Chapter 5: Taking Control of the Windows Store

In This Chapter

Getting the lowdown on Windows Store apps

Exploring the Windows Store

Updating your Store accounts and preferences

If you’re familiar with buying programs in the Apple App Store, you already know about 90 percent of the procedures you’ll find in the Windows Store.

Microsoft’s Windows Store launched simultaneously with the release of Windows 8. The Windows Store is a big, extensible, very usable source of new programs for the tiled Metro side of your Windows computer. There are even apps that run on the desktop side, too — although they’re very few and far between.

Apps make or break any computer these days, and Microsoft knows it. That’s why you find some popular apps in the Windows Store — it’s good for you, and good for Microsoft, over and above the 30 percent commission Microsoft makes on every sale.

For many folks, though, the Windows Store continues to be a major disappointment. The big-name apps are appearing in the Windows Store at glacial speed — there wasn’t even a legitimate Facebook app until more than a year after launch. Slowly Microsoft’s filling in some of the gaps — they’re even paying developers with new ideas and cajoling old-timers as best they can — but don’t be surprised if you hear about a cool Apple or Android app, and you can’t find it in the Windows Store. Happens all the time.

The only way you can get apps for the tiled Metro side of Windows is to download and install the app from the Windows Store. Although large companies can put tiled apps on their Windows devices (using a technique known as sideloading), normal people like you and me have to go through the Windows Store: the alpha and omega of tiled, new, Metro-style, Windows 8.1 apps.

Checking Out What a Tiled App Can Do

The longer Windows Store is available, the more apps you’ll find there. The apps do all sorts of things, but each app also has to meet a set of requirements before Microsoft will offer the app in the Windows Store.

Here’s a short version of what you can expect from any app you buy (or download) via the Windows Store:

You can get both tiled-style Metro apps (which run on the tiled side of Windows) and legacy-style apps (which run on the old-fashioned desktop) from the Windows Store.

If you want a new program for the desktop, you may be able to find it in the Windows Store, or you may be able to get it through all the old sources — shrink-wrapped boxes, monster download sites — to find and install what you want.

But if you want a new tiled program, you have to get it through the Windows Store. (Unless you have a big company; see the sidebar “Bypassing the Windows Store restrictions.”)

Tiled Metro apps can be updated only through the Windows Store. If your apps are set to update automatically — the default — when an update is available, the Store tile on the Start screen shows a number, indicating how many apps have updates available. See “Adjusting Your Store Accounts and Preferences” later in this chapter.

Apps that use any Internet-based services have to request permission from the user before retrieving, or sending, personal data.

The app has to be usable on up to five computers at a time. For example, if you buy the latest high-tech version of Angry Birds, you can run that same version of Angry Birds on up to five Windows 8 or 8.1 devices — computers, tablets, maybe phones (if it’ll work on phones) — at no additional cost.

Microsoft won’t accept apps with a rating over ESRB Mature (which is to say “adult content”).

Apps can (thankfully) put only one tile on the Start screen.

Apps must start in five seconds or less, and resume in two seconds or less. Microsoft wants apps to be speedy, not sluggish, and thus requires developers to make sure their apps meet this requirement.

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In addition to the basic requirements for any app, you’re also likely to find that the following is true of most apps:

Microsoft’s tools help developers create trial versions of their apps, so you can try before you buy. The trial versions can be limited in many ways — for example, they work only on a certain number of pictures, messages, or files or only for a week or a month — before demanding payment. That’s all part of the plan.

Where try-before-you-buy has a long and checkered history on the desktop, it’s baked into many Windows Store apps. Microsoft is very strict about requiring the developer to explain precisely what has been limited and what happens if you fork over the filthy lucre.

If an app breaks, you can complain to Microsoft, but the support responsibility lies 100 percent with the developer. Although Microsoft acts as an agent in the distribution and sale of apps, Microsoft doesn’t actually buy or sell or warrant anything at all. Even the license for using the tiled-style program goes between seller and buyer, with Microsoft out of the loop.

Many apps attempt to get you to buy more — more levels, more features, more content. Microsoft has that covered, just like Apple: Orders generated by the app have to go through the Windows Store. Only Microsoft can fulfill the orders. Ka-ching.

Don't confuse the Windows Store — which hooks directly into the tiled Metro part of Windows — with the Microsoft Store, which has both Internet and meat-space manifestations. Brick-and-mortar Microsoft stores are popping up all over the place (another bright idea borrowed from Apple). The online Microsoft Store, www.microsoftstore.com, serves as an online extension of the physical Microsoft stores. In the online Microsoft Store, you can buy the new Microsoft Surface computers, applications that run on the desktop, as well as competitors' computers, Xboxes, headphones, mice, phones — in short, everything you would find at a Microsoft store.

Browsing the Windows Store

When you’re ready to venture into the Windows Store for tiled apps, tap or click the Store tile, and you see something like Figure 5-1.

Figure 5-1: The Windows Store.

Moving around in the Windows Store is a little funky. The following tips can help you move around and find what you’re looking for:

You need a Microsoft account to get anywhere beyond basic searching. If you logged on to Windows with a local account, the Microsoft account requirement splats you right in the face, as in Figure 5-2.

If you decide to use a local account but need to sign in with a Microsoft account to get updates or new apps from the Windows Store, set up a bogus Microsoft account (see Book II, Chapter 5) and use the facility offered in Figure 5-2 to sign in to each app separately. That way, you’ll be warned before you venture into another location that requires a Microsoft account.

