Which apps? Drag down from top to bottom of screen closes most apps instantly.
That is no longer true in 8.1.
Yup I'm the kinda guy that shuts down all the apps at the end of the night... this has gone from taking a few seconds to nearly a minute. It's a silly, backwards step.
I just tried this. You're wrong. I see what you mean about the flipping round thing but if you just drag top to bottom they are not retrievable from the left hand side gesture, both ways kills them. If you exit an 'app' by simply pressing the windows button then the app still runs. Am I wrong?