Winaero

How to change the background image of the default Lock Screen and the login screen

As you might have observed, Windows 8.1 has two Lock Screens. One of them is your personalized lock screen, which you see when you lock your PC or tablet. The second one is the default Lock Screen. Every time you sign out, you see the default image with color stripes and the blue login screen behind it.

While you are able to customize your personal Lock Screen via PC Settings, Windows 8.1 provides no way to change the background image and color of the default Lock Screen.
I would like to share with you a simple way of changing the appearance of the default Lock screen.

How to restart Modern Apps in Windows 8.1

In the previous article, I said that I will explain why closing Modern apps has been made harder by Microsoft in Windows 8.1 compared to Windows 8. Well, the answer consists of 2 reasons: first, Microsoft really doesn't want you to close Modern apps. They have been saying that all along since Windows 8 - the OS will manage the closing of unused apps automatically for you. Inactive apps will be suspended when they are not in use and if you don't use them for a long enough period, they'll be closed automatically.

The second reason is that they introduced a new ability for Modern apps - to restart them quickly without going all the way through the procedure of closing them, returning to the Start screen and launching them again! Windows 8.1 brings a new hidden feature, which allows you to restart a Modern app! Let's discover this hidden secret feature right now!

How to really close Modern apps in Windows 8.1

With Windows 8.1, Microsoft has secretly changed the behavior of Modern apps when you close them. In Windows 8, when you dragged a Modern app from the top edge to the bottom edge of the screen, it got closed. But in Windows 8.1, when you do the same, you will be surprised - that the app does not get closed; it remains in the Task manager! Windows 8.1 keeps Modern apps in the "suspended" state when you close them. In addition, ~~Microsoft has also killed off all settings to tweak the close threshold for Modern apps as a result of which Winaero's CloseThreshold tool no longer has any effect~~ see how to reduce distance to drag close Metro apps and speed up closing in Windows 8.1. But it's not all bad news, you are still able to close apps completely with a mouse gesture or swipe. Let's see how.

How to manually trigger the Windows 8.1 download from the Windows Store

Still having issues with the upgrade to Windows 8.1? Then you can try the following. Here is a simple, but effective trick which allows you to trigger the Windows 8.1 download from the Windows Store in Windows 8!

Winaero Giveaway: free StartIsBack licenses for our readers!

Update: The giveaway is now over. See who won the free license.

Let me introduce our first exciting giveaway! Today, our giveaway product is one of the leading commercial Start Menu implementations for Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 - StartIsBack.

In this post, we will look at key benefits of the StartIsBack+ application, and 4 random lucky winners from everyone who participates, will receive a StartIsBack license for free. One StartIsBack license covers 2 PCs. The license is applicable to both StartIsBack for Windows 8 as well as StartIsBack+ for Windows 8.1.

Halloween 2013 theme for Windows 8

Customize the date, time and other hidden settings of the Lock Screen in Windows 8.1

Do you know that the Lock Screen in Windows 8.1 has some settings that you can tweak, but they have no UI options? Well, there is good news for you: Winaero's Lock Screen Customizer, the excellent freeware tool is finally available to all Windows 8.1 users! Using the tool, you can change the following options:

Lock Screen Customizer for Windows 8.1 and Windows 8

Lock Screen Customizer is a new software by Winaero. It allows you to tweak and extend
the options of the Lock Screen in Windows 8. It has nice UI with live preview of the changes you made:

Windows 8.1 users, a new version 1.0.0.1 for you is ready. Check it out below!

It allows you to change the following options of the Lock Screen:

How to move Libraries above This PC in Windows 8.1

If you compare ~~Windows~~ File Explorer in Windows 8 vs Windows 8.1, you will notice the following change: 'Computer' is renamed to 'This PC' and 'Libraries', which were above the Computer folder in Windows 8, are now below 'This PC'. Many users are not happy with this rearrangement, they consider it uncomfortable for daily usage of Libraries. Let's fix it in a moment!

Fix: Broken Google search results in Internet Explorer 11

Today, many users faced a problem with Google search when using Internet Explorer 11. The search results appear completely broken and aligned to the left in a narrow column. Luckily, we have figured out what is the cause of the issue and how to fix it!