Screenshots of the upcoming update, Windows Blue, has leaked on the Internet showing off some cool new features and improvements to the overall operating system, especially the Metro aspect of the user interface.

The first thing you might notice is the ability to change the size of Tiles to small on the Windows 8 start screen, not just medium and large. The smaller Tiles first made an appearance in Windows Phone 8, and should work wonderfully on big screen monitors and on tablets when space gets a little cramped.

Microsoft also appears to be bringing all the control panel features to the Metro section of PC Settings. This is more than welcoming, as too many times users were forced to remove themselves from the new UI just to access certain basic things in the Control Panel that should have been baked into PC Settings from the beginning.

Currently, the Snap feature in Windows 8 doesn't work that well, so imagine our excitement when we learned that apps can snap side by side, each taking up 50 percent of the screen real estate. It would have been better if more apps could snap together, to take advantage of bigger PC monitors. Hopefully Microsoft takes a keen look into this, because it would look so weird to have a 30-inch monitor that can only accommodate two apps running side by side.

The only way to personalize the start screen is by entering into PC Settings. Things have changed here; users can now do the deed right from the start menu instead of commanding multiple clicks to perform such a simple task. There are also more background colors to choose from now compared to what was available.

Finally, Internet Explorer 11 is making its debut with Windows Blue. It is not yet certain what Microsoft is planning with the new browser, but it needs to be big. Internet Explorer 10 is a capable Web browser that follows Web standards, but that is not enough. The browser needs a far better add-on system, and this is the main reason why so many users prefer the alternatives.

Many more improvements have been leaked, but they are minor. Head over to WinSuperSite for more information.