Seriously whats wrong with you people, these running apps are not running but suspended which will only leech away some memory and nothing else, if your memory gets short Windows will close em.. just ignore the apps, they don't make your PC slower. And yes dragging them down and waiting until they flip will close the app and ALT+F4 also closes the App and not suspend them.
U can add google chorme, firefox when making windows 8.1 iso. So after installed your windows 8.1, your fave google chorme or firefox will be there ready.
Chrome, Firefox etc. do not have a 3D accelerated UI so you don't get the smooth zooming tablet experience that you get in IE10+. IE8 was slow and clunky compared to Chrome but those days are over...the new IEs are damn fast.
Okay I found how to get rid of previous Installations Tabs on IE11 ... just delete history, I did it from IE11 Metro App. Now I need IE Metro app to open up in full screen mode when I click on links on other apps (like People App)
Maybe a new iso to accept retail keys, but I wouldn't bother reinstalling. Any bug fixes will be pushed out over windows update.