Microsoft slips sync changes into OneDrive on Windows 8.1

Not every Patch Tuesday update is security-related. In today's blast of updates for Windows 8.1 (including Windows RT 8.1), Microsoft has slipped in some welcome improvements to the built-in OneDrive sync client.

If you don't see them right away, that's because the updates are embedded in an optional update that isn't installed automatically. On my 64-bit Windows 8,1 installation, the necessary update is prosaically labeled "Update for Windows 8.1 for x64-based Systems (KB2962409)" and is not selected by default.

If you follow the links, you get just a tiny bit of extra information from the associated Knowledge Base article, "Windows RT 8.1, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 update rollup: June 2014." It includes a long list of 27 compatibility fixes, many of them extremely esoteric.

About two-thirds of the way down the list is a link to one of the individual fixes included in the rollup: KB2965174, titled "OneDrive improvement update for Windows RT 8.1 and Windows 8.1: June 2014," adds some features to the desktop sync client for OneDrive, which is installed automatically as part of Windows 8.1. (In Windows 8 and Windows 7 the sync utility required a separate download).

The biggest change is the ability to pause syncing from the icon in the Windows 8.1 notification area (aka system tray). Before installing today's update, this is what you see if you right-click the OneDrive tray icon:

Read more at: Microsoft slips sync changes into OneDrive on Windows 8.1 | ZDNet
 
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