Exclusive: How to reduce distance to drag close Metro apps and speed up closing in Windows 8.1

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you probably saw my tutorial "how to close Modern apps", which I posted recently where I explained that apps no longer close when dragged from the top to the bottom - you have to drag and hold the apps to fully close them. Today, I would like to share with you an exclusive tutorial for Windows 8.1 which will improve your Modern app closing experience by leaps and bounds. I discovered some hidden secret parameters which will allow you finally to fine tune the way Modern apps are closed in Windows 8.1. Also, I will share with you my new revived tool, CloseThreshold for Windows 8.1!

In Windows 8.1, there are several hidden parameters located at the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ImmersiveShell\Switcher

Specifically, as far as "drag-to-close" and "flip-to-close" features are concerned, we need to review only three of those parameters. Those parameters are:

MouseCloseThresholdPercent

This parameter controls the distance you have to drag the Modern app with the mouse from the top edge to close it.

This is a DWORD value which accepts  values from 0 to 100 in decimals. The values 0 and 100 mean drag to close with mouse is disabled, greater value means shorter drag distance and vice versa.

TouchCloseThresholdPercent

This parameter controls the distance you have to drag the Modern app with touch/fingers to close it.

The values are the same as for MouseCloseThresholdPercent.

CloseDwellTimeout

This is the golden parameter which when tuned allows you to speed up the flipping animation/app closing delay. This DWORD value is a timeout expressed in milliseconds. When the timeout is reached, the Modern app will be terminated. The default value is 1000 ms/1 second, but you can reduce it to 300 milliseconds to speed up closing of your Modern apps in Windows 8.1. Note that you should specify the new value in decimals.

Let me set the values I use to explain these parameters to you.

1. Open the Registry editor (see this tutorial, if you are not familiar with registry editor).
2. Open the following key:

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ImmersiveShell\Switcher

   If that key does not exist, just create it.
   Tip: You can access any desired Registry key with one click.

3. Create the following DWORD values in decimals:
   CloseDwellTimeout = 300
   MouseCloseThresholdPercent = 80
   TouchCloseThresholdPercent = 80
   
4. Restart the Explorer shell (see how).

Now open some Modern app, and drag it from the top to bottom. You will notice that you don't need to drag all the way to the bottom to close it, dragging a much shorter distance is enough. Also, the app flips much faster meaning you have to wait less before completely closing it. Awesome improvements, right? ;)

Use Winaero Tweaker

If you remember, for Windows 8 RTM, there were 2 simple parameters to control the mouse and touch close threshold and I had written an app, called Close Threshold to tweak them. Unfortunately, Windows 8.1 killed those parameters leading me to conclude that Close Threshold wouldn't work on Windows 8.1. Well, since I've discovered new parameters for Windows 8,1, I added appropriate options to my freeware Winaero Tweaker. It has a simple and easy-to-use GUI for all parameters I've described above:

Just use the sliders/trackbars to set the desired parameters, and Explorer will be restarted automatically when you click the "Apply" button.

Use "Reset to defaults" button to get the default Windows behavior back.

Enjoy.

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