Windows 10 Creators Update release date finally announced

[Batu69]

It’s been a long time coming, but we finally have a release date for the Windows 10 Creators Update. Microsoft has been talking up this update for months now, unleashing the first significant details about the Creators Update way back in October. Now, after six solid months of hearing all about it, it’s almost time for it to launch.

 

 

The Creators Update comes with a whole bunch of new features focused on (surprise!) creators, whether they’re individual artists or businesses using Windows 10 for their enterprise needs. One of the biggest additions in the Creators Update comes in the form of Paint 3D, which retools the age-old program to allow its users to create 3D models and then share them online with others.

 

There’s also a push for mixed reality coming with the Creators Update. Microsoft has already made moves in this space with its HoloLens headset, but the problem is that HoloLens is much too expensive for most regular consumers. One major focus in the Creators Update is to make mixed reality more affordable, and around the time the update lands, Microsoft partners like Dell, Lenovo, ASUS, HP, and Acer will be launching mixed reality headsets that start at $299.

 

The Creators Update also kicks off an interesting initiative for Microsoft by launching Beam, a new streaming service that allows players to live stream their gameplay from Xbox One and PC. It’ll be interesting to see if Microsoft makes any headway against other services like Twitch and YouTube. Windows 10 will also be getting a new Game Mode, which provides additional resources to your game while you’re playing.

 

Beyond all of that, the Creators Update will also come with a bunch of new security features. These can be found in the new Windows Defender Security Center, which will feature information on your virus protection, firewall, and family controls.

 

There’s more to the Creators Update than what’s listed here, but these feature represent some of the biggest changes that are coming around the bend. The Creators Update will be launching on April 11, and it’ll be a free update for everyone currently running Windows 10. SOURCE: Microsoft

 

Article source

[Karlston]

In fact, wait as long as Microsoft will let you, since this is mostly a minor upgrade

Credit: Thinkstock

Windows 10 Creators Update is coming for you, and it will get you sooner or later. The question is whether to embrace Creators Update immediately or to wait a few months until the bugs get worked out—because, as we learned with Anniversary Update, there will be bugs.

 

Many who rushed to Anniversary Update paid the price with inexplicable freezes, broken antivirus utilities, stalled or disabled apps, disappearing volumes and drives, changed settings, and a legion of installation problems. No doubt many of those users wished they had waited the four months for Anniversary Update to reach Current Branch for Business status—Microsoft’s designation for builds that are finally stable enough for enterprise deployment.

 

Why embrace Creators Update immediately? The showcase feature is the new Paint 3D program and the ability to create 3D graphics and share them via Microsoft’s new Remix 3D online community. With Creators Update, Windows 10 also gains the ability to run HoloLens apps and a new class of Xbox games. If you’re a freehand artist or an Xbox-centric Windows gamer or you own a HoloLens or two, you might want Creators Update right away—bugs be damned.

 

Creators Update has plenty of real improvements for the rest of us as well, though they may be easier to resist until the Current Branch for Business release arrives this summer. The Edge browser, Cortana personal assistant, and other built-in apps are better. Usability is improved. Pro and Enterprise users gain the ability to throttle back forced patching using a (more or less) readily accessible pane in Settings. Enterprises will like the improvements to Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection, which include the ability to isolate compromised machines, block suspicious behaviors, and provide secure access to work documents from personal mobile devices.

 

In short, Creators Update is an improvement over Anniversary Update. Who knows? It might even offer smoother sailing for eager adopters than its predecessor. We’ll soon find out. Let’s take a look at the new features in the Creators Update, compared to the Anniversary Update, and you can ponder how urgently you need them.

Creators Update highlights

The marquee feature from which this update gets its name is 3D graphics. Some people swoon at the sight of a manually rotated 3D image embedded in a presentation. If that’s you, Creators Update includes a Paint 3D application that lets you create, edit, and use 3D images all over the place. The Edge browser can handle 3D objects. Minecraft has special 3D hooks, as does PowerPoint. All of it can be printed on a 3D printer.

InfoWorld

 

If your freehand drawing skills vastly exceed mine, the new Ink capabilities may also prove useful. Creators Update brings support for Windows Ink on multiple monitors, new on-screen inking tools such as a fully round protractor, and the ability to mark up photos.

 

But Creators Update isn’t only for creatives. If you bang away on a PC all day, every day, and you’re not terribly impressed with augmented reality or the ability to draw custom 3D graphics, there is still plenty here for you. As a rule, they aren’t especially big improvements, but there are many of them.

