The new Windows is finally starting to get some traction. At the start of November, Windows 8 and 8.1 passed the 15 percent market share mark. Maybe people are finally recognizing that the benefits of the new OS go beyond just tiles on the Start screen: Startup is the fastest in the biz, security is greatly improved, settings and accounts are synced between PCs, and you're really getting two operating systems for the price of one.

With Windows 10, which is in technical preview and expected to be released in about a year, Microsoft seems to be de-emphasizing the modern user interface. The company's bringing back a modified form of the old-school start menu, shrinking modern interface's importance. On laptop and desktop PCs, the legacy desktop UI is already the default in Windows 8.1.

Despite the trend, there are thousands of modern, touch-friendly Windows apps, many of them very good, though there's plenty of chaff. You also get a good helping of excellent apps that come with Windows 8.1—including Calendar, Mail, Music, News, Photos, Scan, Sound Recorder, Travel, Videos, and Weather. But our goal here is to help you find the gems among the non-default apps.

Some marquee names have joined the flock of Windows 8 apps, including an official Facebook app, Dropbox, Flipboard, Vevo, Foursquare, Rhapsody, and TripAdvisor. And don't forget that in its desktop mode Windows 8.x still runs nearly all of the millions of applications programmed for Windows over the past decade and a half. Of course that doesn't apply to ARM-based Windows RT tablets.

You get the modern apps from the new Windows Store—Microsoft's equivalent of the iTunes App Store—which automates installation and updating, and gives both users and developers a central place to discover new and needed software. The Windows Store still has a ways to go to catch up with the more than half a million iPad apps available in Apple's iTunes App store. But according to the excellent site MetroStore Scanner there are currently over 175,000 Windows modern apps, surely more than most people will ever need.

You can either navigate our list via the 40 Best Windows 8 Apps slideshow above or page through this article to view five at a time. We've linked the app names to their Windows Store descriptions and download page. Don't hesitate to leave comments below if you want to chime in about our selections or call out a great app we've overlooked. And don't forget to check out the link below for even more Windows 8.1 coverage.

Check out our complete Windows 8 coverage.

Continue Reading: Adobe Photoshop Express - Bejewelled Live

Adobe Photoshop Express - Bejewelled Live

Adobe Photoshop Express



Free

Of course, you can run the big Kahuna, Photoshop CC itself on a Windows 8 PC (though not on an ARM-based RT tablet), but for quick fixes and image enhancements, this free app will do in a pinch. A clear intro slideshow shows you how this app syncs with Adobe's Revel cloud photo service (now built into most of the company's other apps), as well as about the app's 15 Instagram-style filters and auto brightness and color corrections. For more control over adjustments, you can use iPhoto-like sliders to tweak image tonalities. If the 15 included filters don't do it for you, you can purchase 20 more for the low price of $2.99; some of these are very cool, such as Dream, Orton, and Superpunch. Once you've got an image looking supercool, you can not only upload it to Revel, but also share on Facebook.

Allrecipes



Free

Even if you're not going to win American Chef Idol, or whatever the latest cooking game reality show is called, Allrecipe can be an invaluable friend in the kitchen. It gives you ideas for proven successful recipes, or lets you choose what to cook based on what ingredients you have on hand. You get step-by-step instructions, along with nutrition information. The companion Allrecipes Video cookbook app could be an even better fit for those who need more handholding or for trickier techniques.

Angry Birds Star Wars



$4.99

The latest version of Rovio's breakout hit Angry Birds series is available on pretty much every mobile platform, and it's sure to please fans of the feathered pig-smashers. During the game, you'll head out on an intergalactic journey across the deserts of Tatooine all the way to the depths of the Pig Star. Along the way, you'll use the Force, and wield a Lightsaber in your quest to blast away the Pigtroopers and take down the evil Darth Vader, "Dark Lord of the Pigs." This one is sure to tickle Star Wars fans as well as inveterate Angry Bird players. If you're not all caught up on the series, you can also get Angry Birds Space.

