Microsoft releases its first major update to Windows 10 today, to bring performance and stability improvements and some notable new features for business.
This mammoth patch is just under 4GB in size for some users and, significantly boost Windows 10’s boot times over Windows 7 and Microsoft is claiming that Windows 10 machines will start up to 30 percent faster than if they were running Windows 7 – based on figures from a third party report.
The drive to build on the more than 110-million devices running Windows 10 has prompted Microsoft to make changes that will mean that Windows 10 will automatically begin installing on most Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 machines from next year.
Users will still need to confirm the installation manually for it to continue. If they choose not to proceed, the customer will have the ability to delay it for some period.
People who don’t like Windows 10 are able to roll back to their previous OS within 31 days.
What may be concerning Microsoft are third-party figures suggesting that after an initial rush to upgrade, there are a significant number of Windows 7 and 8.1 users not choosing to upgrade to Windows 10. An issue that a number of users will also want to see addressed by today’s update to Windows 10 is increased stability.
In September, ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley echoed complaints from various Windows 10 users, saying “too many moving parts are making for an unstable computing experience for me”.
The most significant changes in today’s update are for business users – with the introduction of :an off-switch for telemetry, a new way of delaying updates and a simplified approach for deploying apps. The Windows Update for Business portal will allow admins to stagger the deployment of Windows updates to company PCs, allowing admins to create groups of machines that update at different points and to set specific dates and times when updates should occur.
Meanwhile the new Windows Store for Business should make it easier for firms to deploy apps to staff. Organisations will be able buy apps in bulk and create a private version of the Windows Store that offers employees a bespoke list of apps, both pre-approved Windows Store and custom line-of-business software. Admins will also be able to assign apps to specific employees.
To use the store users will need to be running the Pro or Enterprise versions of Windows 10 and have an Azure Active Directory ID.
Also new for business users are features to help companies to manage devices.
Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) Join allows IT to maintain one cloud-based directory and identity management service that will let company employees have a single login and securely sync their Windows settings and data across all of their Windows 10 devices.
Users will also be able to gain single sign-on access to in-house services from personal Windows devices by linking that Windows machine to a work account managed with Azure Active Directory.
The update also expands the OS’ capabilities around mobile device management (MDM), enabling MDM servers to enroll and configure Windows phone, computers and tablets, as well as applying updates and enforcing the latest in-house policies governing usage.
On the security front, Credential Guard will offer additional security for login details by storing derived credentials – NTLM hashes and Kerberos tickets and the process that manages them in a secured isolated container that uses Hyper-V and virtualization-based security. Microsoft says the feature breaks the popular “pass the hash” approach used in many major breaches.
Another new feature, Device Guard allows devices to be restricted to running only trusted software – whether it’s traditional desktop, Windows store or in-house apps. Device Guard is designed to prevent intruders from installing malware and uses Trusted Boot to keep company devices secure.
A forthcoming security feature for business called Enterprise Data Protection, will be rolled out for testing Windows under the Insider Program early next year. Enterprise Data Protection will allow companies to separate work and personal data on devices using containerisation file techniques. It will also encrypt data as it moves around the organisation – helping to ensure data isn’t accessed by the wrong people.
Tweaks to Cortana Windows 10’s virtual assistant Cortana gains the ability to recognize phone numbers, email and physical addresses from handwritten notes on devices such as the Microsoft Surface, allowing users to scribble down reminders.
Cortana will also now watch your email to keep track of event and movie bookings in your calendar and notify you when they’re coming up, with the option of also booking an Uber driver in the US.
Cortana is now available in English in Japan, Australia, and Canada and India.
Microsoft Edge browser gets a bump to performance and better security, as well as a tab preview feature, which allows users to hover over tabs to get a preview of the open website.
Edge also syncs your Favorites and Reading list items across devices. However, support for extensions to enhance the abilities of the browser are not present, but will arrive early next year for testers in the Windows Insider program.
There have been some concerns about Windows 10 and data privacy. if you haven’t yet installed Windows 10 ensure you that you do a custom install so as to pick and choose what is enabled at the onset. If you installed Windows 10 using Express settings, then you can still disable some of the default privacy settings.
From the start button, click “Settings” and then click “Privacy” and click the “General” tab on the left sidebar. Under that tab you’ll see a few sliders where you can toggle certain features on or off.
The top toggle button is the most important as it disables the advertising ID for each user. and you might also want to disable the rest of the options.
After turning off the options under the general tab, the next tab down, “Location,” allows you to turn off location data for all apps or for specific ones.
The tab labeled “Speech, inking, and typing.”is whHere you can disable Cortana from gathering information about you by clicking the “Stop getting to know me” button towards the middle of the screen. However, clicking this will also disable Cortana and dictation.
The “Other devices” tab is at the bottom of the list. Under this tab turn off the “Sync with devices” feature. In the example given by Microsoft, this could be used for connecting with beacons, which are typically used for advertising purposes. To kill this feature, slide the first button to the off position – you can also turn off syncing for trusted devices
Back on general settings click “Network and internet.” In that window click “Manage Wi-Fi settings” toward the middle of the screen. Customize your setting for the Wi-Fi Sense feature.To keep everything private, click all the sliders until the read “off” and uncheck the boxes on the page or select which features to turn off individually.
Choose whether to opt out of the personalized ads while browsing in Microsoft Edge. Click the following link or paste it into your browser: https://choice.microsoft.com/en-gb/opt-out
Click the Xs next to the options to turn off “Personalised ads in this browser” and “Personalised ads wherever I use my Microsoft account.”