 

Microsoft is rapidly overhauling the largely anemic built-in apps that ship with Windows 10. For the most part (Edge is a notable exception), the new versions of the apps will work in any version of Win10. Skype, Mail, Groove Music, Movies & TV, and Photos have all received improvements in recent weeks. The new apps will no doubt be touted as part of the Creators Update drive, but almost all of them are also available in the Anniversary Update.

 

You will need Creators Update to get the new version of Edge. With dozens of new features, Edge is finally starting to look like a fully functional web browser. With almost two dozen extensions, including a few that are useful, Edge customizability isn’t going to challenge Chrome or Firefox any time soon. But the core browser itself—with new tab previews (see below), the ability to “set aside” tabs for later viewing, loading Flash only when bidden (following in the footsteps of Google, Firefox, and Safari), and Brotli compression, Edge may finally start climbing out of its also-ran status.

 

InfoWorld

 

Cortana also gets more love, with a new setup sequence and full screen appearance on the lock screen (now with volume control!). Cortana is becoming a bit more adept at offering services (responding to voice commands in Netflix, for example, as well as a couple dozen other apps) and reminders work a little better than before. Expect to see more features ascribed to Cortana, including notification synchronization, a “universal clipboard,” and app setting synchronization as Creators Update unfolds. You can see an in-depth discussion of Cortana’s new capabilities in this December 2016 WinHEC presentation.

 

There’s a new hotkey for the Snipping tool. Press Win-Shift-S and the Snipping tool pops up, letting you select a portion of the screen. The selection goes on the clipboard and the Snipping tool disappears. Though slick, it’s been very buggy in beta.

 

Creators Update has a blue light filter called Night Light, akin to f.lux, which you can set manually or on a timer. Some people swear that reducing blues at night (Settings > System > Display > Night Light Settings) lets them sleep better.

 

Start menu tiles can become “app folders.” For those who spend lots of time arranging tiles on the Start menu, now you can put as many as nine tiles on a single “medium” Start tile. Once you’ve docked a tiny tile on a medium tile, it takes two clicks to get the tiny tile to run: First click opens the folder, second click runs the program. Now that’s productivity. Magnifying glass optional.

 

InfoWorld

The Anniversary Update has a Share pane that slides out of the right. If you haven’t seen it, fire up Edge and click the circle icon in the upper right to bring it out. The new version of Share (see image at left) appears as a Universal Windows Program, but its behavior is quite similar to the old Share. In short, Share allows you to quickly drop a web link, picture, or file into Mail, OneNote, Twitter, Dropbox, and other apps that support it (few programs do).

 

Those of you enamored with Windows Hello’s ability to see your face and sign you in may be tempted to try the new Dynamic Lock feature, which works in reverse: If you step away from your machine and take your Bluetooth paired phone with you, Windows Hello will lock the PC. To see it, click Settings > Accounts > Sign-In Options, and check "Allow Windows to detect when you’re away and automatically lock the device." Problematic reports I’ve seen make me wonder why folks don’t simply hit Win-L on their way out of the chair.

 

If you have a touchpad that conforms to Microsoft’s Precision specs, Microsoft now has a central place in the Settings app to customize the response to specific gestures, such as three- and four-finger swipes. Not sure if you have a Precision touchpad? Click Settings > Devices > Touchpad. Some touchpad manufacturers (such as Synaptics) have their own drivers, but Precision touchpads put the control inside Windows Settings.

 

InfoWorld

Microsoft promises, once again, that Creators Update will treat 4K displays properly. High-DPI displays exposed a blind spot in early versions of Windows 10 (1507 and 1511). Even the Anniversary Update, 1607, which was supposed to handle high DPI better with Mixed Mode scaling, left many folks with headaches. Universal Windows Platform apps handle high DPI with aplomb, but regular apps need help from the operating system. With Creators Update, built-in apps like the Device Manager and Microsoft Management Console should look better. There’s also a new right-click Properties > Compatibility setting for programs called “System (Enhanced).” (See above.) Will it work for the programs you run? Hard to say.

 

Last and least for professional users, the new Game Mode improves game performance by dynamically giving more system resources to games—useful if you’re playing Grand Theft Auto V while the boss is out to lunch. Add to that more Game Bar-enabled games, better-positioned sound, streaming gameplay from your Xbox, mixed Xbox and Win10 play, and you’ll never get anything done. For details, look at the December 2016 WinHEC session on PC Gaming.

Control over updates, privacy, and advertising

As I noted at the outset, Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise users can delay updates using the Settings app (Settings > Update & Security > Advanced Options). Getting the screen to appear (below) can be difficult. You may need to slide Pause Updates on and off, and possibly manually check for updates afterward. Your control isn’t absolute, but in general you can tell Windows Update to back off for significant periods of time. See the details in “5 fatal flaws that dog the new Windows 10.”

