It was supposed to herald a new era in Windows. But for all its undoubted promise, Windows 8 got off to a slightly bumpy start, as many users found the all-new interface and the introduction of touch (in most devices) a bit confusing. Well, Microsoft does have a reputation of getting things right at the second go (remember how an initially buggy Windows 98 was fixed and how quickly Windows 7 came on the heels of the less than popular Vista?), and the Redmond giant has updated Windows 8 slightly a year more after its launch. Windows 8.1 might not look too different from Windows 8 — booting your device will bring you to the same tiled interface as before — but ah, scratch the surface and you realise that this update is no mere bug-buster, but comes with a number of new features.

A tap on the start button will let you switch between the Desktop Mode and the tiled interface