Windows 10 Changelog

What's new in Windows 10 21H1 Build 19043.928 May 2021 Update

May 23, 2021

Based on feedback and learnings during the past year of extensive remote work, learning and play, version 21H1 will be delivered with servicing technology (like that used for the monthly update process and how 20H2 was delivered). Windows 10, version 21H1 will have a scoped set of features improving security, remote access and quality. The features we are releasing in this update are focused on the core experiences that customers have told us they’re relying on most right now. So, we optimized this release to support our customers’ most pressing needs.
New features include multicamera support for Windows Hello and security related performance improvements.
Windows Hello multicamera support to set the default as the external camera when both external and internal Windows Hello cameras are present.
Windows Defender Application Guard performance improvements including optimizing document opening scenario times.
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) Group Policy Service (GPSVC) updating performance improvement to support remote work scenarios.

New in Windows 10 20H2 Build 19041.508 October 2020 Update (Oct 22, 2020)

Microsoft Edge:
With this update comes the latest and greatest version of the new Microsoft Edge. Since launching back in January, we’ve seen phenomenal growth and we’re excited it’s included in this update. If you haven’t yet tried the new Microsoft Edge, you should launch it and try it out since we’ve built a better browser with more performance, more privacy and more value back while you browse. If you’re already using our new browser, then you’ve seen first-hand how fast it is and we’re adding great new features every six weeks. Try out Collections to easily save and share content you find online. It’s perfect for holiday shopping, school research and even planning next spring’s camping trip. And it works across PC and mobile so you’re always in sync. We’ve also added Price Comparison so you can easily find the best price when you add an item to a collection, just in time for holiday shopping. In fact, we’re proud to say Microsoft Edge is the best browser for shopping this holiday.
With this update you also get these new, exclusive to Windows 10 features for Microsoft Edge:
Alt + Tab = The quick way to access your apps and web tabs. With this handy keyboard shortcut not only can you easily access the apps you have open on your desktop, but now you can also access your open tabs in Microsoft Edge.
All the tabs you were looking for. If you’re someone who likes the convenience of pinning your favorite websites to the taskbar, you’re going to love this new feature. Now when you hover over the website icon, you’ll see all the open tabs of that site.
Refreshing updates from the Start menu to the Taskbar and more:
A refreshing Start. The Start menu has a more streamlined design. A uniform, partially transparent background to the tiles creates a beautiful stage for the redesigned app icons like Calculator, Mail and Calendar. This refined Start design looks great in both dark and light themes, but if you’re looking for a splash of color, first make sure to turn on Windows dark theme and then toggle “Show accent color on the following surfaces” for “Start, taskbar, and action center” under Settings > Personalization > Color to elegantly apply your accent color to the Start frame and tiles.
Smooth Settings. Settings continues to become a more robust place to access security and device details. Also, now when you go to Settings > System > Display, Advanced display settings, you can change the refresh rate of your display. A higher refresh rate allows for smoother motion of visuals, and depending on what kind of display or monitor you have, you may be able to really crank it up—makes for a great gaming experience.
2 in 1 toast elimination. 2-in-1 devices now naturally switch by default to the new tablet experience without the notification toast asking you to switch into the tablet mode when you detach the keyboard, helping to keep you in your flow.
Noticeable notifications. New app logos at the top of notifications now make it much easier to identify who they are from. And the new “X marks the spot” lets you quickly click, close and get back at it.
A Taskbar tuned to your liking. Getting a new Windows PC? You will enjoy a cleaner, more personalized, out-of-box experience featuring a taskbar specifically curated for you—less clutter and more content that you’ll love. (This experience is limited to new account creation or first logon scenarios.)
Updates for commercial and education customers:
In addition to a smoother user experience, commercial and education customers also get enhanced security and management. Feature updates include more granular control in Mobile Device Management (MDM)1, stronger sign-in protection with enhanced sign-in security, and virtualization-based security for both Microsoft Edge and Office. Whether people are working or learning onsite or remotely, IT pros and end users will gain a simpler, more secure experience with the latest Windows 10 Pro or Windows 10 Education.
Simpler device management. Mobile Device Management (MDM)1 now includes a Local Users and Groups policy that gives administrators the same options as on-premises Group Policy.
More secure biometric sign on. With enhanced sign-in security2, Windows Hello3 now offers added support for virtualization-based security for certain fingerprint and face sensors, which protects, isolates and secures a user’s biometric authentication data.
Stronger app protection. Windows Defender Application Guard (WDAG)4 now helps protect Microsoft 3655 as well as Microsoft Edge with a unique hardware isolation strategy. WDAG keeps enterprise data protected by opening sites and Office files from untrusted sources in a virtualized container.
Personalized tab page in the new Microsoft Edge. IT administrators can help employees, students and teachers personalize their new tab page with Microsoft 3655. Now, people can access their files and favorite Microsoft 365 apps more quickly just by opening a new tab in their browser.

New in Windows 10 2004 Build 19041.264 May 2020 Update (Jun 5, 2020)

Faster and easier connections. We’re making it easier and faster to pair your Bluetooth devices to your compatible Windows 10 PC. Now you can take care of everything in notifications (instead of Settings) with fewer steps.
Go passwordless. Did you know—for improved security and a simple sign-in experience, you can sign in with your face, fingerprint or PIN? It’s easier than ever to enable passwordless sign-in for your Microsoft accounts: just go to Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options on your Windows 10 PC and select ‘On’ under ‘Require Windows Hello sign-in for Microsoft accounts’. Note that this is hardware dependent.
Cleaner, faster, safer. When you download apps it’s not always obvious what you’re getting. Some apps might display unexpected advertising, use your PC for cryptomining, or do other things you’d prefer they not do. These are potentially unwanted apps (PUA) and Windows 10 can help spot them, let you know we have concerns, and let you decide whether you really want that app or not. Just go to Windows Security > App & browser control > Reputation-based protection > ‘Potentially unwanted app blocking’.
More ლ(╹◡╹ლ). We’re bringing the fun by making more kaomoji available directly in the Windows emoji keyboard. To access you can use the shortcut, Windows key + Period key to access (⌐■_■).
Name your desktops. Now instead of “Desktop 1” or “Desktop 2” you can give your Virtual Desktops more descriptive, clever, or amusing names. Using Virtual Desktop in Windows 10 allows you to expand your desktop beyond the physical limitations of the space, organize groups of related tasks, and easily switch between them. Tackling what you want to—when you want to—just got a whole lot easier. Visit this post to learn more on how to access Virtual Desktop in Windows 10.
See gaming in a whole new light. New DirectX 12 Ultimate features provide smoother graphics with increased detail—all without sacrificing framerate*.
Customization and utility at your fingertips. Xbox Game Bar now supports third-party widgets, helping you customize the overlay experience to fit with the way you game.
Improvements to some go-to apps help make that job, assignment, side hustle, homework, workday, work week—all of it—just that much better:
Memory improvements in Microsoft Edge. The browser is the most used application and where people spend a large portion of their time on Windows. Segment heap has been the default heap for UWP apps for a while now. Windows is excited to announce that one of the first Win32 applications that will take advantage of segment heap capabilities is Microsoft Edge. The early internal testing results of devices on the May 2020 Update are showing a memory usage reduction of up to 27% when browsing with Microsoft Edge. Individual device performance will vary based upon configuration and usage, but the lower memory usage could provide a better device experience because more memory would be available for apps to use. Microsoft will be opening this capability to more developers very soon with supporting materials. Developers that take advantage of the expanded availability of segment heap memory improvements can also optimize their Win32 app memory utilization on Windows. Please this page for the latest developer information.
Stay on top of your numbers. Keep the calculator close by—now you can choose to keep the Calculator app on top of everything.
Notepad newness. The beloved 30-year-old text editor has some small but mighty improvements. There’s now wrap around find/replace, quick text zooming, and when you see an asterisk in the title bar you’ll know you have unsaved changes.
Bringing your smartphone and Windows PC closer together. The May 2020 Update brings the popular Your Phone app’s Calls feature to ARM supported PCs from Microsoft and our OEM partners. You will now be able to place, receive, or text reply to your incoming phone calls directly on your PC without having your Android phone right next to your PC. That’s not all, with the Your Phone app, you can stay in your flow by sending or receiving texts, checking notifications and getting instant access to your Android phone’s photos and apps via your computer’s large screen and keyboard.
The new Cortana chat-based experience is here. Your personal productivity assistant now has an updated chat-based user interface where you can type or speak requests in natural language to save time finding what you need and stay on track. For the best experience, sign in with your work or school account and connect with people, check your schedule, add tasks, set reminders and more**. Visit our Microsoft 365 Blog for more information and select the Cortana icon to try out the experience for yourself with requests such as:
“Am I free at [time]?”
“Who is [person]?”
“Find time with [person] to talk about [topic]”
“Join my meeting”
“Remind me to [task] at [time]”
“Change the brightness”
“Is it going to rain tomorrow?”
Accessibility improvements in Windows 10 to help empower everyone, everywhere:
Narrator news. Narrator sounds have been revamped and are now more functional and responsive. There’s also a new command to summarize a webpage, and you’ll also hear some table reading improvements. Plus, Narrator will automatically start reading webpages and emails (when they’re opened in Outlook and the Mail app).
Find that cursor faster. Windows Magnifier has a new ability to keep the text cursor in the center of the screen, making it easier and smoother to type.
More Eye Control. Drag and drop is now here! We’ve also made improvements to the pause experience and provided some new opportunities in Settings. Note that a third-party accessory is required to access this experience.
Language learnings. The Global Language Experience team continues to revamp Language Settings, bringing you quick and easy ways to check your settings at a glance. You’ll also find improved typing experiences in Chinese, Japanese and Korean.

New in Windows 10 1809 Build 17763.379 October 2018 Update (Apr 1, 2019)

New in Windows 10 1809 Build 17763 October 2018 Update (Oct 3, 2018)