InfoWorld

 

Windows 10 Home users can set wired Ethernet connections as metered. This isn’t as great as being able to control updates directly, but it accomplishes the same task: Windows will not download updates over connections marked as “metered,” which warns Windows that you have to pay for the connection by the bit. Click Settings > Network & Internet > Ethernet. Click the Ethernet connection and slide "Set as metered connection" to on. If you turn your wired connection into a metered connection, Win10 will pop up notifications from time to time that you need to “Pause OneDrive to reduce network charges,” but you can ignore them.

 

Ever had a Win10 update kick in at an inopportune time? Haven’t we all? Microsoft keeps saying it is solving the problem (active hours, custom restart times), but so far the solutions haven’t worked. Now we’re promised that the new Snooze button (below) will give you the ability to “pause the update process completely for three days.” I remain skeptical, but let’s cross our fingers.

InfoWorld

Creators Update also introduces a new setup dialog for privacy settings. Microsoft considers this a Real Big Deal, but as best I can tell it doesn’t do much. I talked about this new series of questions during the setup sequence in a January blog post, “Reality check: How Windows 10’s new privacy controls stack up.” In short, Microsoft’s efforts to make privacy settings more accessible is commendable. But it isn’t at all clear if the choices made here have much effect on the “snooping” data collected by Microsoft.

InfoWorld

I’m particularly concerned by the setting that says Microsoft can use diagnostic data to “get more relevant tips and recommendations to tailor Microsoft products and services for your needs.” If Microsoft is using “diagnostic data” to target tips and recommendations—presumably advertising—we should all be suspicious of “diagnostic data.”

 

Until Microsoft tells us precisely what data it is collecting and how that data is used, we have no way of making an informed decision about granting access to that data.

 

Advertising in Windows 10 is annoying and getting worse, rearing its ugly head in more places. In early versions of Windows 10, we saw advertising on the Lock Screen (Settings > Personalization > Lock screen > “Get fun facts, tips and more from Windows and Cortana on your lock screen”) and the Start menu (Settings > Personalization > Start > “Occasionally show suggestions in Start”). More recently, ads have begun to appear in the File Explorer.

InfoWorld

Creators Update changes some of the settings to control these helpful intrusions. The Lock Screen advertising appears to be associated with the Windows spotlight background, for example, but the Suggestions on Start setting persists. Cortana has grown the ability to show ads in the Search box (Cortana > Settings > “Let Cortana pipe up from time to time with thoughts, greetings, and notifications in the Search box”).

 

We’re going to get more ads in Creators Update. The new Share window, which you can see at the beginning of this review, includes download links for Twitter, Box, Dropbox, Instagram, Line, and Facebook Messenger. The Start menu (shown below from a completely clean copy of Creators Update) includes tiles for Drawboard PDF, Facebook, Twitter, Houzz, Minecraft, Candy Crush Soda Saga, Asphalt 8 Airborn, Age of Empires Castle Siege, and Royal Revolt II.

 

Call them “recommendations” or “suggestions” if you like—Microsoft does. But many Windows customers feel they step over the line. Creators Update takes even more steps over the line.

InfoWorld

 

Finally, Microsoft is implementing differential downloads for major version changes: the Unified Update Platform. UUP reduces the download size of Win10 version changes by 30 percent. That’s a 30 percent savings in one download every eight months—not bad, but a much bigger deal for Microsoft than for customers.

The bottom line

If you see something in the Creators Update that you absolutely can’t live without—maybe Paint 3D or Xbox support, or those fancy rotating 3D PowerPoint pics—by all means, queue up and install Creators Update as soon as it’s available. If you want the ability to more finely control updates, jump in. If the more usable Edge strikes your fancy or the new Cortana rings your chimes, you may have good reason to join the ranks of unpaid beta testers.

 

However, if you want to be confident you’re getting a stable system, you would be much better advised to wait until Microsoft has shaken out the bugs. In a galaxy long ago and far away, that meant waiting for Service Pack 1. Nowadays, it means waiting for the Current Branch for Business designation. I expect Microsoft will put Creators Update on Current Branch for Business in July or August. I talk about the implications of Current Branch for Business at length in “What you need to know about Windows 10 versions and lifespan.”

 

If you’re running Anniversary Update, stay put. If you’re running Window 7 or Windows 8.1 and you’ve decided to take the Windows 10 plunge, go ahead and do so, but go with the Anniversary Update, not the Creators Update, until Current Branch for Business arrives. Upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10 Anniversary Update will get tricky soon after Creators Update hits—Microsoft wants you to jump into the latest version of Win10. Stay tuned for instructions about making the leap.

