New UI behaviour in Windows 8, can it be changed?

Question

Hello,
We are trialing Windows 8.1 in our work environment and of course my PC was the first one to get upgraded. =) I am having some... "discomfort" using Windows 8.1 and I wanted to see if any of the things I am having trouble with are settings or if
I am just stuck with it.
#1 WindowsKey + typing a command = 'search the internet for the command'
In Windows 7, if you hit the windows key and type telnet <ip address> and press enter a telnet box would appear immediately. In Windows 8.1 a search box pops up and asks you if you want to run the command telnet <ip address> or look at a bunch
of wacky articles about telnet on the internet.
#2 if you have an application open already and you try to launch a new instance of the same application from the 'Start' screen all that happens is the focus changes to the currently running application. For example, hit windowskey and type cmd and press
enter, a command prompt box appears. Do the same exact thing again and all it does is refocus on the existing command prompt. The same is true of remote desktop connections and I assume every other application.
Does anyone know if these behaviours can be changed? They are fairly inefficient productivity killers for people who do a lot of multi-instance stuff.

Answer 1

Hi!
To your first "problem", there is no solution that I know of, I haven't actually thought about it myself until you mentioned it now.
But the second one can easily be solved. This was one of the first things I changed on my computers.
Open up regedit and go to HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ImmersiveShell\Launcher
Then create a new DWORD called DesktopAppsAllwaysLaunchNewInstance and give it a vaue of
1
Best regards
Andreas Molin
Andreas Molin | Site: www.guidestomicrosoft.com | Twitter: andreas_molin
Hi,
There does not appear to be a 'launcher' folder under 'ImmersiveShell'
I'm glad I am not the only one who found these changes terribly offputting.