Windows 8 handles active applications differently than previous versions. This is mainly due to the tablet based Metro UI. For example, if you check the weather using the Metro weather app and then switch to the finance app, the weather app does not close but remains active in the background. As more Metro apps become active, they can strain your system resources and slow down your PC or tablet. It is no surprise that users are finding it a bit tricky to close Metro apps as one of the biggest questions after the release of the new Windows OS was, how to shutdown or restart Windows 8. In this post I will show you the four different ways by which you can shut down Metro apps.
Method 1
One easy way of closing a Metro app is from the Switch List. Just launch the Windows 8 switch list, right-click on a running app and select close. To find out more, see my post about the Windows 8 Switch List.
Method 2
Start the task manager by right-clicking on the task bar and selecting the “Task Manager” option or via CTRL+ALT+Del key combination. Once done, right-click on an active application’s name and select End Task.
Method 3 And 4
You can also close running Metro apps by grabbing the App window from the top end and dragging it all the way down towards the bottom of the screen. Alternatively, you can use the Alt+F4 hotkey combination. It is worth pointing out that Method 3 and 4 are for closing applications from within the Metro interface without resorting to using the Task Manager or Switch List. You can use options given in Method 1 and 2 when you wish to close an app from the classic desktop workspace or to force close a Metro app.
You can also check out this video demonstration for closing Metro apps. The below video is also available on our official WML CLoud YouTube Channel.
