14 DAY TRIAL // As you probably know by now, especially if you’ve already made the move to Windows 8.1, Microsoft has implemented a new way or closing apps, requiring users to swipe down from the top of the screen and then wait for a couple of seconds.
In Windows 8, the whole process was a lot faster, because users only had to drag down the app, so many actually criticized Redmond for this move.
Microsoft, on the other hand, says that this change was introduced to give users “a bit more power,” as it’s easier now to restart the app to a fresh state.
“Sometimes your app is buggy, and you simply want to restart it to a fresh state. If you perform the Close gesture on an app, and then immediately relaunch the app (from Start, Search… etc.), the app will terminate and restart as a fresh instance. This allows users to easily restart an app that is misbehaving. For example, if an app hangs on a particular page, you can do the Close gesture and immediately launch it again to get a fresh instance of the app,” Microsoft employee Matt Small said.
“Lastly, if you really need to terminate your app, you can do the same Close gesture but hold the app at the bottom of the screen for a moment and wait for it to ‘flip’ around, then continue swiping it off the screen. This will terminate the app and can be used if you don’t want to resume your app later. However, as we mentioned earlier, for most users the swipe Close gesture that suspends apps should be sufficient – let Windows take care of the rest for you!”
This app closing mechanism is mostly useful on touch-capable devices, and Microsoft says that it actually makes working on a tablet much faster. And still, it remains to be seen whether consumers actually get used to this new option.