Our favorite new features in Windows & Office:
Your Phone app:
No need to dig for your phone to text. And you can finally stop emailing yourself photos. With the new Your Phone app you get instant access to your Android phone’s photos and texts on your computer. Snap a pic on your Android phone, see it on your PC. You can also drag and drop photos from your phone onto your PC. And you can copy, edit or ink that photo, right from your PC. Text your friends, group message and type with a keyboard — Your Phone app allows you to view, send and receive the SMS from your Android, on your PC. Android 7.0+ are compatible with Your Phone app, which also helps link iPhones to your PC.
For iPhone users, you can surf the web on your phone, then send the webpage instantly to your computer to pick up where you left off. Then you can read, watch or browse with all the benefits of a bigger screen. With a linked phone, continuing on your PC is always just one share away.
For quicker access to your phone’s content, pin Your Phone app to your desktop or your taskbar. You can also fire it up through the All Apps list in Start Menu, or by clicking the Windows key and searching for Your Phone app.
Timeline on phone:
In April, we introduced you to Timeline on your Windows 10 PC. It aims to end the frustration we’ve all encountered digging through emails and file folders for a document we just can’t find. Timeline makes it way easier to find what matters to you across your devices. You can also pick up what you were doing — even if it was on your iOS or Android device — on your Windows 10 PC when you’re ready to get back to it.
Now, your PC’s timeline is available on your phone, so you can scroll back in time to find the files and websites you were using on your phone, computer and tablet. Basically, you can pick up where you left off, wherever you left off. Go back and forth in time by easily scrolling back to find things you were working on earlier today or earlier this week. Share or remove activities whenever you want from a specific day or hour. Available in preview starting today on Android phone via Microsoft Launcher app, coming soon to preview for iPhone.
Inking and 3D in PowerPoint and Word:
PowerPoint is a powerful tool for visually telling your story, and Word is a canvas for organizing and collaborating on ideas. Whether you’re pitching a concept, teaching a lesson or writing a paper, today we’re making it even easier to showcase your thoughts with new AI-powered inking features and 3D updates that help you find creative flow and design beautiful content.
Because some prefer to sketch out their thoughts first, now, you can ink your ideas and we’ll use AI to transform them into perfectly formatted slides. An inked bulleted list will transform into perfectly formatted text. Or, if you’re inking a flow chart or diagram, you can draw both words and shapes, and PowerPoint will easily convert them into text and snapped shapes in one fell swoop.
Our AI-powered design engine, PowerPoint Designer, is getting smarter. Designer can now recommend slide designs based on handwritten ink. Or, if typing is more your style, Designer can take a simple block of text, understand the context using AI, and then provide design ideas using icons and Smart Art. To provide even more design options, we’re also adding 350 new icons to our library.
We’re adding built-in animations to 3D models in PowerPoint and Word. New 3D Embedded Animations make it faster and easier for anyone to add movement and animation to slides and
To give you even more creative flexibility, we’re also adding over 30 new animated 3D models.
If you like the flexibility of editing Word documents using digital pen, we also have some great updates for you. Using Ink Editor[7], you can already do things like remove and highlight text. Today, we’ve added new pen gestures that make editing a document from start to finish easier, including adding line breaks, inserting new words as well as splitting and joining words.
For the last few years, we’ve been on a mission to transform Office[8], and use AI to make everyday tasks easier. June, we revealed a fresh, new design for our Office apps and just last month we announced new AI-powered features in Excel and PowerPoint. We’re excited to show you what more there is to come.
Most updates to PowerPoint and Word will begin rolling out to Office 365 subscribers on Windows today. The ink to Designer feature will roll out next month. 3D Embedded Animations will roll out to Office Insiders first, and will become generally available in the coming weeks. Text to Smart Art and icons will also be available for PowerPoint Online and Mac.
Microsoft To-Do:
Our task app, To-Do helps you manage, prioritize and complete the most important things you need to achieve each day. To help you keep track of tasks using whatever mode is most comfortable to you, today we’re announcing the ability to update your tasks using ink. With your digital pen and a touch enabled Windows device, simply add a task to your list using ink, and then strike out when complete. By signing in with your Microsoft Account, your tasks are then conveniently synced with the To-Do app across iOS, Android and Windows and the web.
Outlook.com:
Over one year ago, we updated Outlook.com to give our millions of users a faster, smarter and more personalized inbox. Today, we’re making two new updates that make staying on top of tasks easier and interacting with brands you love, better.
The new Tasks experience in Outlook.com helps you manage tasks without breaking your flow or leaving your inbox. Powered by To-Do, you can now create tasks by dragging and dropping an email to your task list. Or, easily schedule items by dragging a task to your calendar. Your tasks then travel with you on the To-Do app.
Is your inbox overflowing with offers and newsletters from brands? Today, we’re launching a new experience in Outlook.com to help you sort through the noise and interact more easily with the brands you love. Brands now can obtain a verified icon, making it easier for you to identify legitimate businesses in your inbox. And with the new profile card, you quickly have access to contact information, package deliveries, reservations, store locations and more. You’ll also be able to easily see what newsletters you’re enrolled in, and unsubscribe in one click with the new subscription portal. Finally, we are making it easy to find promotions in your inbox by surfacing offer details right in your message list, so you don’t have to open the email to see the deal. These new features will begin rolling out to Outlook.com customers in the US in the coming months.
Snip & Sketch (previously known as Screen Sketch) is now an app:
You can now update Snip & Sketch (originally introduced as part of the Windows Ink Workspace under the name “Screen Sketch”) via the Microsoft Store. It will now appear in the list when you press Alt + Tab. You can also set the window size now, and it even supports multiple windows.
Easy snipping is just a single step away. We’ve heard that you want to be able to quickly snip and share a screenshot, and we’re making it happen! Pressing the Windows key + Shift + S will now bring up a snipping toolbar – use it to snip a rectangle, something a bit more freeform, or full screen and it will go straight to your clipboard. If that’s all you need, you can take it from there.
But say you want more. Immediately after taking a snip, you’ll now get an invitation to take you and your snip to the Snip & Sketch app where you can annotate and share away.
But wait, there’s more! Is the Windows key + Shift + S keyboard shortcut too long to remember? We’ve added easy entry options:
Just click the pen tail button. If you have a digital pen, go into Pen & Windows Ink Settings – you’ll find Screen Snipping is now an option for single click. This will launch you directly into our snipping experience below.
Press Print Screen. You heard it right, just one button! It’s not enabled by default, so go to Keyboard Settings, where you’ll see a new option that says “Use the Print Screen key to launch screen snipping.” Opening Settings and searching for “print screen” will take you to the right page.
Press the quick action button in Action Center, labelled “Screen snip.” It should be there as soon as you upgrade, but if not you can always enable it via Notifications & Actions Settings.
A note about Snipping Tool: As part of the process of consolidating and modernizing our snipping experiences in Windows, when you upgrade to the October 2018 Update you’ll see a note about this in the Snipping Tool.
Snipping Tool is still available, and will continue to be available until our data and user feedback indicate people don’t need both experiences.
Other updates in Windows & Office:
Microsoft Edge General Improvements:
There are now more ways to improve reading and focus, also an improved look/design of Microsoft Edge and more control via customization:
Learning Tools: Microsoft Edge is the only browser with Microsoft Learning Tools built-in that help improve reading and focus.
Themes: Select a theme or choose custom colors that work best for you.
Grammar Tools: Identify parts of speech with different colors.
Line Focus: Like a reading ruler, this feature highlights lines of text, which helps focus your eyes and attention.
Offline dictionary. Highlight a word and the definition automatically pops up.
Learning tools get richer: Under the learning tools available in Reading View, you can see additional themes. Choose the theme color that’s easiest for you to see.
Grammar Tools: Now you can separate words into syllables and highlight parts of speech, such as nouns, verbs and adjectives. Along with highlighting parts of speech, you can now also change the color as well as turn on an indicator right over what you’ve highlighted, making it much easier to identify the part of speech.
Line focus: Helps improve focus while reading an article by highlighting sets of one, three or five lines.
Once you’ve set your preference, you can easily scroll down the page and the line focus moves as you read.
Look up definitions for words in Reading View for web pages, books and PDFs: We’ve added a new dictionary function, so you can look up definitions for key words when reading a page or document, even when you are offline. Simply select a single word to see the definition appear above your selection.
You can also choose to have a word read aloud so you can hear the correct pronunciation or expand more details from the definition. You can also toggle to choose whether definitions appear and which types of content they work in under the “General” tab of the Microsoft Edge settings menu.
Microsoft Edge PDF Improvements:
Improved toolbar options: The PDF toolbar can now be invoked by just hovering at the top, making the tools more easily accessible. The toolbar, available whenever a PDF document is opened in Microsoft Edge, will now show text descriptions for the icons to make them quickly understandable. New options like “Add notes” make these handy tools available when you need them.
Pin/unpin PDF toolbar: The toolbar can now be pinned at the top of the document, making all the PDF tools easily accessible if you need them. You can also unpin the toolbar for an immersive reading experience. If the toolbar is unpinned, it will hide itself – just hover over the top area to bring it back.
Rendering improvements: Now you will see less of the white pages when you navigate through PDF files in Microsoft Edge.
New design improvements: As we continue to evolve how Microsoft Edge leverages the Fluent Design System for a more natural and usable experience, you may notice some subtle tweaks to the look of the tab bar. In the October 2018 Update, we’re adding a new depth effect to help emphasize the active tab.
Redesigned “…” menu and Settings: We’ve heard your feedback that the Microsoft Edge settings were getting a little complex for a single page. In this release, we’re making Settings easier to navigate, putting commonly used actions front and center, and providing more ways to customize. The menu options are now organized into groups, with icons for each entry and keyboard shortcuts (where applicable). Click the “…” button in the top-right corner of Microsoft Edge to see what’s new.
Customize toolbar items for Microsoft Edge: When you click “…” in the toolbar, you’ll find a refined menu that puts common commands like “New window” and “New InPrivate window” front and center. We’ve also added the much-requested ability to customize which icons appear in the Microsoft Edge toolbar – you can remove them all for a tidier look or add as many as you like to bring your favorite functionality to your fingertips.
See your top sites in the Jump List: You can now see your top sites in the Jump List on the Windows taskbar or Start menu. Just right-click the Microsoft Edge icon to see a list of your most-visited sites and pin the ones that matter most to you. Right-click on any entry to remove it from the list.
Do more from the “Downloads” pane: We’ve added options for “Show in folder” and “Copy link” to the right-click menu for items in the “Downloads” pane.
Last (but not least), the October Update breaks Settings out into subpages by category, with better-organized options and less clutter on each page. The new Settings experience is designed to match the Microsoft Edge Favorites, for a quicker and more familiar experience.
Microsoft Edge Platform and Enterprise Management Updates:
Web Authentication API: Microsoft Edge now includes unprefixed support for the new Web Authentication API (a.k.a. WebAuthN). Web Authentication provides an open, scalable and interoperable solution to facilitate authentication, which replaces passwords with stronger hardware-bound credentials. The implementation in Microsoft Edge allows the use of Windows Hello (via PIN or biometrics) and external authenticators, like FIDO2 Security Keys or FIDO U2F Security Keys, to securely authenticate to websites.
Microsoft WebDriver is now a Feature on Demand: We’ve made Microsoft WebDriver a Feature on Demand (FoD) so it’s easier to get the right version for your device. You can install WebDriver by turning on Developer Mode, or by going to Settings > Apps > Apps & features > Manage optional features and installing it as a standalone.
New Microsoft Edge Group Policies: The Microsoft Edge team has introduced new Group Policies and MDM settings for IT administrators to manage Microsoft Edge. The new policies include enabling/disabling full-screen mode, printing, favorites bar and saving history; prevent certificate error overrides; configuring the Home button and startup options; setting the New Tab page and Home button URL and managing extensions. Learn more about the new Microsoft Edge policies.
Users can control whether media can play automatically: In the October 2018 Update, we’ve added a new setting in Microsoft Edge to allow you to control whether sites can automatically play videos. You can find this setting under Advanced settings > Media autoplay, with options to customize the behavior according to your preferences:
When “Allow” is selected, sites can play videos when you first browse to the site in an active tab. When “Limit” is elected, sites can only autoplay silent videos, so users are never surprised by sound; once the user clicks anywhere on the page, autoplay is re-enabled for that domain for the duration of that tab. When “Block” is selected, sites cannot autoplay until you interact with the media content.
Users can also enable or block autoplay at any time, or change autoplay permissions on a per-site basis, by clicking the information icon or lock icon on the left side of the address bar and selecting “manage permissions” to get started.
Retired XSS Filter: We are retiring the XSS filter in Microsoft Edge beginning with the October 2018 Update. Our customers remain protected thanks to modern standards like Content Security Policy, which provide more powerful, performant and secure mechanisms to protect against content injection attacks, with high compatibility across modern browsers.
Stay productive:
SwiftKey intelligence comes to Windows:
SwiftKey gives you more accurate autocorrections and predictions by learning your writing style – including the words, phrases and emoji that matter to you. It’s available for Android and iOS, and starting with the October 2018 Update, SwiftKey will now power the typing experience on Windows when using the touch keyboard to write in English (United States), English (United Kingdom), French (France), German (Germany), Italian (Italy), Spanish (Spain), Portuguese (Brazil), or Russian.
Windows now shows you insights about how its AI has been helping you type with efficiency. If you use the software keyboard on Windows, there are many features built into the typing experience that leverage AI and machine learning to help you be more efficient. Some examples include autocorrecting your spelling mistakes, prediction of the next word you would type, word suggestions as you start typing so you don’t have to type the full word, and displaying the number of words you’ve typed by swiping over the letters on the software keyboard (yes, you can do that, try it out if you haven’t yet).
Windows now shows you stats about each of these features. Go to Settings > Devices > Typing and click on “View typing insights” link to see them.
Say hello to your new clipboard experience! (Cloud Clipboard):
Copying and pasting is something we all do, multiple times a day. But what do you do if you need to copy the same few things again and again? How do you copy content across your devices? We’re addressing that and taking the clipboard to the next level. Simply press the Windows key + V and you’ll be presented with our brand-new clipboard experience.
Not only can you paste from the clipboard history, but you can also pin the items you find yourself using all the time. This history is roamed using the same technology that powers Timeline, which means you can access your clipboard across any PC with the October 2018 Update of Windows or higher.
Our new settings page for enabling this experience is under Settings > System > Clipboard.
Roamed text on the clipboard is only supported for clipboard content less than 100kb. Currently, the clipboard history supports plain text, HTML and image less than 1MB.
Here comes Emoji 11:
Unicode 11 comes with 157 new emoji and they’re now available in the October 2018 Update. These include superheroes, redheads, a softball, a pirate flag and a llama. You can get to them using the Emoji Panel (“Windows key + .”) or the touch keyboard.
When you get the October 2018 Update, you’ll also find tweaks to some of our existing emoji – such as:
Our ninja cats got a bit of love too – can you spot the difference?
If you have any feedback about our emoji and emoji typing experiences, please let us know! We’d love to hear it.
The Emoji Panel is currently available for 190+ locales.
Start tile folder naming:
We’re now adding the ability to name your tile folders. To create a tile folder in Start, just drag one tile on top of another for a second, then release. Continue dropping as many tiles into the folder as you’d like. When you expand the folder, you’ll see a new option to name it.
Search Improvements:
Save time with Search Previews:
Thank you for the positive feedback on the web previews we added last year. With this release, we’re happy to share our latest improvements to Search:
Enhanced home screen:
We’ve redesigned the home screen to get you to your content faster. Save time and keystrokes by scanning the ‘Pick up where you left off’ section for your recently accessed items. Focus your search with a filter to quickly find content from your PC and the cloud. Cloud-search enhancements include email from Outlook.com, and documents from OneDrive.
Previews for all search results:
We’ve expanded previews to include apps, documents, email, people, and more. Previews save you time and give you the information you need, making it faster to start and finish your task.
Use Search previews to:
Get back to what you were doing with fast access to your recent files. Just search for an app to select a file from the Recent list, like a Word doc or Remote Desktop session.
Jump-start your tasks with quick actions in previews. Create an Outlook meeting, send an IM, run PowerShell as Administrator, open a file’s location, and much more.
Easily distinguish between files with details including location, last modified date, and author all shown in the preview.
Get web search results like quick answers, news, and websites, without opening a browser. To find image and video results for a web search, select an option at the top of the preview.
We’ll be updating and improving the Search experience over time as we develop and add features. Stay tuned!
Search is now available in the Calendar app for Windows 10!
Now you can find past or future events by searching for the name, location, people included or words in the event body. Events that match your search will be clearly visible on your calendar, while those that don’t will be dimmed so you can find what you need quickly.
Search works for Outlook.com and Office 365 accounts.
Windows Mixed Reality Improvements:
Introducing Mixed Reality Flashlight:
How many times have you been immersed in a captivating virtual experience and wanted to take a quick glance at your friend in the same room; or reach for a drink, your phone or a keyboard; or needed to find a surface to set down your controllers?
You’ve probably fumbled about as you were removing your headset, which can be really fun if you have controllers in your hands.
But now that awkwardness may become a thing of the past, as you can now peer into your physical environment through Flashlight – without removing your headset! With the October 2018 Update, you can open a portal into your real world at any time via the Start menu, a button shortcut or a voice command. . This opens a low-latency pass-through camera feed connected to your controller. It’s comfortable, intuitive and keeps you immersed.
Flashlight finally allows you to mix your physical and virtual realities.
Introducing Quick Actions:
While using an Immersive Application, you can easily Go Home, view the time or launch Mixed Reality Capture tools (Photo, Video and more) with Quick Actions. To launch Immersive Application Quick Actions, simply press the Windows key.
Stream audio to both the headset and the PC speakers simultaneously:
Now you can hear sound from your normal PC speakers when not running the Mixed Reality Portal (MRP) and from the headset’s audio jack or built-in headphones when mixed reality is running. Close all apps, including MRP, and go to Settings > Mixed reality > Audio and speech to turn on “When Mixed Reality Portal is running, mirror headset audio to desktop.” You will now hear audio from both the headset and PC speakers when running mixed reality.
Other improvements for Windows Mixed Reality users:
With the October 2018 Update, Windows no longer requires a physical monitor to be connected while running Mixed Reality in cases such as backpack PCs. Setting up WMR for the first time[9] in Mixed Reality Portal and unlocking the PC on the sign-in screen still requires a monitor to be connected initially. However, you can configure auto login to prevent needing to sign in for subsequent usage. Remember to set up a room boundary if you’re using Windows Mixed Reality while standing.
We’ve also made some adjustments to the mixed reality video capture experience in the October 2018 Update to make it easier to stop videos from the Start menu.
PC Gaming Improvements:
Game bar Improvements:
We’re now rolling out more functionality to the Game bar:
New look: Enjoy a cleaner new look and layout.
New audio controls: With the new audio control panel, get more control out of individual audio channels without ever having to leave your game.
Game bar is now an app: Launching Game bar is now easier than ever, whether through the desktop, apps, the Start menu, or task bar.
Game Mode Improvements:
Fewer gaming interruptions: Based on feedback from gamers, we’ve simplified the way Game Mode works. Now auto-enabled for all games with a master On/Off toggle in Windows Settings, Game Mode suppresses Windows Update driver installs and blocks Windows Update interruptions such as restart notifications while you’re gaming. You may also see improved game performance with less FPS variability depending on the specific game and system.
Notable App Updates:
Skype for Windows 10 gets a big update:
This new Skype for Windows 10 update brings all the latest and greatest Skype capabilities to Windows 10 users. Customers will enjoy the same consistent experience across all devices and platforms – iOS, Android, Mac and Windows. Exclusive to Windows 10, you can now use the Share Charm to quickly share content directly with your Skype contacts. If you’re browsing in Microsoft Edge or looking for a document in File Explorer and find something you want to share, just tap the Share icon and select a Skype contact to share with – there’s no need to launch Skype.
Here are some more new things you can do in Skype for Windows 10:
To-Do—Add tasks to your To-Do list directly from Skype. Select the message and then tap “Create a task” to open the tasks pane. From here, you can add, edit and check off tasks. Tasks will be saved and available in Skype, or in the To-Do app.
Call recording — With call recording, you can save a call to the chat and return to it later, so you won’t forget something important. Missed a meeting? No problem, now you can find and replay key moments or decisions, just as they were made by those on the call.
Private Conversations — Have end-to-end encrypted Skype audio calls, send text messages, image, audio and video files. The content is hidden in chat list notifications to keep the information you share private.
Themes — You can now customize your chat bubbles. Give them color to make your chats more festive or stick with our classic colors when you need to get down to business.
And much more — Archive conversations, ability to mute others in a group call, @mentions and more.
If you’ve chosen to have updates installed automatically on your Windows 10 device, you don’t have to do anything — these new features will be available to you automatically through Microsoft Store updates. As always, please join us in the Skype Community and send us your feedback by opening your settings and selecting Help & Feedback.
Microsoft Forms:
Microsoft Forms is a simple, lightweight tool for creating surveys and quizzes. Millions of people have used Forms since we released it for education and commercial organizations. Today, we’re extending the Forms Public Preview to consumers as well. With Forms, you can easily create, run and analyze results from surveys and quizzes. Simply share a link or QR code, and your friends and family can access your form from virtually anywhere, on any device and at any time. With real-time responses and automatically generated charts, Forms makes it easy for creators to quickly understand the results and take the right next step. To get started, you can sign in using a free Microsoft Account here.
Microsoft Font Maker app:
With the Microsoft Font Maker app you can use your digital pen to create a custom font based on the nuances of your own handwriting[10] – currently available via the Microsoft Store and we’d love to hear your feedback! Install the fonts you create to add a personal touch to everything you do.
Currently you can use the app to create a basic English font.
Security:
Remote Desktop with Windows Hello Biometrics:
With the October 2018 Update, Azure Active Directory and Active Directory users using Windows Hello for Business can use biometrics[11] to authenticate to a remote desktop session.
This feature works with Windows Hello PIN, however it does not work with convenience PIN.
To get started, bring up Remote Desktop Connection (mstsc.exe), type the name of the computer to which you want to connect and click Connect.
Because you signed using Windows Hello for Business, Windows remembers how you signed in and automatically selects Windows Hello for Business to authenticate you to your RDP session, but you can click More choices to choose alternate credentials.
In this example, Windows uses facial recognition to authenticate the RDP session to the Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V server. You can continue to use Windows Hello for Business in the remote session, but you must use your PIN.
Have feedback? We’d love to hear it! Head to the Feedback Hub to share your thoughts about Windows Hello with face, fingerprint or PIN.
Web Sign-in to Windows 10:
Until now, Windows logon only supported the use of identities federated to ADFS or other providers that support the WS-Fed protocol. We are introducing “Web Sign-in,” a new way of signing into your Windows PC. Web Sign-in enables Windows logon support for non-ADFS federated providers (e.g. SAML).
To try out Web Sign-in:
Azure AD Join your Windows 10 PC. (Note: Web Sign-in is only supported on Azure AD Joined PCs).
Set the following policy to enable Web Sign-in (Policy CSP/Authentication/EnableWebSignIn).
On the lock screen, select Web Sign-in under Sign-in options.
Click on the “Sign in” button to continue.
Faster sign-in to a Windows 10 shared PC:
Do you have shared PCs deployed in your work place? Do you wish that signing in to a PC with your account was faster? Starting with the October 2018 Update, we are introducing “Fast Sign-in,” which enables users to sign in to a shared Windows 10 PC in a flash.
To enable Fast Sign-in:
Set up a shared or guest PC with Windows 10.
Set the following policy to enable Fast Sign-in (Policy CSP/Authentication/EnableFastFirstSignIn).
With the policy enabled, sign-in to a shared PC with your account, and check out the difference.
Windows Defender Security Center is now called Windows Security:
You can still get to the app in all the usual ways – simply ask Cortana to open Windows Security or interact with the taskbar icon. Windows Security lets you manage all your security needs, including Windows Defender Antivirus and Windows Defender Firewall.
General Windows Security improvements
More easily understand current threats: We’ve listened to feedback and continued to improve the Virus & threat protection section. We’ve changed the location of the Current threats area, which displays all threats that need action. You can quickly take action on threats straight from this screen.
Controlled folder access improvements: Controlled folder access can help prevent ransomware and other destructive malware from changing your personal files. Sometimes apps that you normally use might be blocked from making changes to common folders like Documents and Pictures, and we’ve listened to feedback and made it easier for you to allow apps that were recently blocked so you can stay productive while using this great feature.
To allow a recently blocked app to make changes to your protected folders, open the Virus & threat protection section, then click Ransomware protection, and Allow an app through Controlled folder access. From there you can click the plus button to allow an app, and you’ll see the new option to add Recently blocked apps. This will open a list where you can easily choose which blocked items you’d like to trust to make changes. Alternately you can still browse for an app to allow.
A more complete view of your security: We’re continuing to work on how other security apps you’ve installed show up in the Windows Security app. There’s a new page called Security providers that you can find in the Settings section of the app. Click Manage providers to see a list of all the security providers (including antivirus, firewall and web protection) that are running on your device. Here you can easily open the providers’ apps, or get more information on how to resolve any issue that they have reported to you through the Windows Security app.
This also means you’ll see more links to other security apps within the Windows Security app. For example, if you open the Firewall & network protection section, you’ll see the firewall apps that are running on your device under each firewall type (domain, private and public networks).
New device health assessment: In the Device performance & health section, we’ve added a new assessment for the Windows time service. If we detect that your device’s time is not properly synced with our time servers and the time-syncing service is disabled, we’ll provide the option for you to turn it back on.
Windows Security gets a Fluent Design refresh
We’ve heard your feedback, and when you install the October 2018 Update you’ll find we’ve updated Windows Security to include the Fluent Design elements you know and love. You’ll also notice we’ve adjusted the spacing and padding around the app and will now dynamically size the categories on the main page if more room is needed for extra info. Last but not least, we’ve also updated the title bar of the app so that it will now use your accent color if you’ve enabled that option in Color Settings.
Windows Defender Firewall now supports Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) processes:
You can add specific rules for a WSL process in Windows Defender Firewall, just as you would for any Windows process. Also, Windows Defender Firewall now supports notifications for WSL processes. For example, when a Linux tool wants to allow access to a port from the outside (like SSH or a web server like nginx), the Windows Defender Firewall will prompt to allow access just like it would for a Windows process when the port starts accepting connections.
Antivirus products required to run as a protected process
The Windows Security Center (WSC) service now requires antivirus products to run as a protected process to register. Products that have not yet implemented this will not appear in the Windows Security UI, and Windows Defender Antivirus will remain enabled side-by-side with these products.
Windows Defender Application Guard Improvements
Windows Defender Application Guard introduced a new user interface inside Windows Security in the October 2018 Update. Standalone users can now install and configure their Windows Defender Application Guard settings in Windows Security without needing to change Registry key or Group policy settings. Additionally, users who are managed by enterprise policies will be able to check their settings to see what their administrators have configured for their machines to better understand the behavior of Windows Defender Application Guard. This new UI aims to improve the overall experience for users to manage and check their Windows Defender Application Guard settings. As long as devices meet the minimum requirements, these settings will appear in Windows Security.
To check this out, go to Windows Security and select App & browser control.
Under Isolated browsing select Install Windows Defender Application Guard. After installation restart the device (only for standalone users).
To view or change Application Guard settings select Change Application Guard settings.
Windows Account Protection Improvements:
In October 2018 Update, the Account Protection section in Windows Security Center now identifies the paired device that is being monitored for Dynamic lock. In cases where you have multiple devices paired to the PC, this UI indicator will help you easily determine which device is being monitored to lock your PC if you walk away.
You can learn more about the benefits of account protection through a video that is available on the page via the link on “Learn more about account protection.”
Ease of Access (Accessibility) Improvements:
You can access Ease of Access settings by going to Settings > Ease of Access.
Make Text Bigger:
Now, when you go to Settings > Ease of Access > Display in the October 2018 Update, you’ll find a new setting called “Make everything bigger.” This slider will adjust text across the system, Win32 apps and Universal Windows Platform apps.
That means you can now make text bigger in the Start menu, File Explorer, Settings, etc., without having to change the overall scaling of your system.
Magnifier Improvements:
Choose where to keep the mouse cursor: We’ve heard your feedback asking us for a way to keep your mouse centered on the screen in Full-Screen mode, and with the October 2018 Update, we’re making it happen. This new option under Settings > Ease of Access > Magnifier > “Keep your mouse…” > “centered on the screen” enables easier tracking and use of the mouse, especially helpful at higher magnification levels.
More options for increments: You’ve also been asking for even more control of your zoom level increments, so we’ve taken a moment to add two new increments to the list: 5 percent and 10 percent.
Narrator Improvements:
Selection commands in Narrator Scan Mode: Narrator’s scan mode now supports selecting content in Microsoft Edge, Word, Outlook, Mail and most text surfaces. Standard Shift- selection commands can be used as well as Control + A for the entire document. Caps + Shift + Down Arrow will speak the current selection. For a full list of selection commands, you can refer to Narrator’s Show Commands List by pressing Caps + F1. Once you select content, copy it to the clipboard by pressing Control + C. Formatting information will also be retained.
Narrator Standard Keyboard Layout: Narrator now ships with a new keyboard layout that is designed to be more familiar to screen reader users. For details on these changes, check out Intro to New Narrator Keyboard Layout.
Automatic Dialog Reading: Narrator will now automatically read the contents of a dialog box when brought to the foreground. The experience is for Narrator to speak the title of the dialog, the focused element within the dialog and the static text, if any, at the top of the dialog. For example, if you try to close a document in Word with unsaved changes, Narrator will speak the title “Microsoft Word,” the focus “Save button” and the static text within the dialog.
Narrator Keyboard improvements: We have added the Scan Mode secondary action command and Spell current selection command. Please refer to Intro to New Narrator Keyboard Layout doc for more information.
Microsoft Store offerings:
Check out great Windows 10 devices, and discover what the October 2018 Update has to offer with free demos and workshops at your local Microsoft Store or online. Get a free consultation from expert Service Advisors to determine if your device is eligible for the update, or get assistance setting up a new device.

