Microsoft Corp. demoed its Windows Store for Windows 8 applications last Wednesday at a press event in San Francisco. Besides offering a sneak peek at the Windows Store, Microsoft also revealed that the app store is expected to launch in February next year along with the next generation Windows 8. One other piece of information that was released was Microsoft's ability to throw a "kill switch" to disable or even remove an app from users' Windows 8 devices.

Kill switches are fairly common in mobile app stores. Apple and Google exercise the same right in their respective iOS App Store and Android Market. Microsoft explained how the company cut off access to apps in the Windows Store terms of use.

"In cases where your security is at risk, or where we're required to do so for legal reasons, you may not be able to run apps or access content that you previously acquired or purchased a license for," said Microsoft in the Windows Store terms.

Microsoft can refund the purchase price when it removes an app from the users' Windows 8 device. The company can also remove the data created by the app from the device.

"If the Windows Store, an app, or any content is changed or discontinued, your data could be deleted or you may not be able to retrieve data you have stored," Microsoft said.

Apple has yet to remove apps from iOS devices. The Cupertino based company have pulled apps from its Apple App Store but hasn't touched the app in users' devices. Google on the other hand, has used the kill switch to remove apps from Android smartphones when they contained malware. In March this year Google had to use the kill switch to remove 50 infected apps from the Android Market and on users' devices.

The Windows app certification requirements forbids developers from including, linking or using the Windows Push Notification Service or any other software that may access the customer's Windows system.