing Miracast Mobile broadband tethering Auto-triggered VPN Device encryption for all editions of Windows 8 Shell and user interface: Ability to boot directly to the desktop, bypassing the start screen. "Take screenshot" option in the Share charm "Play" option in the Devices charm for playing content to another device The size of the sidebar that snapped apps occupy can be changed, although the minimum remains Windows 8's 320 pixels. Snapped apps may occupy half of the screen. Large screens allow up to four apps to be snapped. Upon launching an app, Windows allows the user to pick which snapped view the app should open into. Kiosk mode: Locks down the device to a single app for an embedded-like terminal experience. The uninstall command now allows Windows Store apps to be uninstalled from multiple computers. Windows 8.1 will not create any Libraries by default. Custom Libraries can still be created.