New in Windows 10 1803 Build 17134 April 2018 Update (Redstone 4) (May 1, 2018)

TIMELINE:
We’ve all had the experience of digging through email or file folders for the document you know you wrote, but just can’t find. Or looking for photos and videos that you know you’ve seen and love, but can no longer locate. Timeline can help you get back this wasted time, by helping you easily find what matters to you across your devices. Timeline lets you go back in time to past activities you’ve worked on across your devices, so you can jump back into them like you never left. So, if you’re looking for a specific document, image, or video you worked on yesterday or a week ago, Timeline makes it even easier to find what you’re looking for. You can even pick up what you were doing on your iOS or Android device on your Windows 10 PC when you’re ready to get back to it. Here’s some more information on how Timeline works.
Go back and forth in time. Easily scroll back in time to find things you were working on earlier today or a few weeks ago.
Find activities easily. Click the new Task bar icon to see all your activities on a specific day grouped by hour, including all the things you did using Microsoft Edge and Office 365 on your tablet and mobile phone. If you don’t see what you need, you can easily search Timeline to find it.
Remove activities whenever you want. Delete activities from a specific day or hour.
To get started with using Timeline, click the new Task view icon in the taskbar to see all your activities on a specific day, grouped by hour, and easily search for something you’d like to go back to (you can also open Task view by pressing Windows logo key + Tab).
NEARBY SHARING:
Nearby Sharing lets you instantly share your videos, photos, documents, and websites with people and devices near you over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. Say you’re in a meeting with your boss and need to quickly send them the report or PowerPoint presentation you’re looking at on your screen, Nearby Sharing helps you do this quickly and easily. Here’s what you can do with Nearby Sharing.
Share quickly. Send any video, photo, document, or webpage viewed on Microsoft Edge to people nearby by clicking on the share charm in the app or right-clicking to get the share menu. You can share a report with a colleague in your meeting room or a vacation photo with your best friend in the library.3
Take the quickest path. Your computer automatically picks the fastest way to share your file or webpage, either over Bluetooth or Wifi.
See who’s available. Bluetooth allows you to quickly discover potential devices with which you could share.
FOCUS ASSIST:
As Yusuf mentioned last week, most of us spend between 3-6 hours – each day – on screens. Much of this time is spent on social media, where the constant stream of distractions across our myriad of devices makes it hard to focus. With this update, we’re introducing Focus Assist to help you stay in the zone. Focus Assist helps you get more done by easily blocking notifications, sounds, and alerts to create distraction-free work times. This is helpful if you’re giving a presentation or trying to focus on a paper, you can use Focus Assist to block interruptions or distractions. Here’s how it works.
Work the way you want. Focus assist gives you the flexibility to choose when to block interruptions. Turn on Focus assist whenever you want to get things done without distractions, like notifications, sounds, and alerts. Or set Focus Assist to turn on automatically at certain times during the day.
Stay connected when you need to. You can make sure your most important people breakthrough by creating a priority list of those you always want to reach you, even when you’re working. Or when you need complete concentration, block all notifications.
Catch up quickly. Find out what you missed while you were heads down on a project. As soon as you finish working, a summary of notifications and alerts appears on your screen.
You can quickly toggle Focus Assist on or off from a quick action button in the Action Center. Or, to set up your rules with Focus Assist, just go to display settings > Focus Assist to pick which scenarios will automatically turn on this feature.
MICROSOFT EDGE:
We’re also helping you focus on the web with updates to Microsoft Edge, from muting tabs to auto-filling cards on web forms. Here’s a look at what’s new in Microsoft Edge with this update.
Mute-a-tab. Simply click the audio icon or right-click the tab to mute and unmute the tab that is playing sound.
Autofill cards on web forms. Use Microsoft Edge to securely save your address, credit card, and other information on top retail sites so that you have the option of autofill on web payment forms.
Clutter-free printing. Print web pages from Microsoft Edge without pop-ups and other unnecessary clutter. Enable the “Clutter-free printing” option in the print dialog and print only the content you want.
Full-screen reading experience. Take Books, PDFs, and Reading view pages full-screen, for a distraction-free reading experience. To enable full-screen reading, you can click on the double-arrow icon on the reading bar, or in the more menu or hit F11 on your keyboard.
More EPUB book options. Save EPUB books you’ve downloaded for free or bought at Microsoft Store, add bookmarks and manage them all at the Books tab on the Microsoft Edge hub. You’ll also find suggestions there, based on your reading habits, for new EPUB books, that you can find in Microsoft Store with one click.
Grammar tools. Microsoft Edge has added Grammar tools support in reading mode for web pages and books to help improve reading comprehension to create a more inclusive reading experience.
Fluent Design. Microsoft Edge now supports an updated Dark theme and much better contrast with all colors, text, and icons.
Microsoft Edge on your phone and tablet. Get Microsoft Edge on your Android phone, tablet, iPhone, or iPad. Just go to the apps store on your device and download Microsoft Edge for free. Then use Microsoft Edge on your phone or tablet to read EPUB books you’ve saved, currently a preview feature. Or start reading a webpage on phone or tablet, send the page to your PC, and pick up reading right where you left off.
WINDOWS INK:
Tap to ink and ink acceleration are new with this update.
Tap to ink. Now you can choose to ink instead of type. Use your digital pen to write directly in text fields for a more natural experience. Just tap a space, like a search box, and it expands to give you a comfortable area in which to write. You can even edit what you’ve written with simple, intuitive gestures. Go to Settings > Devices > Pen & Windows Ink > select, “Write directly into text field”, then tap on a new text field to try the experience.
Ink acceleration. Designed to reduce the delay and improve latency of your digital pen by up to 30-50%. With virtually no latency, using a pen is almost like drawing on paper. This is the fastest Windows Ink yet.
WINDOWS MIXED REALITY:
In this update, we’re pleased to share that Windows Mixed Reality for Steam®VR is coming out of “early access,” and we have further improved our integration with haptic motion controller feedback. It’s also now easier to take photos of your mixed reality experiences (hold the Windows button and tap the trigger). Plus, it’s simpler to personalize and manipulate content inside of Cliff House or Skyloft. What’s Skyloft? A brand new virtual place for you to make your own and expand your mixed reality experience in addition to the Cliff House. Visit this link to learn more about Windows Mixed Reality.
WINDOWS HELLO:
We’ve made it easier for Microsoft account users to set up Windows Hello on their compatible devices for faster and more secure sign-in. Previously, you had to navigate deep into Settings to find Windows Hello. Now, you can set up Windows Hello Face, Fingerprint or PIN straight from your lock screen by clicking the Windows Hello tile under Sign-in options.
MICROSOFT PHOTOS:
Add 3D to your creation. Using the Photos built-in video editor, you can now add 3D effects right into your photo or video. Need some inspiration? The built-in 3D Library lets you choose a 3D model from one of your favorite artists in the Remix 3D community to add a whole new dimension to your creation
Search and find more quickly. The Photos app automatically groups pictures of people to help you organize your photos and videos and find exactly what you’re looking for more quickly. It even helps you combine multiple photos of the same person by merging them into one contact
3D IN WINDOWS 10:
Animations in Mixed Reality Viewer. Record a video with animated 3D objects. Capture a flying saucer hovering over your friend’s shoulder or a dinosaur lurking around the corner. It’s easy. Just click the Remix 3D button to find animated objects you can drop into your video. Or from the bottom right of the app, you can find one click animations to make static 3D objects come to life
3D Animations in PowerPoint. With your Office 365 subscription, you can add 3D animation to static 3D models you’ve added to your PowerPoint. Just click on Animations and choose from an auto-rotating Turntable to Jump & Turn to give movement to your 3D models.
Edit your snips directly in Paint 3D. With the new “edit in Paint 3D” button built into the Snipping Tool, you can take your snip to the next level via Paint 3D. Move (or remove) objects with Magic select, augment and annotate with realistic brushes, bring in 3D objects from Remix 3D, and more.
CORTANA:
Turn up the heat and the beat. Cortana now lets you manage your smart home and play your favorite music and playlists on Spotify from your PC using just your voice.11 Cortana has expanded home automation skills, making it even easier for you to control your smart home devices while you’re on the go. For example, want to come home to a warm house from a long day at work? Just tap Cortana on your PC and say “Hey Cortana, set the living room thermostat to 72 degrees” to control your ecobee3, ecobee3 lite, ecobee4, Honeywell Lyric, Honeywell Total Connect Comfort, Nest Learning Thermostat, Nest Thermostat E and more. To set up your connected home with Cortana, open Cortana on Windows 10 or go to the Cortana app on your phone, click the Notebook icon, then click Connected Home. From there, you can connect your favorite smart home accounts and control your devices from anywhere you use Cortana
With Spotify now available with Cortana on PC, you can use the power of your voice to play your favorite music. For example, if you want to kick back and relax after a long day of work, simply tap on the microphone icon on your Windows 10 taskbar or say “Hey Cortana” then say “Play some chill music on Spotify” and she’s on it. To get started, simply try saying “Hey Cortana, play some chill music on Spotify” and Cortana will guide you through linking your Spotify account to Cortana. Or, open Cortana on Windows 10, click the Notebook icon, then click Music and link your favorite provider, like Spotify, TuneIn or iHeartRadio
PC GAMING:
Improved Game bar. We’ve given Game bar a makeover so it’s even easier to find what you’re looking for. Go to your captures, toggle your microphone and camera, choose a theme, and edit the title of your Mixer stream—all from new buttons on Game bar. You can also and choose a theme (dark, light, or your current Windows theme), and quickly check the time using the new clock. And of course, start a Mixer stream from the Game bar without any extra hardware or software.
STAY PRODUCTIVE:
Dictation. Natural computing experiences enable us to speak directly to our devices to accomplish tasks, without typing. One way we’ve done this is with Dictation. It’s now easier than ever to take a note or write a paper, with just your voice using your device’s microphone13. With your cursor in any text field either in Windows 10 or in an app, simply press Win + H and start talking. The improved Dictation feature in Windows 10 will capture your thoughts quickly and accurately so that brilliant idea you just riffed on with your colleagues or the speech you’re practicing for your best friend’s wedding isn’t lost forever.
My People
Drag and drop. You can now drag and drop contacts to rearrange them in the taskbar.
You decide how many contacts to show in the taskbar, up to ten. You can find People settings under Settings > Personalization > Taskbar.
Animations for people in overflow. To improve discoverability, you’ll now see an animation across the People icon to let you know when someone is pinned to the overflow list in the flyout.
Improving app discoverability. As developers work to integrate My People support into their apps, we’ll now suggest apps that you might be interested in. There’s an option to turn this on or off in the People settings under Settings > Personalization > Taskbar.
The Start menu is better than ever. We’ve made it even easier to find your stuff by default pinning documents and pictures and adding flexibility for you to pin your frequent destinations like downloads, music, and videos.
HDR Video on more Windows PCs with Windows HD Color. HDR video delivers an immersive, ultra-realistic viewing experience, with a stunning range of possible brightness and color.
Windows HD Color is all about bringing HDR content to your Windows devices. With our latest update, Windows HD Color is now bringing HDR video to more and more users. You can now enjoy HDR video on many new types of laptop or external displays, as long as it is a compatible Windows device. If you are enjoying your HDR video on your laptop display, you can also personalize that experience using our new calibration feature.
