4 reasons you should use the Microsoft Store to install your apps and games

Every Windows PC comes with the Microsoft Store preinstalled as a way to get apps for your computer. It’s similar to the Google Play Store on Android or the App Store on iOS, but for Windows users, the concept of an app store is still a bit foreign, since we’re all used to just opening our browsers to search for apps.

That begs the question: why should you use the Microsoft Store? Well, there are a few good reasons why it may be a good idea to use the Microsoft Store for your app downloads, so let’s take a look at them.

4 All your apps and games in one place

It makes things simpler

First and foremost, the big delling point of any app store is the centralization and how easily you can find any app you want. Sure, you can use your browser to download apps, but that means going to multiple different websites and sometimes running the risk of landing on something less than safe.

The Microsoft Store is great because it brings all your apps under the same umbrella, so you can easily find anything you need in a location that, for the most part, is trustworthy in terms of security. Even better, because the Microsoft Store is also the Xbox store, you can also find a lot of games here, no need to download a platform like Steam or Ubisoft Connect. And all your purchases are saved and synced, too, and you can install paid apps on up to 10 devices at the same time.

Admittedly, the Microsoft Store’s catalog isn’t as big as it could be, but you can definitely get by with all the apps available on there, and things have gotten much better since Windows 11 released.

3 Automatic updates

No need to waste time on it

The Microsoft Store is also great because it automatically handles updates for your apps and games, at least as long as they’re hosted on Microsoft’s servers. Apps that are hosted directly on the Microsoft Store use the built-in update system, so your apps are always kept up to date without you having to think about it, and that also goes for Xbox games.

Some apps on the Microsoft Store may be hosted externally, and updates for those apps are managed by the app provider, so the experience may vary a bit. However, most apps on the Microsoft Store will have automatic updates anyway.

2 It integrates with the Windows Package Manager

Prefer the command line? No worries

There’s a subset of users out there who prefer doing things in the command line, and for those users, the Microsoft Store also has a nice benefit: it iontegrates with the Windows Package Manager. Out of the box, you can use the winget command to install apps not just from the dedicated repository, but also from the Microsoft Store.

That means you can combine the speed of installing apps with quick commands with the convenience of having your download history linked to your Microsoft account and synced across devices. You can even back up a list of your isntalled apps and install them all on a new PC in one go using Winget, it makes setting up a new computer so much easier.

Related

6 package managers for Windows that can make it easier to install apps

Package managers make your life much easier

There are other package managers for Windows, but the unique integration with the Microsoft Store is also why Winget is my personal favorite package manager of the bunche

1 It’s safer

A place you can trust

Arguably the biggest benefit of the Microsoft Store is the security compared to going online with your browser and trying to download apps yourself. The Microsoft Store is, for the most part, a curated storefront, so most of the apps that appear on there have been vetted by Microsoft, meaning you are extremely unlikely to get any apps that have viruses or other threats to your online security. You can count on Microsoft Store apps to at the very least be safe, so there’s much less of a risk going on there.

With Windows 11, this has changed a little bit because now apps can be listed on the Microsoft Store but hosted outside of it, meaning Microsoft doesn’t vet the packages you download. However, Microsoft does make it very apparent who is distributing a specific app, and you can see what other apps are distributed by that publisher. That means if you see an app that claims to be Photoshop, you can easily see if the publisher is Adobe, and decide if it’s safe to install that app. It’s not as good as having apps vetted by Microsoft, but there’s still a good degree of transparency to make sure that you only install the apps you trust, which is very important.

The Microsoft Store is a good platform

I know that using the Microsoft Store is not something everyone is predisposed to do, but as I’ve outlined above, there are some serious benefits to using the Microsoft Store, so it’s worth checking out. A lot more apps are on there than you may remember from the Windows 10 days, and the more people use it, the more likely it is that other apps will show up, so it’s a virtuous circle.

Personally, I use the WIndows Package Manager to install my apps, but whenever I can, I use the Microsoft Store as the source for installing those apps, because I know they’ll generally be kept up to date without me having to think about it.