14 DAY TRIAL // In addition to the 14 security updates that Microsoft rolled out on Patch Tuesday, the company also introduced a collection of non-security fixes that are supposed to address issues in its operating system and implement some performance optimizations that would in the end improve the overall experience with the OS.
One of the updates shipped yesterday is KB3036612, which corrects a bug that has been reported by plenty of users out there in the last several months and that was apparently killing Windows Store apps on a number of computers.
For starters, Windows 8.1 had a bug that caused the apps to crash at random times when trying to install some apps, and the issue existed not only on the PC version of Windows 8.1 but also on Windows RT 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2.
While there had been plenty of workarounds out there supposed to address this problem in some way or another, Microsoft's patch was developed to fix this once and for all.
Affected apps
Microsoft says in the official documentation of the patch that only a limited number of apps were actually affected by this problem, but we're receiving reports from users telling us that many more Windows Store items that seem to install fine crash all of sudden after launch.
The following apps are said to crash on Windows 8.1:
Skype Netflix Cut The Rope HP ALL-in-One Printer Remote Canon Inkjet Print Utility Microsoft Solitaire Collection Adobe Reader Touch Asphalt 8: Airborne Microsoft Mahjong Amazon
Users having trouble running these Windows Store apps are recommended to install today's patch and reboot their computers. The issue should no longer be experienced, but in case it does, make sure you drop us a line here to let Microsoft know that additional tweaking is needed to correct the problem on all computers.