Touch Keyboard improvements
The standard touch keyboard layout option comes to 190+ more keyboards. The touch keyboard now supports the standard keyboard layout. If you want to switch between wide, one-handed, and the standard touch keyboard layouts, just tap the button on the top left of the keyboard. This includes adding the standard keyboard layout to the following keyboards and more: English (United Kingdom), Irish, Czech, Danish, Greek, Canadian French, Finnish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Latvian, Dutch, and Polish.
Shape-writing with wide touch keyboard. Shape-writing is now available when using the wide keyboard.
Multilingual text support in Windows. If you type in more than one Latin script languages on Windows, you’re going to like this new feature. With the Touch Keyboard, you do not have to manually switch the language anymore. Simply continue typing in multiple languages and Windows will assist you by showing predictions from multiple languages to make you more productive. You can turn the feature off by going to Settings > Devices > Typing > Multilingual Text Prediction.
Text Prediction support for more languages. If you’re using the touch keyboard in any of the following languages, you’ll now see words suggested as you type: Assamese, Bashkir, Belarusian, Greenlandic, Hawaiian, Icelandic, Igbo, Irish, Kyrgyz, Luxembourgish, Maltese, Maori, Mongolian, Nepali, Pashto, Sakha, Tajik, Tatar, Tswana, Turkmen, Urdu, Uyghur, Welsh, Xhosa, Yoruba, and Zulu.
Emoji data overhaul for the touch keyboard. We’ve taken a look at the emoji data across all of the languages we support and have updated it so that more of the emoji you love will appear as you’re typing related words with the touch keyboard. We’ve also added support for a number of languages that didn’t previously support emoji candidates. This release includes new and updated emoji data for over 150 languages. Note: To see the emoji predictions as you type in a particular language, as well as typing predictions, you will need to have the optional typing feature applied for that language. It should download on its own as long as you have an internet connection when you add the language to your language list, or once you connect to the internet thereafter. If you’re not seeing predictions and have internet connectivity, try removing the language and then adding it back again.
Now you can use Emoji Panel to insert multiple emoji at once. Based on feedback, we’re adjusting the design of the Emoji Panel so that after opening up the panel by pressing hotkey Windows logo key + “.” or “;”, you could browse, search and then select more than one emoji. The panel won’t go away until you click close button or press “Esc” key.
Emoji search comes to more languages. You can find an emoji by keyword in more than 150 locales, including English (Great Britain), French (France), German (Germany), Spanish (Spain), and more. This will help you get the emoji you want easily and quickly.
You can also use the Emoji Panel in more languages. We’ve added support for more languages and you can now use the emoji over 190 locals – 151 of which have tooltip support when you hover over each emoji. This includes English (Great Britain), French (France), German (Germany), Spanish (Spain), and more.
Handwriting improvements
Split layout comes to the touch keyboard. As many of you know we redesigned the touch keyboard to be XAML-based for the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. We’ve been hard at work addressing feedback and are happy to share that the touch keyboard now supports the split layout – an ergonomic layout designed to be used with both hands, one on each side of your tablet.
Personalize the handwriting panel. You can now change the font that your handwriting converts to in the handwriting panel. Go to Settings > Devices > Pen & Windows Ink > “Change the font of the handwriting experience”, select your preferred font from the drop-down, then write in the handwriting panel to see your chosen font.
Fluent Design. We’ve redesigned the Action Center, My People, Settings, Start, Taskbar, and the Touch Keyboard to leverage Fluent Design.
Save notification drafts in Action Center. Now, if you’re writing a response in a notification (such as one from Skype), and the notification gets dismissed with unsubmitted text, your draft will be saved; open the action center and your text will now be saved with the notification.
ACCESSIBILITY IMPROVEMENTS:
The April 2018 Update is for each us, so it also includes enhanced and new accessibility features that let you be more creative, collaborative, and connected in a way that fits your individual needs and style. Many of the accessibility features can now be found in one place with related features organized under Vision, Hearing, and Interaction. Additionally, you can enable text suggestions to get help constructing sentences. As you type on a keyboard, you’ll see three suggested words and can pick one to insert. This is a great feature for English language learners or anyone who’d like a little help with their writing.
Make your device fit your needs. Many of the accessibility features can now be found in one place, with related features organized under Vision, Hearing, Interaction.
Get text suggestions as you type. You can enable text suggestions to get help constructing sentences. As you type on a keyboard, you’ll see three suggested words and can pick one to be inserted. This feature is great for English language learners – and anyone who’d like a little help with their writing. Available for EN-US in this release.
Click with your eyes. Improvements in the eye control14 experience include easier navigation with the addition of scrolling and direct left and right click capabilities, acceleration to common tasks such as Windows Start and device calibration, and the flexibility to pause eye control. Eye control is still in preview, and we welcome your feedback to help improve the experience.
Grammar Tools for EPUB books and Reading View. Make reading websites in Reading View and EPUB books with Microsoft Edge easier with Grammar Tools that break words into syllables and highlight parts of speech, such as nouns, verbs, and adjectives.
Listen to books your way. Use Microsoft Edge to hear an EPUB book read aloud with custom narration and ambient sounds embedded in the book.
See greater contrast. Microsoft Edge Dark theme has darker blacks and better contrast across all colors, text, and icons, making it easier for many people with accessibility contrast issues to navigate. It also can prevent eye strain, generally, especially when you’re working at night.
SECURITY:
Windows Defender Application Guard (WDAG) comes to Windows 10 Pro. Microsoft is bringing Windows Defender Application Guard to Windows 10 Professional in the next feature update of Windows 10. Now, like Windows 10 Enterprise users, Windows 10 Pro Users can navigate the Internet in Windows Defender Application Guard knowing their systems are protected from even the most sophisticated browser attacks.
Windows Defender Security Center Improvements:
Quick access from the context menu. You can now right-click on the Windows Defender Security Center icon in the notification area and get an updated context menu that lets you quickly do a quick scan, update your Windows Defender Antivirus definitions, change the notifications and open Windows Defender Security Center.
Account Protection Pillar in Windows Defender Security Center. We’ve made it easier for users to protect their identity when signing into Windows with the new Account protection pillar in Windows Defender Security Center. Account protection encourages local account users to connect a Microsoft Account (MSA), password users to set up Windows Hello Face, Fingerprint or PIN for faster and more secure sign in. Additionally, Dynamic lock leverages the alerting system in Windows Defender Security Center to notify users when Dynamic lock has stopped working because their phone or device Bluetooth is off.
Device Security Pillar in Windows Defender Security Center. We’re giving you greater insight into the security features integrated in your Windows device. The Device security page provides you with status reporting and management of security features built into your devices – including toggling features on to provide enhanced protections.
More options for how we notify you. You can now further customize what types of notifications you get from Windows Defender Security Center, including disabling or enabling notifications about recent, automatic scans that keep your PC safer or if there are threats or files that have been blocked.
WINDOWS 10 IN S MODE:
Windows 10 in S mode now comes enabled on both Windows 10 Home and Pro PCs, and commercial customers will be able to deploy Windows 10 Enterprise with S mode enabled. Some additional information about Windows 10 in S Mode
Microsoft-verified. All of your applications are verified by Microsoft for security and performance
Performance that lasts. Start-ups are quick, and S mode is built to keep them that way
Choice and flexibility. Save your files to your favorite cloud, like OneDrive, and access them from any device you choose. Browse Microsoft Store for apps
S mode, on a range of modern devices. Enjoy all the great Windows multi-tasking features, like snapping windows, task view and virtual desktops on a range of S mode enabled devices
If you want to switch out of S mode, you will be able to do so at no charge, regardless of edition. Once you switch out of S mode, you cannot switch back
MICROSOFT STORE:
Reimagined localization and Windows local experience. Now you can find your desired language (Local Experience Pack – or “Language Pack”) right in Microsoft Store or in the Settings menu. The Settings app has improved discoverability and usability of features supported for each language. Having the Local Experience Packs in the Microsoft Store allows us to take advantage of user feedback via Language Community App to release better translations more frequently. This will consistently improve the experience of our international customers with Windows.
Font Settings and Fonts. Fonts are an important asset for your visual creativity. We’re introducing new experiences for managing your fonts in Settings, and for acquiring additional fonts from Microsoft Store. Along with the new Settings experience, we are introducing a curated set of fonts as a new content type in Microsoft Store. To find them easily, there is a link from the Fonts page in Settings directly to the Fonts collection in Microsoft Store. We will continue to add new fonts to the collection so keep checking.
NEW EXPERIENCES COMING TO OFFICE ON WINDOWS:
OneDrive Files Restore integrated with Windows Defender for expanded ransomware protection. Save your files in OneDrive for an additional layer of protection from ransomware. If a ransomware threat is found on a device, Windows Defender will notify you of the threat, help you remove the ransomware from your device, and give you the option to use OneDrive Files Restore so you can recover your OneDrive files to the state they were in before the attack occurred. The date and time that Windows Defender detected the attack will be pre-selected in Files Restore, making the process simple and easy to use. Files Restore is available for Office 365 Home subscribers, Office 365 Personal subscribers, and OneDrive for Business users. It can be used to restore your OneDrive to a previous point in time within the last 30 days. This integration is beginning to roll out to Windows Insiders today and will be available to all Windows 10 April 2018 Update customers in the coming weeks.
Work smarter with AI-powered inking features in Office on Windows:
New inking innovations are coming to Office 36515 in the next few months.
Intelligent editing in Word. Use your digital pen to make editing Office docs easier than ever: Strikethrough words to make them disappear, make room to insert text, circle text to select, highlight with precision.
OneNote Math Assistant. Ink math assistant in OneNote for Windows 10 helps you solve handwritten equations, provides step-by-step instructions, and even graphs the results to enhance learning and problem-solving.
Windows and Office are getting even better together:
Sign in to Office, Sign in to Microsoft. With the April 2018 Update, we’re launching a brand new, industry-leading Single Sign-On experience. Signing into one Microsoft app or service on a device signs you into them all. Using your personal Microsoft account, or the account given to you by your work or school, you will now be able to sign into Office 36516 and use that same account across a full range of Microsoft apps and services. And, just as you’d expect, it works both ways – by signing in to Windows you sign in to Office.
This experience is available to Office Insiders Fast today and will be available to all Office 365 subscribers by June. To get started you’ll need to have the April 2018 update installed, along with the latest version of Office. While all new accounts added will be able to opt into this by default, it can be extended to accounts you have already added as well. Just head to the Settings app, click “Accounts” followed by “Email & app accounts.” Choose the account you added previously and select “Microsoft apps can sign me in” from the drop-down.
And don’t worry, if you’d rather be selective in which Microsoft apps you sign into we’ve got you covered – simply choose “Apps need to ask me to use this account” from the Settings app and things will work just as they have before.