Audible



Free

Audible is a godsend for those of us weary-eyed folk who spend all day staring at a computer monitor. When I get home, I love to read, but being read to instead helps save the old orbs. This book-reading app from Amazon.com is simplicity itself. After signing in, you can browse the extensive catalog of audiobooks—from Tina Fey's hilarious bestseller Bossypants to classics such as the works of Dickens and Twain. You can preview a healthy selection of titles for free, too. There are a couple drawbacks, though: The app doesn't uses the standard Windows 8 Search Charm, and you only get three categories on the main page to browse, and to search, you need to open the sidebar, which is really just a collapsed webpage.

Bejewelled Live



$4.99. 10 levels Free

One of the most addictive and enjoyable time-killers on record now comes to Windows 8. A free trial gives you 10 levels to play with. The "Live" means its equivalent to the Xbox Live version, which is basically Bejeweled 3. The free version entitles you to play only the Classic mode, while the purchased version lets you engage in Butterflies and Diamond Mine modes, too, and lets you accumulate Acheivements.

Continue Reading: Box - Despicable Me: Minion Rush

Box - Despicable Me: Minion Rush

Box



Free

Also the productivity veering on business vein, Box (formerly box.net) is an increasingly popular tool for collaboration on work files. It integrates with Salesforce.com and Google Docs, and lets users share online "workspaces." It also lets users assign tasks, post comments, and can notify you when a document involving you has been edited or commented on. With Box, anyone can get 5GB of free online synced storage, and apps are available for all the major mobile and desktop OSes.

CameraStudio+



$2.99

For many of the more tradition photo adjustments—brightness, contrast, white balance, along with artistic filters—look to CameraStudio+, from Moobila. It's surprisingly rich for a $2.99 app, with cropping, resizing, red-eye correction, as well as frames and overlays. Once you're done perfecting and enhancing your photo, you can save it as a JPG or PNG to the folder of your choice or up to the SkyDrive cloud. It's really all you need to improve the photos you snap on your Windows 8 tablet.

comiXology Comics



Free

Comixology is the de facto comic app, with over 40,000 comics and graphic novels from publishers such as Marvel, DC, Dynamite Entertainment, and more. The app starts you out in its featured new releases section, and there are quick links to categories like collection, kids, free, top rated. You can see books that release the same day as print, and digital firsts. You will need to register for an account (which requires credit card info) if you don't already have one, and most hot books cost $3.99 or $2.99, while extended graphic novels can cost up to $19.99. The comics looked beautiful on my Surface Pro, and the Guided View, which lets the story unfold as you tap, has a definite leg up on traditional paper comics.

Craigslist Classifieds



Free

Usually I don't like apps for which there's a perfectly good website, but there are good reasons to use an app for your Craigslist quests. Apps like Craigslist Classifieds let you see multiple results' images on a single page in large thumbnails arranged in a grid. Swipe through the grid and tap on a result to see details including a map of the seller's location. A split view lets you browse through results with this detail view on the side. You can heart postings and even add your own notes. You can set up Search Agents to find listings based on previous searches. And unlike some other Windows 8 Craigslist apps, Qwilo lets you actually post your own ads.

Despicable Me: Minion Rush



Free

Who doesn't want to become the Minion of the Year? The very fun and amusing Windows 8.1 runner game adaptation of the animated hit Despicable Me has you using bananas to purchase perk prize pods. You do this while running through Vector's Fortress in your Frankenstein costume or one of many other getups. One downside is that the game took a few minutes to load the first time around. But once you're up and running (literally), you can enjoy the rich 3D scenery while jumping up to grab all those bananas while passing your minion competition.

