Microsoft will send out a free update to Windows 8.1 next week that will improve the experience for mouse and keyboard users.
Since its release nearly two years ago, Windows 8 has been a work in progress. Microsoft's latest update will get it closer to a finished state.
According to Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500), the company's goal with its latest update is to further blur the line between the legacy desktop mode, and the "Modern" tile-based interface.
At its annual Build developers conference in San Francisco, Microsoft said many of the changes to Windows 8.1 will address that issue directly -- a problem had has contributed to slumping Windows sales. (Click here to follow our Microsoft Build live blog).
Windows will detect when it is running on a laptop or desktop -- as opposed to a tablet -- and automatically navigate to desktop mode when unlocking the computer. Tablets will still unlock into the tile-based Start screen, however.
When using Modern apps with a mouse and keyboard, there will be a desktop-style title bar that appears at the top of the screen, allowing users to quickly minimize or exit an app.
The taskbar, a staple of the desktop user interface in Windows, will now be accessible from anywhere in the operating system, including the Start screen. When users mouse all the way down to the bottom of the Start screen or a Modern app, the taskbar will float up from the bottom with all their favorite pinned apps.
If you open a Modern app from the desktop mode, it will open the app in the typical full screen mode and behave like a Modern app. But when you close or minimize the app, it will take you back to the desktop.
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