New in Windows 10 1709 Build 16299.19 (Oct 18, 2017)

Start:
"Turn Live Tile on/off"-option now has an icon
Start now uses the new scroll bar style introduced in the Creators Update
All items that do not have a submenu in the app context menus now have icons
Start no longer uses its own blur, but instead uses acrylic
The bottom of the start frame will no longer glitch when resizing vertically
Instead of snapping into size, the start frame now resizes immediately when resizing horizontally
The start menu can now be resized diagonally
The transition between the start menu and start screen is now smoother
"Update and shutdown" has been removed due to not working properly
When pressing a tile, the context menu will now appear prior to lifting your finger again
Cortana + search:
Cortana can now be set to open with cards visible instead of the home screen
Cortana can now be kept from showing your content from the cloud in search results
Web results can now be displayed within Cortana instead of opening the browser
You can now lock, sign-out, shutdown and turn off your PC with voice commands
Taskbar + Action center:
The power-fly-out now shows a slider to change the power mode
You can now pin people to the taskbar on the right side in the MyPeople bar
You can now access communication-apps on a per-person base from the MyPeople bar
MyPeople now shows you the emojis send by your pinned contacts
Like apps, people can now have a notification badge
Files can be dragged on pinned people to share them through mail
The Share-dialog now has people integrated into it
Android users with Cortana now get incoming call notifications
The Action center no longer uses its own blur, but instead uses acrylic
App titles are now centered in the Action center
Individual notifications now appear as cards
When the MyPeople flyout is open, you can now drop files on pinned contacts in the overflow area to share it
The context menu when clicking an available Wi-Fi network in the Networks flyout has been expanded with Connect, Disconnect, View Properties and
Forget Network:
The Action center now uses the XAML scrollbar
The sound flyout now allows you to enable Spatial sound directly
The overflow area in the People flyout has now text to make it clear that people listed there are pinned
Right-clicking the taskbar will now show an option to enable or disable MyPeople
Right-clicking "Open Network and Sharing Center" now opens "Network & Internet Settings"
Notification buttons now span the full width instead of being aligned to the right
The first notification in an app group is now expanded by default
The X to "dismiss" a notification has been changed to an arrow
Toast notifications can now be dismissed by middle-clicking
User Interface:
The Bluetooth icon now has a lighter color
UIs that use ListView and other XAML collection controls will now use Reveal by default
The Win32 MessageBox is now natively per-monitor DPI aware
Instead of "Welcome", "Signing in" and "Signing out", the lock screen will now show "Just a moment"
File Explorer:
The Share-icon in the ribbon has been updated to match its MDL2-counterpart
Windows will now detect relevant media folders and ask you to use them after a storage scan
Files can now be shared from the context menu
"Share with" has been renamed "Give access to" in the context menu
A new list of allocation unit sizes has been added when formatting a drive with NTFS
Right-clicking a photo will now show an "Edit with Photos" option
Microsoft Edge
Edge 41:
PDF reader now supports forms, saving those forms and printing them
Annotations are now supported on PDFs
The Table of Contents is now available for PDFs
PDFs can now be viewed with 2 pages side-by-side
PDFs can now be rotated
You can now set PDFs to fit the width of the window
You can now set the cover page as a separate page when viewing PDFs with 2 pages side-by-side
You can now enable "Continuous scrolling" for PDFs
A new Application Guard window can now be opened if the feature is enabled
Websites can now be pinned to the taskbar
Edge now supports a full screen mode by pressing F11 or opening the ellipses menu
You can now highlight, underline and add comments in EPUB books
PDFs now support more highlight colors and Ask Cortana
Edge's splash screen is now grey to transition more smoothly into Start
Edge can now be closed even if a JavaScript dialog is showing
Edge's address bar is no longer embedded in the New Tabs page
Edge's address bar will now stay white and will have a border when the focus isn't set to it
An option has been added when right clicking a tab to add it to favorites
Tabs will now animate more smoothly when opened or closed
The default Hub icon is now replaced with a star icon with stripes
Improved session restore behavior for multi-window sessions
A new option "Show sites I frequently visit in Top Sites" has been added to settings
Tab close buttons will now be available even when JavaScript dialogs are open
Tabs that are not active will now show a slightly transparent icon
Closing the browser and other browser features will now be available even when JavaScript dialogs are open
Cookies and Settings can now be migrated from Chrome
You can now Copy or Ask Cortana with selected text in an EPUB file
EPUB notes can now contain ink
Notes in EPUB files can now be shown when hovering over these notes
Books, reading progress, bookmarks and notes are now synced between devices
Saving a favorite will now allow you to select a location from a directory tree instead of a regular dropdown
The URL of favorites can now be edited
IT admins can now configure favorites via group policy and mobile device management
Edge now uses shadows as part of preparations for its Fluent redesign
Edge can now read aloud an webpage and PDF with word and line highlighting
The Share UI will now follow the Edge theme instead of the system theme, it will also appear below the share button instead of in the middle of the screen
Favorites are now animated when created
Edges processes now have a clearer name
Edge now uses acrylic material in the tab bar and other controls
Text will no longer shift when focus is given to the address bar due to "http://" appearing
F3 and Shift + F3 will now allow you to go to the next and previous result when using Find on Page
Editable fields in PDFs now have a color
F12 Tools:
In DOM Explorer, merged the Layout tab into the Computed tab
Added Ctrl-Shift-I as a supported shortcut to launch the developer tools
Inspect event listeners for ancestor elements
Group by Event or Element to see a list of events or list of elements, with the most specific element events first
Styles tab will now display @keyframes for related animations (read-only currently),
Styles tab will now show the @supports statement being met for the given CSS
Styles tab will now show css from an @media in its own section
Added custom input filter and improved overall filtering experience
The command line input is now in-line with the logs view. By pressing- Shift + Enter, developers can now move to multi-line mode and submit- their command with Enter.
Optimized logging experience: Duplicate logs are now stacked, sources are now right-aligned, added background colors, added custom CSS styling of logs, content is now wrapped to fit nicely within the console viewport
Added support for the Console.table API to visualize data in a tabular layout
The Console now leverages features and characteristics of Monaco editor that powers VS Code. This provides syntax colorization and a faster, richer IntelliSense experience in command line input.
EdgeHTML 16:
Support for summary and details
Support for advanced Event Listeners (“once” and “passive”)
Support for CSS object-fit/object-position
Support for CSS position: sticky
ES2017 Shared Memory and Atomics are now on by default (previously behind - WebDriver now supports launching Microsoft Edge in InPrivate mode with capability “InPrivate”: true
Added support for CSS Grid Layout
Added support for High Resolution Time Level 3 (need to confirm with PPR)
Unprefixed CSS Grid is now enabled by default
Edge will no longer rescale websites in portrait mode with a narrow viewport
about:flags:
"Enable unprefixed CSS Grid Layout support" has been added
"Enable experimental inline layout support" has been added
"Enable TSF3 implementation" has been added
"Enable WinRT Clipboard APIs" has been added
"Force setTimeout and setInterval to 30 seconds on background tabs instead of 1 second" has been added
"Force setTimeout and setInterval to 1 second periods when the page is loading" has been added
"Enable Screen Capture" has been added
"Enable Fetch JavaScript API" has been added
"Enable script downloads over Fetch" has been added
"Allow independent rendering of HTML5 Canvas elements" has been added
"Enable new InsertParagraph command" has been added
"Cache Service Workers storage" has been removed
Internet Explorer:
VBScript is now disabled for Internet Explorer by default
Tabs will now be shown on their own bar by default
The search box is now enabled by default
Settings:
System:
Turning the night light schedule off in now turns of night light immediately
Notification settings will now load faster
About has been redesigned to show your device's health status
About no longer shows your organization name
The manufacturer and the manufacturers website of the device has been added to About
Windows can now clean up downloads that haven't been changed in 30 days
The Note quick action has been removed
Night light now transitions quicker when rebooting or manually enabled if required
"Display" will now show information on a connected HDR screen under "HDR and advanced color settings"
Storage Sense now allows you to delete the previous Windows version
Storage Sense has a new design
"Remote desktop" has been added
You can now require computers to connect with Network Level Authentication for Remote Desktop
A second "Get tips, tricks and suggestions as you use Windows" has been added to Notifications & Actions
About no longer contains links to device encryption settings
Devices:
A new option has been added to explicitly enable finger inking
Devices can now be turned off when the screen is off to save battery under USB
Phone:
Phone has been added as a new category under Settings
Windows can now be linked with your Android phone or iPhone
Network & Internet:
You can now search and sort your known networks
You can now require Windows to show a notification banner when an action is needed when connecting to a hotspot
The "Make this PC discoverable" option has been replaced with a radio button
Windows can now be required to show a notification banner when an action is required before connecting to an open hotspot
Personalization:
There is no longer a preview in the Start settings
You can now manage the People bar in Taskbar settings
Settings to enable Shoulder tabs and its sounds have been added
Themes no longer support Screen Savers
Spotlight will now reset after 7 days in case it gets stuck on one image
Apps:
You can now set the default app for each file format
Uninstalling an app will now show a progress bar
Microsoft Edge is now listed as an app and can be reset
"Video Playback" has been added as a new page
You can now let Windows automatically process video to enhance it
Windows can now be set to stream video in HDR
Windows now allows you to play video at a lower resolution
When on battery, you can now lower the resolution, disable HDR and/or disable all other enhancements
Accounts:
Support for adding other AAD work/school users
Improved facial recognition and Windows Hello will now show new toasts to learn to recognize your face when issues with logging in happen
"Use my sign-in info to automatically finish setting up my device after an update or restart" has been moved to Sign-in options
Gaming:
Broadcasting using game-only audio is now a setting under "Broadcasting"
"Audio settings" has been renamed Game DVR in the Game bar
Game DVR-settings have been moved to the Game DVR-page in Game bar
Xbox Networking has been added as a new page, showing you details about your network
Game Mode is now enabled by default for some games
"TruePlay" has been added
Ease of Access:
You can now choose a language for output when braille is installed
You can now choose a table type when braille is installed
You can now change the magnification level of Magnifier from Settings
You can now set the zoom level increments for Magnifier
You can now change the mode Magnifier is used in
Magnifier can now be set to follow the Narrator cursor
Magnifier settings now shows a list of all shortcuts available to manage Magnifier
Ctrl + Win + N now opens the Narrator Settings
"High Contrast Settings" has been renamed "Color and High Contrast"
Magnifier can now be set to use bitmap smoothing
You can now set a color filter
Eye control beta has been added as a new accessibility option
Cortana/Search:
Cortana/Search has been added as a new category to the Settings app
An option has been added to allow Cortana access to the Camera roll for reminders
Privacy:
App-requested downloads has been added as a new page
Update & security:
The category has been renamed from "Update & security" to "Update & Security"
A failed update will now show a plain text string that can be selected
"Update history" has been renamed "View installed update history"
The Windows Insider Program-icon has been replaced with Ninjacat
When an update is available, you will now get a notification instead of a modal
Windows Update now provides a link to show you what's new in the latest feature update
Option to search for the location where you last interacted with your pen under "Find My Device"
Windows Update will now list group policies that have been applied
Each individual update now has its own progress and status
Links to update settings have been reorganized
An option has been added to allow Windows to download updates over a metered connection
Delivery Optimization now contains options to limit the upload and download bandwidth
Activity monitor now shows you statistics on downloads and uploads of updates for the current month
After installing an upgrade, Windows will now automatically prepare your account when allowed even if you reboot or shutdown from another place besides Windows Update
"Device Encryption" has been added as a new page
Mixed Reality:
Mixed Reality now supports Motion Controllers over USB
Improved connection reliability
General:
The sidebar now shows tips and videos
Gaming:
The Game Bar now has an option to enable Game Mode for a specific game
Game Bar now allows you to make screenshots of games running in HDR
Screenshots of games running in HDR are now tone mapped to SDR and saved in PNG
Bitrate changes during a game broadcast to Mixer are now smoother
You can now specify the language you speak in a Mixer broadcast
Game Mode will now provide better performance on some popular configurations like 6 and 8 core CPU machines
System:
Windows will now throttle programs if they aren't being used
Upgrading will no longer reset the Rotation lock-setting
Each UWP app now has its own Runtime Broker
Windows Subsystem for Linux no longer requires Developer Mode
Hyper-V can now show your physical machine's battery level
Registry Editor is now per-monitor DPI aware
SMB1 is now disabled by default and SMB2.02+ can now be used
Windows will now adjust Win32 apps DPI when changed without logging out
Accessibility:
Pressing Caps Lock + E + E will now launch Feedback Hub when using Narrator
Narrator now has Scan Mode on by default
The popup dialog when launching Narrator for the first time to enable Scan Mode has been removed
Narrator now tells you which key you have pressed and the Narrator command that is associated with it
Caps + R will now read from where you are through the app
Caps + Home can now be pressed to jump to the beginning of an app
Caps + End can now be pressed to jump to the end of an app
Caps + W will now read both controls and text in the window
Braille now supports different translations, choose a blinking cursor representation and the duration of the "flash messages"
Braille input can now be used for app shortcuts and modifier keys
The magnifier UI has been updated with a new modern look
Narrator can now automatically describe images without alternative text
Narrator Scan Mode is now on by default in Edge
Windows now supports eye control
The Eye Control launchpad is now shown when Eye Control is enabled
Language and input:
Revamped XAML-based handwriting panel
When writing text in the handwriting panel, the panel will now convert your writings to text and shift it to the left
Text in the handwriting panel can now be selected to edit it
Converted text can now be overwritten to correct it
Ink gestures have been added to make corrections to text in the handwriting panel
The handwriting panel now has buttons for emojis and symbols
The handwriting panel now appears on the place that you're writing on
Handwriting recognition has been improved for English
Handwriting now shows an "English mode"-button
Pressing Win + . or Win + ; will now show the emoji panel in English (United States)
Revamped on screen keyboard
Improves text predictions can now suggest full messages and emojis in English (United States)
The emoji-panel in the keyboard now allows for smooth scrolling instead of a page-based system
A new one-handed touch keyboard has been added
The split keyboard layout has been removed
The one-handed touch keyboard now supports shape writing
The keyboard settings menu has been moved to the top left
The keyboard now supports dictation in English (United States)
UD Digital Kyokasho-tai has been added as a new font family in Japan
Japanese Input Method Editor predictive candidates are now more context aware
The predictive candidate window is now supported in search boxes for the Japanese IME
The Bopomofo IME now remembers your previous picks for suggestions
Bopomofo IME will now remember your settings preferences
Pressing the shift key can now enable the Bopomofo IME when disabled
The Emoji Panel now contains a search feature
The Emoji Panel can now be shown in dark mode
Shape writing is now available for 29 additional languages
Text prediction has been added for multiple languages
Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese and Korean are now supported on the new touch keyboard
A one-handed curve-flick keyboard has been added for Japanese
You can now move the keyboard with the upper border instead of just the move icon, which has been removed
A clipboard icon will now appear on the keyboard when text can be pasted
The shift key can now be used to cycle between capitalization states
The keyboard settings flyout has been redesigned
The emoji section of the keyboard now scrolls horizontal
The one-handed keyboard now has more padding in the emoji view
A language key is now available for the one-handed keyboard
Typing an emoji will no longer close the keyboard
The wide keyboard is now slightly bigger
The back of a pen can now be used to erase handwritten words
Segoe UI is now used as the font of processed handwritten text
The English mode button in the Chinese handwriting panel has been updated
Japanese IME will now provide better predictive input
Japanese IME now has spelling corrections for English words
Japanese IME now can start a search from the predictive candidate window
The touch keyboard will now animate when launched or dismissed
The Japanese onehanded touch keyboard now uses the Yu-gothic UI font
Improved performance of the touch keyboard after tapping the touch keyboard button in the taskbar
Updates the design of the Japanese curve-flick touch keyboard to show numbers and English letters in a smaller font
Apps:
Mixed Reality Portal:
Teleportation can now be done with only the left joystick
Improved speech interaction
Improves the reliability for headsets
The Mixed Reality Portal icon has been updated
The teleportation experience has been updated to be more intuitive and direct
The environment can now load without a black screen during startup
When required, Mixed Reality Portal now informs users that a USB 3 headset is required
Improved support for ASMedia and other 3rd party USB controllers
4K 360 video streaming now works better
OneDrive:
Files on demand now available(known as placeholders in Windows 8)
Windows Defender Security Center:
"Exploit mitigations" has been added under App & browser control
Disabled drivers no longer set off a flag
Screen brightness on 100% while charging no longer sets off a flag
Programs can now be set to block loading images with a low-integrity mark
Programs can now be set to block exported function that are being resolved by malicious code
Images can now be forced to randomize
Windows Defender can now track folders with "Controlled folder access" and monitor blacklisted apps
The app icon is no longer plated in the taskbar
Other additions:
Windows COM ports can now be accessed from the Windows Subsystem for Linux
Holding the power button for 7 seconds will now trigger a bugcheck on devices that don't use legacy ACPI power buttons
Hyper-V will now make automatic checkpoints so you can always revert
The policy to disable the lock screen is now available for Windows 10 Pro
UWPs will now show up individually in the Volume Mixer when they play sound
The Share UI now shows an option to copy a link if sharing a link
Selection controls are now shown when selecting text, objects or ink with pen
Pen selection can now be done with the barrel button
When services like OneDrive try to download an online file for offline use in an application, it will trigger a notifications where you can allow this
A pen can now be used to scroll in all apps
The Task Manager now has a new GPU performance page
Processes on the Processes-page in Task Manager are now grouped together
The Processes-page in Task Manager now shows a "GPU Engine" column
You can now convert Hyper-V machines to "vmcz"-files to share them
Virtual machine gallery has been added under Quick create in Hyper-V
Passwords can now be reset from the lockscreen
Pens can now select and drag objects when the barrel button is used in UWP apps
Improved performance for WDAG containers
The "Background Moderated" column in Task Manager has been renamed "Power Throttling"
The Recovery Drive tool is now available under the Windows Administrative Tools folder
The "Trust this PC?"-notification has been replaced with "You got a message on your phone. Want to see phone messages on this PC too?"
WinHelp has been removed
Support for Emoji 5.0 has been added
A number of emojis have been redesigned
The SMB1 server component is no longer included by default on Home or Pro
SMB1 is no longer installed by default on Enterprise and Education
Computer Browser service has been removed
Snipping tool is now natively per-monitor DPI-aware
All image resources in Windows have been cleaned up to no longer include XMP metadata
The Game Mode icon in the Game bar has been updated
Improved performance for two-finger precision touchpad scrolling
The Windows Console has a new default color scheme
The ComputerHKLMSoftwareMicrosoftHVSISuspendOnContainerClose-key has been added to allow users to optimize WDAG launch times during active browser by not suspending the WDAG container when the window is closed
Bahnschrift has been added as a new font, marking the first OpenType Variable Font in Windows
Issues reporting form:
We highly recommend using Feedback application but if it isn't an option refer to the form below and post issue report as a comment to stickied moderator comment.
Description: Describe the issue in as much detail as possible.
Reproduction: Provide clear and concise steps that will allow the person/people trying to help you to reproduce/understand the bug.
Frequency: How often does the bug occur? If it’s a complete one off then it may not be worth investigation, but if it’s more frequent it’s useful to know how often.
Video / Screenshot: A link to a video or screenshot of your bug, if that would be helpful. Imgur is a great website for pasting screenshots and ShareX is a great program for recording gifs, videos.
System Specifications: Processor name, RAM, Graphics card, anything you think could be useful. Please ensure that you have the latest updates and driver updates installed.
Anything else you would find useful: Anything else that may be useful to the person helping you and Feedback application link possible.