Continue Reading: Dropbox - Flixster

Dropbox - Flixster

Dropbox



Free

Everybody's favorite cloud syncing and storage service (well, at least everybody who hasn't discovered OneDrive) is now available via a Windows 8.1 modern app. Dropbox is a perennial PCMag Editor's Choice. The Windows 8.1 Dropbox app uses a very simple folder view interface and lets you upload files, view photos, edit documents, and play videos. It integrates with Windows 8.1 so that it appears as a sharing target in other apps in which you edit files. It also makes good use of the Charms menu to search files in your cloud storage, and you can share a link to any of your files.

ESPN



Free

With the Super Bowl just behind us, you many wonder why we include a sports app. In fact, you could get by with the included Bing Sports app, which is surprisingly good. But this one comes from the ultimate authority on high-paid play. Sports-related news pieces, scores, videos, photos, and podcasts are at your fingertips with the ESPN Windows 8 app. As with the built-in Sports app, ESPN lets you pin your favorite teams to the Start menu, where you'll see scores and headlines for your clubs. This one is really everything you need to get your fandom on.

Facebook



Free

You can always get some Facebook functionality in Windows 8's built-in People app, but this official Facebook app offers a much better experience of the social network of record. Quite a few other Facebook apps are available in the Windows Store, but Facebook offers a well-designed snap sidebar view. Easily navigate your news feed, photos, friends, messages, notifications, and events. Its Start menu tile shows your important contacts' latest updates and lock screen notifications let you know when fresh messages, wall posts, and other interactions arrive.

Flipboard



Free

Flipboard has to be one of the most beloved tablet apps of all time: As its name implies, in it you simply flip through the pages of a personalized custom magazine the app creates for you based on interests you specify. Flipboard draws its content from top news and information sources such as the BBC, National Geographic, Time, the New York Times, and many more. The modern-style Windows 8.1 version lets you save stories, search, and share to social networks. Its home screen tile displays a thumbnail photo and summary text of top stories waiting for you.

Flixster



Free

When you're fetching around for a movie to watch—one that you actually might enjoy—there's no better solution than Flixster. The Windows 8 app from this cinematic informer is well-designed, letting you view playing and upcoming flicks and DVDs by current box office hits, local theater showings. One of the best things about the app is that it uses the very reliable Rotten Tomatoes ratings, which are a pretty good indication of whether the film is a dud or a dream. Each movie's page also shows the synopsis, cast, journalist reviews, and trailer playing. One downside was that tickets for most movies can't be purchased through the app. Another is the lack of Ultraviolet integration.

Continue Reading: Flow Free - IM+

Flow Free - IM+

Flow Free



Free

If you're a city dweller, you've likely seen people playing this game of connecting colored dots with meandering lines. There's a reason: Flow Free presents a rewarding puzzle in increasingly challenging patterns. Once you've exhausted all the levels in the free version, you can unlock all extra packs for $4.99 or individual packs for $1.99 and $2.49. This will also remove the ads that appear along the bottom of the game board.

Fresh Paint



Free

If you're running Windows 8 on a touch tablet, there's no better demonstration of the cool types of things you can do with multitouch. Five simultaneous fingers are supported, and you can actually mix new colors on a virtual palette. If you'd rather not start with a blank canvas, "packs" of line drawings and cartoons can get you started. The Fun Pack is free, but the more artistic Variety Pack is a $1.49 in-app purchase, and the Adventure Pack, with its 24 character sketches and Friends Pack of mostly pets cost $1.99 each.



Of course, you can just start finger or mouse painting on a blank page or a photo of your own, with a good variety of brush and pencil tips. You also choose among a dozen canvas and paper textures. Once you're done, you can export your masterpiece to a PNG file, or even use the Share charm to send it to any apps that can share to email, social networks, and more. This is a surprisingly polished app, but it's one that's been around since the early days of Windows 8 prereleases. What's most impressive is that the paint is just so real looking.

