Today is the deadline for Windows 8.1 users to update to Windows 8.1 Update 1 if they want to continue to receive security patches and other fixes from Microsoft. Initially the deadline was on May 13 but based on 'user feedback' the company decided to postpone to today, June 10th 2014.
The deadline is only for home users, business users should update to Windows 8.1 Update 1 before August 12 or they will no longer receive updates for their OS. This also affects Windows Server 2012 R2 of which Microsoft previously also extended the deadline after concerns that users didn't have enough to to apply the update.
Today is also one of Microsoft's regular patch Tuesday which means that Windows 8.1 users who haven't installed the update automatically receive the update together with the other patches Microsoft released today, unless they remove it from the list.
Users who are on still on Windows 8 and not Windows 8.1, are not subject to the requirement to move to Windows 8.1 Update by today. For these users Microsoft has set January 2016 as the end support date for Windows 8 users who haven't moved to 8.1. Those running Windows 8 who are interested in moving to Windows 8.1 Update do not need to move to Windows 8.1 first, as these updates are cumulative.
The update brings resizing of tiles, a power and search icon on the Metro screen and newly installed applications are highlighted. More features include running and pinning Metro applications on the taskbar in the desktop and the system will boot to the desktop if no touch device is detected.
