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Microsoft explains how it's getting rid of fake Windows Store apps

You may have heard that the Windows Store has a serious problem with counterfeit apps; for every legitimate title, there's seemingly a horde of fakes meant solely to take your money and run. At last, though, Microsoft has detailed what it's doing to cull these scams from its shop. To begin with, it recently toughened up the requirements so that app categories, icons and names reflect what you're really getting; hopefully, you'll see less junk going forward. The folks in Redmond are also scouring the existing catalog, and have pulled 1,500 apps so far. There's still a long way to go (search for "iTunes" and you'll see plenty of copyright abuse), but this represents a good start.

For some, the biggest solution may be what Microsoft isn't doing -- namely, paying developers for every app they publish. A promotion the company ran last year gave $100 per finished app no matter how much work was involved, which actually punished those who took the time to write top-notch software. The strategy suggested to some that Microsoft was obsessed with catching up to the quantities of apps in Apple's App Store or Google Play, quality be damned. Both the crackdown and the end to those pay-per-app promos should go a long way toward changing this reputation, but it will only be successful when you can safely assume that most Windows Store apps are the real deal.