Halo: Spartan Assault



$6.99

Halo has long been one of the legends of first-person shooter video games, and PCMag's Samara Lynn thought well enough of this sequal to award it a 4 out of 5 rating. You don't need to have ever played the game's previous versions to enjoy this one: Its gorgeous graphics and fun, touch-based gameplay will draw you in. The music is quite impressive, too, not the typical low-budget canned electro stuff. You do have to buy credits if you want certain weapons and armament upgrades. Weekly and mission-specific challenges keep the game fresh, but it can be tricky to master the shooting and moving gestures.

Hulu Plus



Free

Keeping for a moment with our television theme, for serious couch potatoes who want to keep up with the latest TV shows, or maybe just for active folks who want entertainment on their own schedules, the Hulu Plus app does the trick. It's as well designed as the Netflix app, but it offers more up-to-date television content. Hulu also throws in a decent selection of full-length feature films, if you're a subscriber. You get everything you expect from the service, the ability to view your queue, personalized recommendations, and all the popular genres and trending shows.

IM+



Free

If you do instant messaging, IM+, from Shape GmbH, has you covered on your Windows tablet. It supports all the major messaging platforms, including AIM, Facebook Messaging, Hangouts, Yahoo, Jabber, ICQ, and international favorites like Yandex and Vkontakte, and Gadu-Gadu. The app runs in the background, displaying "toast" notifications when messages arrive, and neatly organizes your contacts, chats and services in a very touch-friendly interface. The $4.99 Pro edition removes ads, saves your chat history, and offers a customizable Push timeout.

Continue Reading: Khan Academy - NFL on Windows 8

Khan Academy - NFL on Windows 8

Khan Academy



Free

Khan Academy is an education in a tablet—not a pill: I'm talking about your Windows 8 tablet. The organization behind this app has as its goal to offer "a free world-class education for anyone anywhere". You can also watch the thousands of course videos on a desktop PC, covering Math, Science, Economics and Finance, and Humanities. Each of these general topics is broken down into several sub-topics to get you to your specific area of interest or need, with several videos available below yet another, more specific level of topics. For example, you could learn from 12 videos about Chemical reactions. You can download videos to your local device. Literature content seemed lacking, but there are other special talks and interviews in addition to the course work.

Kindle



In truth, I'm a Nook user, but I know there are plenty of Kindle users out there who would feel highly put out by a platform with no app for reading their chosen ebook flavor. Kindle for Windows 8 shows large color thumbnails of your book covers in Library view in Cloud and Device sections, the latter for titles you've already downloaded. True to Kindle form, the app supports WhisperSync so that the current page your reading shows up on any device. You can change font size, background colors, and column number, and you can highlight, bookmark, and write notes. Double-clicking a word brings up its Dictionary.com definition. Thankfully, Amazon has added the ability to buy new books from within the app, but not periodicals.

Music Maker Jam



Free

This musical app from Magix lets you craft tracks by adding loops for drums, bass, brass, pads, synths, and even vocals. You enable and disable instruments and cycle through varying options for each: For example, your synth can have the organ, filler, brute reverb, be choit, unreal, or royal synth sounds. You can raise and lower the volume, and change keys in loops. A very cool Effects graph lets you apply distortions to your whole combo, in heavy and soft, high and low directions. You can record your workOne downside is that it doesn't play while running in the background.

Netflix



Free (requires subscription)

If you're one of Netflix's 30-plus million subscribers, you'll be happy to know that Windows 8 and RT allow you to get your movie and TV show fix. The app's home page show the 10 ten for you, New Releases, and Genres options, and you can scroll through thumbnail piles of your Instant Queue, Top 10, Popular on Netflix, New Releases, Recently Added, and any of the genres you've shown a predilection for. Clicking on a thumbnail brings up the movie page, which is informative and interactive, letting you rate, play, and see who starred in it. While playing a movie, you can use the app bar to pause, scrub, change volume, or disable/enable subtitles if available.

