Apps continue to use processing power even when closed?

[Feoen]

Hi everyone. I got my SP3 two days ago, and I must say that I LOVE it. Such a beautiful screen, great pen, and snappy performance.

Though, I've been a bit dismayed by the reports that it isn't as powerful as the previous SP2 (SP3 is my first Windows tablet) and I tried running some games today like Minecraft and Terraria. Sure enough, these games ran at a choppy 15 fps at the SP3's native resolution. Even lowering the resolution didn't seem to help fps much. My temps were around 60.

The fan had kicked in during the games, understandably so. I had it plugged in and charging, and I had quit the games and just had it on but not doing anything. I had no apps open (though I had been using it all day and had used multiple apps during the day). The unit was warmish.

Then something very odd happened. As I was working on my desktop PC, I heard the SP3's fan get really REALLY loud after like 30 minutes passed by. I checked the temps and it was at 70 degrees! Touching the metal was extremely hot, and I was really worried because I had nothing open.

So I opened Task Manager and lo and behold, every app I had opened during the day was somehow still running... And for some reason, the "Reader" app was actively using 70% of my CPU?! I right clicked and pressed "Switch To" and it switched to a document I had opened from an email early this afternoon... But I had closed that app earlier in the day.

Can anyone please explain what happened here? This is my first time using Windows 8.1 on a portable device, so I am generally used to desktop performance. Do Metro apps always stay open in terms of processes in Task Manager, even once I've "dragged" them to the bottom of the screen to "close" them?

 

[daniielrp]

Dragging them to the bottom doesn't close them, it merely "freezes" them. They'll still be saved in memory, but shouldn't be using any noticeable amount of processing power unless something is amiss with the app. To fully close an app, drag it to the bottom, the hold it there for 3-5 seconds until it flips over - this should mean it is fully closed.

 

[Feoen]

Dragging them to the bottom doesn't close them, it merely "freezes" them. They'll still be saved in memory, but shouldn't be using any noticeable amount of processing power unless something is amiss with the app. To fully close an app, drag it to the bottom, the hold it there for 3-5 seconds until it flips over - this should mean it is fully closed.

Wow, I never ever knew this. This is incredibly helpful, so thank you very much!

 

[CrippsCorner]

Yup and you can also just flick it back up after it's flipped over; you don't need to completely shut it then tap on it again. I use this all the time when my TV apps unfortunately crash!

 

[jnjroach]

This is the default behavior of WinRT Apps, one thing to remember is that they do give up their resources within a few minutes and enter a suspend state only uses enough resources to quickly launch.

 

[Seneleron]

Another thing to keep in mind, I've seen windows indexing service and windows automatic update cause similar temp/performance spikes on more than few machines. It doesn't sound like this is related in YOUR Case, but it doesn't hurt to mention in the event someone comes looking to diagnose similar problems.

 

[darkyduck]

This 'feature' annoys the crap out of me, if I want to clos an app, I want to close an app. If I want an "intelligent" OS that thinks for me (and decides I don't really want to close this app) I would have stuck with IOS.

Anyway, there's a way to shrink this delay, so apps will effectively close immediately without the delay.

=> http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-reduce-distance-to-drag-close-metro-apps-and-speed-up-closing-in-windows-8-1/

 

[Liam2349]

Personally I would also prefer it if dragging down closed the app - If I wanted it open, and I leave stuff open most of the time anyway, I would just hit start to continue my business.