Win 8.1 Samples: HttpClient Not Opening

I just updated to Windows 8.1 and Visual Studio 2013. I then downloaded the sample applications from the following URL:

http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/Windows-8-Modern-Style-App-Samples

When I open the HttpClient sample application, Visual Studio 2013 stops responding before the open is complete. I see the files in the solution explorer, but I cannot click on anything in Visual Studio. The only way out is to kill Visual Studio in the Task Manager.

My own application opens and compiles just fine, so I don't think it's Visual Studio.

Does anyone have a work-around? I'd really like to try the sample applications.

Thanks...

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Randy