NFL on Windows 8



Free

As soon as I installed NFL on my Surface Pro 3, the app started spewing video of three bros going over the weekend's gridiron wars. The app is polished and well stocked with features football lovers will appreciate. Maybe it's not a coincidence that this app is so solid and that Microsoft supplied the NFL with Surface 3s. Anyway, not only can you watch analysis and game highlight from your favorite teams, but you can work on your Fantasy team and sign into your cable account to access RedZone and NFL Network.

Continue Reading: Nook - Skype

Nook - Skype

Nook



Microsoft's investment in Nook has finally paid off in the form of a Windows 8 app. As I mentioned above, I prefer Nook to Amazon's ereader ecosystem, and the Windows 8 store ratings give Barnes & Nobles a slight edge when it comes to Windows 8 apps. The interface is extremely well designed, intuitive, and capable. All the font and navigation options you get on the nook device itself are here. And unlike the Kindle app, in addition to the over 3 million nook books (a million of them free) you can browse and buy new magazine and newspaper issues as well as books right from within the app.

OneNote



I was originally planning to include Evernote here, but while that service's Windows 8 app does let you view, tag, search, and add notes, it's pretty primitive compared with the OneNote Windows 8 app. Unlike the rest of Microsoft Office , OneNote is not a desktop application, but instead offers apps for iOS, Android, Mac, and PC, and Windows Phone, so you're covered when it comes to devices. An insertion wheel lets you add a table, tag, photo, list, or paste to your note. I use this app to take notes at all my vendor meetings, and since I log into the same Microsoft account as on my Windows 8 machine, all my notes were available. I could even play my recording of the meetings, but playback wasn't linked to text as it is in the desktop version.

Plex



$4.99

Plex lets you stream any of your digital media—music, video, photo—from free Plex Media Server software running on your home computer (Windows, Mac, or Linux) or NAS to any of a multitude of device platforms. There are Plex clients for all manner of Apple, Windows, and Android devices as well as for TVs (including some Samsung, Vizio, and LG models) and set-top boxes like Roku and Xbox. Several TV brands also include Plex support. Plex displays album art, lets you queue up playlists, keeps track of what you play so you can move between devices, and offers both cloud and offline streaming.

Ruzzle



$3.49 (with free trial)

A fast-moving word game, Ruzzle has you swipe across, up, down, and diagonally to create as many words as you can in a set amount of time. You can compete against Facebook friends or Twitter followers, or just random folk across the Internet. The game keeps track of your achievements, like word length, accuracy, and ranking. One cool feature is that you can use a split screen mode to play across a table with someone in the room.

Skype



Free

This one is a no brainer. If you want to visit with Grandma without crossing state or national lines, there's no better choice of app and service. When you first run Skype, it will ask permission to use your webcam and to run in the background. It's full-screen view of your video-call partner and good use of the Windows 8 touch interface and notifications are a great start, but you don't get some Skype for desktop features like multi-party calling and screen sharing. With Windows 8.1 comes a great new capability: you can answer calls from notifications on the lock screen without having to log in to the PC.

Continue Reading: Torrex Lite - Vevo

Torrex Lite - Vevo

Torrex Lite



Free (Pro version: $7.99)

Here's something you won't find in the iPad app store: A BitTorrent client! As we often state, PCMag does not condone the downloading of pirated content, but we're also aware that there are legitimate file-sharing uses for the peer-to-peer protocol. There are Windows 8.1 apps like uTorrent and BitTorrent that perform ancillary BitTorrent functions, but Torrex Lite actually lets you upload and download using magnet links; the Torrex Surface Edition version ($7.99) adds background downloading and can stream content as it downloads.

TuneIn Radio



Free

Another app we loved on iOS arrives for Windows 8. Use it to play any Web-streamed radio broadcast on earth. It can find local radio station, has a sleep timer, and can keep playing in the background while you do other things with your PC. Stream categories include local radio, music, sports, news, and talk. And you can search by other locations or find and play podcasts. I only wish the app let me choose a bit rate for stations that offered several, like those from SomaFM, but it shares that limitation with its iOS version. The latter still has a bunch more features, such as the ability to record and favorite what you're listening to.

