Windows 8 comes with Windows App Store which is similar to the Apple App Store for iPhone. You can download free apps or buy commercial apps from the Windows store and install them right away. But after having used some apps, you may want to remove them. Windows provides a way to remove the apps from the Start Screen, but if you want to uninstall Windows 8 Apps from the desktop then you can use the free Windows App Boss.
Although Windows App Boss was designed for the Windows app developers, but everyone can use it to look at all the installed apps and remove the ones that you do not use or like. You can download Windows App Boss from its CodePlex webpage. The download is a mere 500 kilobytes of compiled bianry file which can be run without installing. The program is designed using .NET 4 framework which is already present in Windows 8.
The Windows App Boss window shows a list of all the apps installed on your PC including the ones that come pre-installed with Windows like Bing Travel, Microsoft Reader, Microsoft Zune Video, Microsoft Bing Sports etc. The list shows the name of the apps, their versions, the name of the publisher and their family string. If you want to remove an app from Windows, just select it from the list and then click on the Uninstall button and follow the onscreen directions.
In addition to the app removal function, Windows App Boss also allows you to launch an app from the desktop. To launch an app, select it from the list and then click on the Launch button. This would switch you to the app after launching it.
Some of the features in Windows App Boss do not work at all or do not work as expected. This is because it is still under development. But, all the same, you can use it to remove the installed Windows 8 apps right from your desktop.
You can download Windows App Boss from http://windowsappboss.codeplex.com/.