New in Windows 10 1703 Build 15063 (May 22, 2017)

HIGHLIGHTS:
New Paint 3D
New Cortana Setup
Game Mode
Beam game broadcasting
New gaming section in System Settings
Picture-in-picture mode
Night Light
Dynamic Lock
Inking in Windows Photos
Faster "Windows Hello"
Various Microsoft Edge improvements
Enhanced control over for both privacy features and updates
Various security features
FULL CHANGELOG:
New and improved provisioning options to help you configure devices without imaging:
Windows Configuration Designer, formerly known as Windows Imaging and Configuration Designer (ICD), is now available in Windows Store as an app. It includes several new wizards to make it easier to create provisioning packages for desktop devices, mobile devices, and kiosks—as well as the option to remove pre-installed software in both the desktop and kiosk wizards.
You can now create provisioning packages to bulk enroll devices in Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) and then enroll in a mobile device management (MDM) solution, if required.
New PowerShell cmdlets enable you to automatically install provisioning packages created using Windows Configuration Designer.
MBR2GPT.EXE, a new command-line tool that enables you to convert a disk from a Master Boot Record (MBR) to a GUID Partition Table (GPT) without modifying or deleting data on the disk, helpful in automating the conversion from BIOS to UEFI[i]. (Watch the demo for more insight.)
Windows Hello for Business, which replaces passwords with two-factor authentication, has been improved to support organizations that are restricted to using AD on-premises for authentication and can’t use cloud-based solutions like Azure AD.
New Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) capabilities, including the ability to create custom threat intelligence alerts, investigate a specific user account, and take immediate actions on a machine or file to contain a breach. (Watch the demo for more insight.)
Enhancements to Windows Defender Antivirus (AV) (previously known as Windows Defender), including updates to how the Block at First Sight feature can be configured and the ability to specify the level of cloud protection.
Enhanced mobile device management (MDM) support:
The ability to configure security policies through MDM that were previously only available through Group Policy. In fact, we have enabled close to 300 new security policies natively through MDM. (If you are new to MDM on Windows 10, see Modern management for Windows 10.)
The MDM Migration Analysis Tool (aka MMAT), which helps you transition Windows 10 device management from Group Policy to MDM by assessing which policies currently in use are available through MDM.
New MDM configuration service providers (CSPs)[ii], including:
Office CSP, which enables the installation of the Microsoft Office client on a device via the Office Deployment Tool.
EnterpriseAppVManagement CSP, which enables the management of virtual applications in Windows 10 PCs (Enterprise and Education editions) and enables App-V sequenced apps to be streamed to PCs even when managed by a MDM solution.
DynamicManagement CSP, which enables policies to be enabled dynamically based on location, network, or time. (For example, you could disable cameras on managed devices when at a work location.)
BitLocker CSP, which enables device encryption management (For example, you could require storage card encryption on mobile devices, or require encryption for OS drives on PCs).
CleanPC CSP, which enables the removal of user-installed and pre-installed applications, with the option to persist user data.
NetworkProxy CSP, which enables proxy server configuration for Ethernet and Wi-Fi connections.
New MDM settings to turn off many items in the Start menu, including frequently used apps, switch account, and restart/shut down/hibernate/sleep.
The ability to customize Start and taskbar layout in Windows 10 Pro with Group Policy, and new support for customized taskbar policy deployed via MDM.
The ability to control which pages in the Settings app are visible to users using either MDM or Group Policy via the Settings/PageVisibilityList setting. Blocked pages will not be visible in the app and, if all pages in a category are blocked, the category will be hidden as well.
Support for mobile application management (MAM), including integration with Windows Information Protection, which provides individuals with access to business apps on their personal Windows devices while protecting company data.
Improved manageability support in Microsoft Edge with the addition of new Group Policy and MDM settings geared towards customizing experiences, security, and privacy (e.g. Allow Address bar drop-down list suggestions, Allow Adobe Flash, Set default search engine, Keep favorites in sync between Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge, etc.)
We have also made enhancements to Windows as a service, including:
More control over configuring when devices receive feature updates and quality updates in Windows Update for Business.
The ability to monitor the installation progress of both quality and feature updates with Update Compliance.
Express update support for Configuration Manager, in addition to current Express support for Windows Update, Windows Update for Business and WSUS.
And that’s not all. There are even more features in Windows 10, version 1703 that we think you will love:
Registry Editor (REGEDT32.EXE) now has an address bar, keyboard shortcuts, and abbreviations, such as HKCU (for HKEY_CURRENT_USER) and HKLM (for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE).
Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), which allows users to run native, unmodified Linux command-line tools directly on Windows, without virtual machines.
Command Prompt has been replaced with PowerShell in the Quick Link (Win+X) menu by default.
Streamlined virtual private network (VPN) makes it possible to easily activate a connection from the Network fly-out menu.
Hyper-V improvements, including:
“Quick Create,” a new option to create virtual machines in Hyper-V.
Checkpoint and Save for nested Hyper-V
Hyper-V instances will now remember your zoom level for the next session.
You can now override the scaling in Hyper-V virtual machines.
You can now resize Hyper-V windows in Enhanced session mode.
Networking improvements (NAT)
Developer-centric memory management
New display options, including:
You can now let Windows reduce the blue light emitted from the screen with Night light.
High-DPI scaling improvements for desktop applications.
A new setting in Properties for programs that will enable improved high-DPI rendering.
Windows will now better handle desktop icons when changes to the device’s setup (like removing a screen) are made.
After upgrading to Windows 10, v1703 in-box apps that were uninstalled by the user won’t automatically reinstall as part of the Feature Update installation process. (Apps de-provisioned by IT administrators will still be reinstalled, this is expected to be addressed in a future Feature Update)
Windows can now use Dynamic Lock to lock your PC when you leave it, with Windows Hello.
Setting up Windows Hello now provides visual guidance which tracks your face in real time.
Today’s release of Windows 10, version 1703 is initially considered the Current Branch (CB) and will become Current Branch for Business (CBB) in about four months from today. For a list of Windows 10 versions by servicing option, see our Windows 10 release information page. For more information about Windows 10 servicing—including guidance on how to assign devices to different servicing branches and how to manage updates using Windows Update for Business, WSUS, or Configuration Manager—see Update Windows 10 in the enterprise and Quick guide to Windows as a service, To get hands-on experience with Windows as a service in a virtual machine environment, with no additional software or setup required, try the Deploy and manage Windows as a service virtual lab.

