Working with Some Mobile Apps

The Windows system always finds different ways in letting you access certain files and locations that are stored on your hardware or those which are a part of the operating system itself. This has been an undeniable fact since Windows XP and has continued on down to Windows 7 and now even in Windows 8.1!

One of the most important features and tools that you can ever have on your computer that runs the latest Windows OS are the apps. Apps are the modern counterpart of the old-school desktop program which were mostly bulky but works effectively and efficiently most of the time beating its modern cousins; the mobile apps. However, it’s almost a requirement to have mobile apps installed on your Windows 8.1 machine because most of your friends and colleagues are already into it.

Why Install Some Apps?

The question that could come next is why you would really install some apps when the desktop programs that you own already does a great job in doing the things that you usually perform with your computer. Well, most people might think like this but you should also consider that the Start Screen and the ability to install mobile apps from the Windows Store is part of the price that you paid when you bought your Windows 8.1 machine.

There are also some features that apps have which you can never find in desktop programs and the charms which lie hidden on the right edge of your screen work perfectly and are specially designed for mobile apps (at least most of them) so why won’t you try using these amazing new stuff and start installing them on your machine? There’s really no harm in trying right?

How to Install an App

One of the basic things that you should learn is how to install an app. Apps that works with your Windows 8.1 machine are found inside the Windows Store. To open this section of the Windows 8.1 system, simply access the Start Screen and look for the Windows Store tile.

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The location and appearance of the Windows Store tile on your computer’s Start Screen will depend on how large your screen is and the settings which are set active for the Windows Store tile itself. For computers having a smaller screen, the Store tile might not appear on the Start Screen when you open it so you will need to scroll a little bit to the right of the screen to see it.

Once the Windows Store opens, simply use the Search input box and type in the name of the App that you want to install on your computer. Once you find the app from the search results, simply click or tap on it and on its descriptions page, just click on the button that says “Install”.

Snapping Two Apps on the Screen

Windows 8.1 has a brand new feature that works like the Smart Screen back in Windows 7. It is called the Snap feature. To use this feature on your computer, you will first need to open two apps which you want to view side-by-side with each other. For demonstration purposes, I will use the Weather and the Skype app. I first opened the Weather app and placed my mouse pointer on the top edge of the screen until it turned into a hand icon.

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On your computer, once the mouse pointer turns into a hand icon, simply click and hold it and drag it to the left until a black partition appears exactly on the center of the screen. When you see this partition, you can now release the mouse.

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Next, you need to open the second app and you will notice that it will automatically open on the right part of the screen which is not used yet since you placed the first app on the left side.

How to Uninstall an App or a Desktop Program

If you find installing an app as a very simple thing to do then you will find uninstalling it a lot simpler. To do this, all you need to do is access the Start Screen and look for the tile that represents the app which you would like to uninstall and once you find it, simply right-click on it.

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After right-clicking on the tile, the App bar will appear at the bottom containing some options in it. From these options, simply look for the one that says “Uninstall” and once you find it, simply click or tap on it and follow the on-screen instructions that would come next.

Uninstalling a desktop program also follows the same process but since some desktop programs don’t pin shortcuts to the Start Screen right away, you will need to open the Apps view and look for the shortcut there. Once you find it, simply right-click on it the hit the “Uninstall” option from the menu that appears on a bar at the bottom of the screen.

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For desktop programs that has a shortcut pinned to the Start Screen, you can uninstall them using the same process for mobile apps but the on-screen instructions might be different which you just need to follow until the uninstallation process completes.

Moving Apps to Different Locations

Tiles and shortcuts that are pinned on the Start Screen which represents apps and desktop programs are capable of being moved to different locations on the Start Screen. To do this tweak, all you need to do is access the Start Screen then click and hold on the tile or shortcut that you want to move then drag it to the new location where you want it to stay and finally drop it by releasing the left-click button of the mouse.

Accessing Your Recently Used Apps

Jumping from an open App screen to the Start Screen just to access another app that you want to open gets you into some hassle and can even get you confused if you are a first time Windows 8.1 user but there is a way for accessing your recently used apps which will not get you into trouble. To do this, simply put the mouse pointer to the upper or the lower-left corner of the screen then move it downwards if you pointed on the top or upwards of you pointed at the bottom. After doing so, you will see a bar containing some tiles of the recent apps you have opened. From here, you can simply click on the one that you want to use and the app that is presently open will just disappear from the screen and will be replaced by the new one.

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Do More with Mobile Apps

The advent of the mobile apps and its introduction to the Windows operating system has opened a lot of ways for users to get more productive many times over compared to just using desktop apps. Apps like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram also help you get more control of your social media accounts. Take time to install and use them for a certain period of time and you will surely love how these stuff works and does some tasks that were only accessible through web browsers back in the days of the older Windows editions.