Shutting Down an App
Generally speaking, you don’t have to worry
about shutting down Windows 8 apps because when they don’t have the
focus they use very few system resources. However, if you’re having
trouble with a Windows 8 app, or if you just want to make it easier to
switch between the other running apps, then you need to know how to
shut down a Windows 8 app. How you do this depends on whether you’re
using a regular PC or a tablet PC:
• Regular PC—Move the
mouse pointer to the top of the screen, where it changes to a hand, and
then click and drag the hand down. As you drag, the Windows 8 app
window shrinks down to a thumbnail window. Keep dragging the window all
the way to the bottom of the screen, and then release the mouse button.
Alternatively, move the mouse pointer to the top-left corner to display
the list of running apps, move the pointer over the app you want to
close, right-click it, and then click Close. If all that just feels
like a bit too much work, you can also just press Alt+F4 to close the
current Windows 8 app.
• Tablet PC—Place
your finger at the top edge of the screen, and then slide down until
the Windows 8 app window shrinks down to a thumbnail window. Keep
dragging your finger to the bottom of the screen, and then release your
finger.
Working with Notifications
If you’re a Windows old-timer, then you’re
certainly all too familiar with the notification area in the taskbar,
which displays banners whenever Windows or an application has
information for you. Those notifications are still available in the
Desktop app, but now they only work for desktop programs. Windows 8 and
all Windows 8 apps use a new notification system. For example, you
might add an appointment to the Calendar app and ask the app to remind
you about it, and that reminder appears as a notification. Similarly,
someone might send you a text message, and the Messaging app displays
the text as a notification.
Tip
Notifications appear for only a few seconds.
To keep a notification onscreen indefinitely, move your mouse pointer
over the notification.
These notifications appear briefly in the upper-right corner of the screen. For example, Figure 1
shows the notification that appears when you insert a USB flash drive.
In this case, Windows 8 is wondering what you want to do with the drive.
Figure 1. Notifications appear in the upper-right corner of the screen.
To handle the notification, click it. Windows
8 then takes you to the app that generated the notification. If the
notification was generated by Windows 8 itself, it displays more
information. In the flash drive example, Windows 8 displays a list of
options similar to the one shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Click a notification, and Windows 8 either displays more information,
as shown here, or switches to the app that generated the notification.