New in Windows 10 Build 15063 Insider Preview (Mar 30, 2017)

New in Windows 10 Build 15058 Insider Preview (Mar 17, 2017)

New in Windows 10 Build 15048 Insider Preview (Mar 14, 2017)

New in Windows 10 Build 15042 Insider Preview (Mar 1, 2017)

New in Windows 10 Build 15025 Insider Preview (Feb 3, 2017)

What’s new in Build 15025
Announcing braille support in Narrator: We love getting feedback from our visually-impaired Insiders and implementing features to support your needs. It’s so important that we keep our diverse customers in mind as we co-create with you. Today, we are excited to announce braille support for Narrator . This experience is currently in beta. So try it out and give us feedback! In order to use braille with Narrator, you will need to do the following
Ensure Narrator is running. Then go to Settings > Ease of Access (WIN + U) and under the Narrator settings, activate the “Download Braille” button. You will be prompted to install braille support
Under Settings > Ease of Access, activate the “Enable braille” button and add a braille display. Note that USB and serial connections for the display are supported
Under Settings > Ease of Access, choose the language and braille table you want to use
Note detailed documentation about braille display key mappings will be made available in the Narrator User Guide closer to when the Windows 10 Creators Update is released.
New mono audio option in Ease of Access settings:
Visually impaired users use a screen reader application to read the PC screen content and information to them, and frequently use headphones or earbuds to hear the computer when in meetings or having conversations with others. When doing so, they generally use only one earbud to hear the PC in one ear so the other ear is free to hear conversations and sounds around them. That can cause them to not hear sounds that may be directed to the other earbud. In order to change the sound to be mono mode and so all audio is directed to both ears, they used to need a physical earphone adapter. You can now switch your audio to mono straight from the new Audio section under Settings > Ease of Access > Other options.
Introducing Collections in Feedback Hub:
A few months ago, we asked you what was one of your biggest pieces of feedback about the Feedback Hub. You said, “too many duplicate pieces of feedback!”. We love working with you to create a better experience for everyone using the Feedback Hub, so today we are so happy to announce Collections. Collections are now live in Feedback Hub starting with app version 1.1612.10251.0.
A Collection groups together feedback for similar problems and suggestions into single items that bring together all the voices who expressed that sentiment in one place. All of your individual voices will be amplified when your feedback and upvotes are joined together into collections, and you’ll be able to see just how big your voice can become. Same as with individual feedback, you’ll be able to upvote Collections, upload screenshots to show the engineering team a problem you’re seeing or a suggestion you have, and comment on the feedback with others.
More night light improvements:
The night light color temperature range has been extended to go down to very red (1200 K) and the entire range of the slider now works correctly.
Other changes, improvements, and fixes for PC:
[GAMING] We fixed the issue where clicking on certain elements in desktop (Win32) games causes the game to minimize and cannot be restored.
Windows Insiders should no longer have trouble connecting to certain Google sites due to an implementation of a new security model being rolled out to further enhance user security.
Extensions in Microsoft Edge are back to working as expected.
App developers can now request to pin their primary tile, just like secondary tiles, allowing apps to highlight their awesome live tiles – see this blog post for more info.
Quicken 2017 should launch and working normally again.
Windows Insiders will no longer see a “Mixed Reality” entry on the main page of Settings.
We fixed an issue Insiders may have experienced where the Network flyout would unexpectedly appear blank instead of listing available Wi-Fi networks.
We fixed an issue where the custom color picker in Color Settings might stop working when selecting new colors.
We fixed an issue where certain colors in the recent colors section of Colors Settings would unexpectedly not appear selected after being selected.
We fixed an issue where if you downloaded a theme from the Store, deleted it, then downloaded it again, it wouldn’t appear in Themes Settings.
We’ve improved the performance when using point erase to ease ink in Sketchpad.
We’ve updated the Windows Ink Workspace so it will now remember your most recently selected stencil (ruler or protractor) and keep that choice the next time you open Sketchpad.
We fixed an issue where, after upgrading, some Insiders were left with certain tiles that couldn’t be unpinned from Start. We also fixed an issue where pinning a tile might unexpectedly add it in the middle of an existing group of tiles.
We fixed an issue resulting in some Insiders using PCs with certain older chipsets seeing colored boxes in the place of text and various other UI in UWPs apps.
We fixed an issue where desktop shortcuts pointing at URLs weren’t working for some Insiders.
We fixed an issue resulting in not being able to tab over to Other Users section on the login screen using only the keyboard.
We fixed an issue resulting in Microsoft Edge sometimes freezing for a short after using CTRL+C to copy selected text in the address bar.
We fixed an issue resulting in the shadows behind the set aside tabs in Microsoft Edge not being as dark as expected – the thumbnails should pop more now.
We fixed an issue with notification toast priority from recent flights where an alarm or skype call toast would not interrupt a reminder toast.
We fixed an issue where some captive portal Wi-Fi networks might fail to connect during OOBE, and if a captive portal network was using DNS hijacking to redirect to a secure site, the captive portal app would crash and you wouldn’t be able to clear the portal.
We fixed an issue where Yes/No voice commands in the Wi-Fi portion of OOBE weren’t working.
We fixed an issue resulting in the screen flashing and explorer crashing in a loop for some Insiders if they entered Safe Mode on recent builds.
We fixed an issue for devices with TPM chips on 15019 where the TPM was unexpectedly not able to start.
We fixed an issue where a window might appear to get “stuck” on the mouse when releasing it after dragging to resize it – requiring an extra click to let go.
We fixed an issue resulting in poor quality scaling of taskbar and task view thumbnail previews. We also fixed an issue where periodically when you moved your mouse to hover over a taskbar thumbnail preview, it might unexpectedly immediately dismiss.

New in Windows 10 1607 Build 14931 Insider Preview (Oct 8, 2016)

We have fixed these two issues with KB3195841 we has also been released to Windows Update:
FIXED: While using Narrator and Groove Music, if you navigate to the progress bar while a song is playing then Narrator will continually speak the progress of the song e.g. update with the current time of the progress bar every second. The result is you will be unable to listen to the song or hear any other control you navigate to.
FIXED: For keyboard users, using tab to navigate the Settings app will not work in this build. The arrow keys should work as a temporary workaround.
Some items of note:
Feedback Hub Update: Feedback Hub has been updated to version 1.1608.2441.0. This update contains some highly requested features from Windows Insiders including dark mode, showing the original feedback author in the feedback details, and a settings page for Feedback Hub. To enable dark mode, just go into settings in Feedback Hub.
Maps App Update: The Maps app was updated to version 5.1609.2580.0+ last week. You can now you can check the traffic to your Home or Work locations at any time by tapping the Traffic icon in the app bar. You will see traffic conditions to Home and Work and your most recently viewed traffic cameras so that you can stay on top of the road conditions along your route. Additionally, the Maps app now follows your system setting for theme preference for light or dark mode. And you can choose to change the map theme too!
Send SMS with Skype Preview: You can now try out sending and receiving SMS and MMS messages directly from a Windows 10 PC when Skype on their Windows 10 Mobile phone is set as the default messaging app. Give it a try and let us know what you think.
Native support for USB Audio 2.0: We now have native support for USB Audio 2.0 devices with an inbox class driver! This is an early version of the driver that does not have all features enabled, for e.g.: only playback (render) is supported with this version. Recording (capture) support is scheduled to arrive in later iterations. We encourage you to play with the driver and let us know what you think (using the Feedback app).
Other improvements and fixes for PC:
We fixed the issue causing people to experience a black screen when signing out and switching to another user account and unable to log in to that account.
We fixed the issue causing the built-in Windows 10 apps such as Calculator, Alarms & Clock, and Voice Recorder to not work after updating to a new build.

New in Windows 10 Build 14393 Insider Preview (Anniversary Update) (Aug 2, 2016)

New in Windows 10 Build 14372 Insider Preview (Jul 13, 2016)

New in Windows 10 Build 14366 Insider Preview (Jun 29, 2016)

Some new things:
Office Online for Microsoft Edge: Use Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Sway Online without needing Office installed. The Office Online extension is the quickest way to view, edit, create Office files in Microsoft Edge! You can also quickly access your recent files, thanks to integration with OneDrive and OneDrive for Business. Visit our extensions page at the Microsoft Edge Dev website to learn more and try it out for yourself!
Windows Store Update: A Store update (Version 11606.1000.43.0) is rolling out today that includes some good performance improvements to prevent the Store from crashing and using up too much resources on your devices. You should see an overall improvement navigating the Store and visiting app pages.
Improvements and fixes for PC (Build 14366):
For you mes amis: If you have a French Windows 10 Insider Preview build installed on your PC, you should receive this build as we have fixed the issue with the French translation process that caused a lot of text to revert from French back to English
Navigating to the Privacy pages in Settings app will no longer crash the Settings app and prevent you from adjusting your privacy settings
We have fixed the issue causing PC and Mobile devices trying to project to a PC (via the new PC Access feature) to fail
We fixed the issue where Start would not launch while an app is installing for certain languages, such as Chinese or Portuguese (Brazil)
We’ve updated the size of the Windows Ink Workspace icon in the notification area on the taskbar to be more consistent with the other notification area icons. In a similar drive to improve the consistency of our experience, we’ve updated the X to leave the Windows Ink Workspace which will now show a red state when you hover over it. We also fixed an issue where mouse wheel scrolling wouldn’t work to spin the ruler with certain mice, and an issue where dismissing the share pane or accepting the prompt to enter tablet mode would result in exiting the Windows Ink Workspace
We have updated Cortana search results, so now when you right-click on a .docx file, you’ll see a context menu option to open that file’s location
We fixed an issue resulting in the monitors in under Settings > System > Display from sometimes jumping to a different ordering after being clicked and causing scaling changes. We also fixed an issue where the slider to change display scaling might jump to an unexpected scale factor as you were moving it
We fixed an issue resulting in not being able to unsnap a full screen Remote Desktop window if you had been prompted credentials while connecting
We fixed an issue when the tile names could become cut off after using semantic zoom, and one where Start tiles could no longer be moved with touch
In an effort to improve visibility and access to your newly installed apps, we have moved the “Recently added” section of Start to be located above the “Most used” section in the All apps list. We’ve also increased the duration of time in which apps will be listed here – now 7 days, so you can easily try them out and decide if you want to pin them to Start or the taskbar for regular use and quick access
We fixed an issue where an active VPN connection could block the PC from going from idle into sleep
We fixed an issue where the touch keyboard might appear on the Lock screen after pressing the Num-Lock key on the keyboard
We fixed an issue that could result in Microsoft Edge using a large amount of CPU when open to a page with many animated gifs, as well as an issue resulting in certain captchas not displaying correctly
From this build on your default location will now be preserved across build updates
We fixed an issue resulting in nothing happening if you attempted to expand a Skype notification in Action Center. We also fixed an issue where the scrollbar would draw with no margin from the chevron and X in Action Center notifications, and one where app logos might be missing from the Action Center
We fixed an issue resulting in the cursor not showing up when interacting with the system using a Wacom tablet
We fixed an issue where the Settings app could open to a blank page after selecting a settings page via search results
We fixed an issue where the File Explorer window might navigate back to Quick Access after deleting something from the current folder in view. We also fixed an issue where right-clicking on the desktop might result in showing a spinning curser for a long time before the context menu would show
We fixed an issue resulting in existing reminders failing to display in the Cortana UI, and an error when attempting to save a new reminder
We have updated the Mobile Hotspot settings page to allow name, IP address, and mac address to be selectable so it can be copied elsewhere if needed
We fixed an issue where the battery flyout might not report the correct overall charging state for devices with two batteries
We fixed an issue where the title bars of apps using dark theme wouldn’t be dark when the window was not in focus, for example, Groove Music or Settings app
We fixed an issue resulting in you sometimes seeing a progress indicator before the background image would load on the Lock screen
ADDED 6/15: We fixed an issue where Text prediction using the Japanese IME would freeze your PC. If you turned the prediction setting off for workaround, please turn it back to on. You can do this by right-clicking IME mode icon “A” or “?” in systray and selecting “Properties”, clicking “Advanced”, and navigate to the “Predictive Input” tab and check on “Use predictive input system”