Downloading Apps from the Windows Store in Windows 8

Downloading Apps from the Windows Store in Windows 8: Video

This video shows downloading apps from the Windows Store in Windows 8.

Downloading Apps from the Windows Store: Overview

(Editor’s Note: The Windows Store changed into the Microsoft Store in later versions of Windows and Windows 8 is deprecated. However, this lesson remains for historical reference, if needed).

One of the new features of Windows 8 is the ability to download apps for your computing devices from the Windows Store. Note that you must sign-in to your computer using a Microsoft Account in order to download apps from the Windows Store.

To download an app once you have signed-in using a Microsoft Account, click the “Store” icon within the Start screen to open the Windows Store app. Here you can browse the available apps to download. You can browse apps by category or simply review the featured apps that appear. You can click on an app within the Windows Store to read more about the selected app. On the app page shown, you can click the “Back” button in the upper left corner to return to the last page shown. You can also click the hyperlinks shown at the top of the app page to read the “Overview,” “Details,” and “Review” of the app.

To download the app, click the “Buy,” “Try” or “Install” buttons at the left side of the page. Free apps will typically just show the “Install” button, and paid apps will often show the “Buy” and “Try” buttons. The “Try” button will allow you to install a trial version of the app, which you can later purchase if you wish to keep. You can also click the “Buy” button to buy and download the app immediately. You will need to provide some form of payment in order to download and purchase a paid app.

Be sure to read the “Terms of Use” before making purchases from the Windows Store app. Note that the apps you buy are licensed, not sold, for you to use. Typically, this license include the ability to install and use the apps on up to 5 Windows 8 computing devices, however, you should always read the Terms of Use from each individual app provider, which may vary.

After selecting an app to install, you will see your download information appear in the upper-right corner of the screen. Once your app downloads and installs, a message box appears onscreen informing you of that fact. You can then close the Windows Store app by clicking at the top of the app window and then dragging the app all the way to the bottom of the screen.

Also note that the Windows Store provides updates to the apps installed on your computer. You may see a small number appear on the Live Tile icon of the “Store” within the Start screen. This number indicates the number of app updates that you can install. To download the updates, simply click the “Store” app icon to open the store and then click the “Updates” link within the app window to begin downloading and installing any app updates that are available.

Note that if you logged into multiple computers that share the same apps, then you may need to log out of any other logged-in computers before you can update some of the apps. For example, if you are logged into a desktop computer and then try to update the “SkyDrive” app, it may not allow you to do this if you are concurrently logged into the same Microsoft account with your laptop. In this case, you must log out of any other devices that are preventing the update to occur, such as the laptop in the example mentioned, before you can successfully update the apps.