Twitter



Free

No tablet platform is complete without a Twitter app. Windows 8's included People app does show you Twitter (and Facebook updates), but it's not as useful as Twitter's own app for other platforms like the iPad. Twitter fans now can take advantage of a native app on Windows 8, and it's a good one, even offering capabilities not found on other platforms. For example, you can tweet through it from any other app via the Share charm. It also shows a "collage" of tweets or of photos from tweets. And you can pin it to the side of your screen to see your live Twitter updates.

USA Today



Free

Of course you could just browse news sites on your Windows 8 PC's web browser, and there are apps for many leading large papers, but USAToday stands out for having created a well-designed, reasonably rich, touch-friendly news app. You scroll through sections for News, Sports, Life, Money, Tech, and Travel, each with buttons to call up relevant photos, videos, and "snapshots" or infographics. For Sports and Money, sections are added for scores and markets. Your local temperature and weather icon appear at top right, and clicking this opens a map and ten day or hourly temperature and precipitation forecasts.

Vevo



Free

The Windows 8 Vevo app plays top-charted music videos for free on you Windows 8 PC or tablet. If you can't decide what to watch or listen to, you can start playing the VevoTV Live video broadcast. Organized somewhat like iTunes or Windows 8's own app store, you can swipe through categories for Featured, Premieres, Top Videos, Top Artists, and Shows. The videos start quickly, playing in glorious full screen, but you'll see a pre-roll ad occasionally. Still missing are search, personalized suggestions, and song sharing via social networks.

Continue Reading: Viber - YouCam Mobile

Viber - YouCam Mobile

Viber



Free

Viber is a hot app among its converts, though I find Skype a fuller offering—with video calling and inbound number capabilities. Viber also requires you to give it your real phone number. But it does a couple cool things, like letting you move calls from your phone to your PC. Call quality is excellent, and it lets you share photos, videos, and location. It makes good use of Windows' Live Tile and lock-screen notification features.

Vyclone



Free

There's no Vine for Windows 8 yet, but Vyclone offers a similar social video experience—without the 6-second limit! Vyclone is already available on iPhone and Android, so you don't have to worry about a lack of content and potential contacts. As with all these social apps, you can follow, heart, and comment on videos submitted to the service. You can also watch nearby footage, but where Vyclone really shines is when you have multiple people shooting the same event: The service edits the disparate angles together.

Where's My Perry



$1.49

Back in the realm of amusement, Where's My Perry, from Disney Studios, is very fun indeed. It's great use of touch input to manipulate a sewery world of water puzzles from which your goal is to extract the cute top hat-donning platypus from Phineas and Ferb. Just beware of evil villain Dr. Doofenshmirtz's lasers, and collect as many gnomes as you can along the way.

The Weather Channel



Free

Just as with the iPhone and iPad's, Windows 8's built-in Weather app is not bad—but why not get your sun and rain report straight from the source? The Weather Channel's app lets you see conditions hour by hour or over the next 10 days. You also get maps and videos, as well as warning messages for severe weather conditions. Add to that wind speed, humidity, sunrise and set times, visibility, atomospheric pressure, and UV index—you can see, it's the full package. You can even watch a 60-second video report for your area.

YouCam Mobile



$9.99

CyberLink's video editing software has long garnered top ratings here at PCMag, and now the company has brought some of its expertise over to Windows 8. YouCam lets you manipulate both photos and video even while you're still shooting. You can crop, tag faces, frame, draw on , and stamp photos with stock art like flowers and kissy lips. On top of its photo features, YouCam lets you trim video, and then upload it to YouTube or Facebook.

Check out our complete Windows 8 coverage.

Further Reading