To order an app, tap or click the app’s tile. The Store takes you directly to the ordering screen for the app. For example, if you tap or click the tile for the Kindle app, you see the ordering page in Figure 5-3.

On the left, you see an overview of the app and you can get a more detailed feature list by clicking or tapping on the Show More link. Slide to the right, and you see the Ratings and Reviews. Even farther to the right, and you should see a release history (except for Microsoft’s own Metro apps, of course), list of permissions required, languages, and links to the manufacturer’s site.

The star rating shouldn’t impress you — it’s the accumulated wisdom of all the people who’ve bothered to rate the app. But the supported languages section, if there is one, may be of interest — and the permissions list is detailed and thorough. At the very least, you can vent your spleen on the Reviews page if the app doesn’t live up to your expectations.

Figure 5-2: You can’t do anything but go window shopping with a local account.

Figure 5-3: The app ordering page for the Kindle app.

To view apps by group, from the main Store screen, scroll to the right. You see Picks for You (there’s a reason why Bing collects all that data, eh?), Popular Now, New Releases, Top Paid, and Top Free. For example, in Figure 5-1, if you scroll to the right, and then tap or click Top Paid, you see the mass shown in Figure 5-4.

Beware the marketing tricks. For example, the Facebook One app isn't made by Facebook, it's made by an unnamed company operating from the web site www.luckyapps.me. Facebook Now is from Two Guy. The latest reviews for Facebook Now when this book went to press were, "Just a wrapper and cheating," "This is hands down the worst Facebook app I have used yet;" "buggy;" "I don't understand, if Facebook is a free app, then why do we have to PAY for the ads to be taken away?" Hint: The app isn't from Facebook.

Figure 5-4: Tiled Metro games. Yes, Metro Angry Birds Star Wars is $3.49, whereas it’s $0.99 in the Apple App Store and Google Play.

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Searching the Windows Store

You can search the Windows Store using the Search box in the upper right, and/or by taking advantage of built-in categories. Here’s how:

1. Inside the Windows Store, type something into the Search box in the upper right.

In Figure 5-5, I typed news.

It isn’t clear why you have to run a search in order to get the category choices shown in Figure 5-5, but that’s the way it works.

2. Choose from Categories (listed in Figure 5-5), Price (Free, Free and Trial, Paid), and/or Relevance (sort by newest, highest rating, lowest price, highest price).

In Figure 5-6, I was surprised (but not really) to find that the most relevant paid games in the Windows Store are all from Microsoft Xbox.

Figure 5-5: If you want to get into the Windows Store’s categories, run a search on anything first.

Figure 5-6: Nine of the top-ten, “most relevant” paid games come from the Xbox side of Microsoft.

Adjusting Your Store Accounts and Preferences

In the Windows Store app, you can adjust a limited number of settings for your accounts and preferences, as follows:

1. Tap or click the Windows Store app from the Metro Start screen.

2. Swipe from the right to bring up the Charms bar or hover your mouse in the upper-right corner. Tap or click the Settings charm.

You see the Settings pane shown in Figure 5-7.

3. Choose Your Account.

Windows shows you the Windows Store Your Account page, as shown in Figure 5-8.

Figure 5-7: The first three settings contain important information.

Figure 5-8: Set your shopping preferences.

You can change these settings:

• Change User lets you switch to a different Microsoft account. That’s useful if you’re using an anonymous Microsoft account but want to buy something in the Windows Store — switch your account over, buy whatever you want, download it, and then switch back to your anonymous account. (I talk about anonymous Microsoft accounts in Book II, Chapter 4.)

• Payment and Billing Info if you don’t already have a credit card associated with your current Microsoft account, you can add it here. Having Windows ask for your password when buying an app makes it more difficult for your three-year-old to run up a $1,000 bill.

• Your PCs shows the five PCs that are permitted to share the apps that you buy. You can remove a PC here.

The PCs are associated with your Microsoft account. If you log on to a different computer using the same Microsoft account, you can download and install any tiled apps you’ve already bought on that different computer. The name of the new PC is added to this list. See the “Which apps do I own?” sidebar.

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4. Swipe from the right to bring up the Charms bar or hover your mouse in the upper-right corner. Tap or click the Settings charm. Choose Preferences.

Windows shows you the Store Preferences page, which makes it easier to find apps that support limited accessibility; it also lets you extend your searches to other languages.

5. Swipe from the right to bring up the Charms bar or hover your mouse in the upper-right corner. Tap or click the Settings charm. Choose App Updates.

Windows shows you the Store App Updates page, as shown in Figure 5-9.

Figure 5-9: Set your update preferences.

In this case, automatic means that Windows downloads the updates, but doesn’t install them until you give your permission.

Unlike Windows updates — where I don’t trust Microsoft for a moment and recommend that you carefully control which updates are applied and when (see Book VIII, Chapter 3) — app updates are relatively innocuous, as long as you’re only updating apps.

Unfortunately, this setting is currently being used to grant permission to update parts of Windows itself — more than just updating the tiled Metro apps. As long as Windows updates go through the Windows Store, I suggest that you turn off this switch and watch for a number on the Windows Store tile. Then carefully decide if you want to update.

6. When you’re done, tap the Windows button on your tablet or click the lower-left corner to go back to the Start screen.