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Finally, Microsoft brings back the Start button in Windows 8.1

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By Noel Young, Correspondent

May 30, 2013 | 2 min read

Microsoft is bringing back the much-missed Windows " start" button – not that it actually says" start". The Windows 8.1 update will have a button in the bottom left hand corner of the screen, with a Windows logo, that does what the "start"button did in previous versions of Windows.

Microsoft: Aiming to do better.

The omission of the start button was one of the things old customers disliked most about the new system. Its return is one of a number of improvements aimed at mollifying disgruntled PC customers .

Microsoft holds to re-energize sales of Windows which did not make the splash that the company had hoped when it was launched last October.

The plan is now to update Windows periodically rather than waiting three years or so between big releases.

Microsoft has sold 100 million Windows licenses since the launch, comparable to what Windows 7 sold three years ago. However, sales of traditional PCs are expected to fall almost 8% this year, while Microsoft's heavily promoted Surface has grabbed less than 2% of the market. Until now Microsoft has "not made its mark in the exploding tablet market," says a Reuter report.

Touchscreen users actually liked the new tile-based interface but many former users complained that the new design was confusing.

The new Windows , currently known as Blue, will be available for free to all Windows 8 users later this year. A test version will be available at Microsoft's annual developer conference on June 26.

Windows 8.1 also has a vastly improved "search" function, and

includes Microsoft's latest browser, Internet Explorer 11

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