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The Windows Store is a collection of free and paid apps that open up a world of computing activities. If you want to dabble in painting on your computer, you might buy an inexpensive app instead of more robust design software. Need an app to help you find your way around Italy on your next vacation? There’s an app for that. And if you love games, you’ll love all the game apps in the Windows Store.
In this section, you discover how to find the app you need, either by using the integrated search feature of Windows 8 or by browsing different categories in the Windows Store itself. After you know how to find the apps you want, you can download free apps and buy paid apps. You can also discover how to find app reviews to make sure you’re getting the best app for you, and to add your own app ratings and reviews to help others find their way.
Get ready to explore apps, a whole new dynamic for acquiring functionality for your Windows-based computing device.
The first way to find an app is by searching for it. When you use the Windows 8 search feature, you can select from various locations to search, including the Windows Store. When you click an app in the search results, you’re directed to the Windows Store.
The Windows Store offers a very easy-to-navigate interface with graphical ties for available apps, all organized into categories such as Games, Social, Education, Health & Fitness, and Entertainment. Use these categories to browse available apps and see featured free or paid apps.
Before you buy any app, it’s a good idea to see what other people think of it. Even though some apps are free and paid apps aren’t typically as expensive as desktop software such as Microsoft Office, you still want to make the best choice you can for your needs, saving yourself time and money by getting the right app, right from the start.
Using the methods in the previous tasks, locate an app you’re interested in.
Click the app to display details.
Click Reviews.
Use the scroll bar to scroll through the reviews.
Click the Sort By field to display sort options.
There’s nothing better than free, and the Windows Store offers quite a few free apps to explore. When you get a free app, you simply click an Install button and the app downloads to your computer.
Locate an app by using either of the methods in the first two tasks of this section.
Click the app to display details.
Click Install.
Tip
Apps you download from the Store are pinned to the Start screen; you can open an app by clicking its tile. To unpin an app on the Start screen, in the toolbar that appears, right-click the app tile and then click Unpin From Start. You can then open the app by typing its name on the Start screen, and then in the results area, click the app.
You can view all the apps you’ve purchased in the store along with some tools for sorting the apps. Note that you can view any apps you’ve purchased, whether you downloaded them to the device you’re using or to another Windows 8–based device if you’re logged in with the same Windows Live account.
Click the Store tile.
Right-click.
Click Your Apps.
Click to choose to view all apps purchased or only those installed on the current computer.
Click to sort apps by date or name.
When you find an app you’d like to make your own, you can follow a typical purchase procedure to enter payment information and submit your order.
Just as you benefit from others’ reviews of an app before you invest your time and money in it, other people can benefit from your reviews. You can post a rating for any app you download from the Windows Store: a one-star rating is low, and a five-star rating is high. You can also submit a review of up to 500 characters to let others know how you liked the app.
With an app open, press Windows logo key+I.
Click Rate and Review.
Click the star rating.
Enter a title.
Enter your review.
Click Submit.
