Windows 8.1 Start Screen Live Tiles Display X

Q: Why are live tiles on my Windows 8.1 Start Screen displaying a black "x" or cross in a white circle in the bottom right of the tile?

A: Windows 8.1 allows the Start Screen to be synchronized between different machines. As part of this synchronization, "Modern" applications that aren't installed on a machine are automatically installed.

Many readers have sent me pictures of their Start Screen, which shows an X on the bottom corner of certain tiles (see screen shot below)--and they wonder what it means.

The X on the live tile represents a licensing issue for the machine or possibly a problem with the Windows Store connection. To resolve, try the following:

If this doesn't work, try reinstalling the applications that are displaying the X.