 

Source: Review: Windows 10 Creators Update is worth waiting for (InfoWorld - Woody Leonhard)

[CrAKeN]

Windows 10 now gets major free updates every several months. The latest, Creators Update, adds features and tools not only for creative types but for gamers and readers as well.

 

Windows 10 is now considered by Microsoft to be a service. What that means is that the operating system is continually updated with new features and fixes in small increments (such as the redesigned Photos app) and big releases. The Creators Update is the latest big one, and it starts rolling out to Windows 10 users for free on April 11.

 

The previous major release, Anniversary Update, fine-tuned the interface and added things like Digital Ink input, more Windows Hello secure authentication possibilities, and Cortana interaction from the lock screen.

 

This time, Creators Update does add one very creator-specific tool—the new Paint 3D—but much of what's new concerns gaming and the web browser. Read on for all the most interesting new things in Windows 10.

 

More Gaming Features

 

 

Some of the biggest updates in Creators benefit gamers, like Game Mode, which shifts system resources away from other processes to your game. A new dedicated Gaming section graces the main Windows 10 Settings app; it lets you control the Game bar that pops up when you hit Windows key-G, your Game DVR options, and the new Broadcasting capability that comes via Beam. Beam offers sub-second latency, making for more immediate interactions between broadcaster and audience.

 

Paint 3D

 

 

Windows 10 Creators Update brings 3D design to the masses. The new Paint 3D app lets you build and edit 3D objects from a set of primitives and pre-built shapes, and then apply 2D images and textures to them. Then you can share your creation and see those from others on the Remix.com sharing community. The app also supports 3D printing.

 

Books in the Edge Browser

 

 

The default web browser that comes with Windows 10, Microsoft Edge, gets a few new capabilities with Creators Update, one of the biggest being that it can now function as an e-reader of e-books. You can choose from a decent selection of e-books in the Windows Store app, and the reader has all the functions we've become accustomed to and then some. You access your bookshelf from the Favorites/History button. The reader not only shows table of contents and formatting options, but can actually read your book aloud.

 

Night Light

 

 

The blue part of the spectrum emitted by displays has been found to interfere with sleep, and for that reason Apple introduced Night Shift in iOS 9.3. Now Windows users can benefit from de-blued screens in the evening, thanks to the Night Light setting in Creators Update. It defaults to turning on at sunset, but you can configure custom hours and even set the color temperature.

 

New Privacy Dashboard and Setup

 

 

Microsoft took a lot of heat for its data collection in Windows 10, even though it was no more invasive than that in Apple and Google's software, which can't work without an account as Windows can. Starting with Windows 10, privacy setup options are much clearer, and now there's an online Privacy dashboard at account.microsoft.com/privacy that lets you see what data Microsoft saves to the cloud and lets you clear search history, location data, and more.

 

Movies & TV App Updates

 

 

The Movies & TV app not only lets you play content bought in the Windows Store, but it also serves as a player for your own videos. In Creators Update, that player can now show 360-degree VR content. A new mini-mode lets you relegate playing videos to a screen corner, and the player is now capable of 4K resolutions.

 

Tab Tools in Edge

 

 

Some more new features in Edge merit their own entry, as they're completely separate from the e-reader capabilities mentioned earlier. The browser now lets you drop down thumbnail previews as well as for individual tabs when you hover over them. But an even bigger productivity aid is the "Set these tabs aside" button, which does what it says and lets you easily access groups of tabs later.

 

Source

[steven36]

Too bad mostly only people who dont use Windows 10 at all reads woody site and  articles like these dont have any barring on sites like Nsanedown  were many site members were testing Vista .Windows 7 , Windows 8.1 and  now windows 10 just for shits and giggles  too  figure out how too crack it . The thing i was most worried about was my VPN not working  if it would not worked i would went back to redstone 1 but mine works  Ether you hate windows 10 and dont use it or ether you tolerate it and do use it. it's  as simple as that. It's always had bugs since July 2015

 

The only problems on my setup i had so far is.

1. Windows defender was causing some apps to load slow so i disabled it and put NOD32 in Fixed

2. XYplorer the newest version dont want to run now but i have older version that works fine tell a update fixes it  Fixed

3. Windows 10 Firewall control gave me some problems when i installed it  but was not hard too resolve by using different rules. Fixed

Maybe i will find more bugs as i get deeper into testing it.

 

Most of my apps responds faster in this version than ever before on Windows 10 so i can only speak for myself i dont regret testing it early.

[eurobyn]

i think they are going back to one stage back. and gave it , it is a bigger release number.

the most  problems are fixed but new bugs appeal.

if i spell it right. (dutch guy from Belgium)

tweaking around will fix it but the most are getting more bugs.

 

Microsoft haves new People working and should have keep the best there whas.

if i spell it right. (dutch guy from Belgium)

 

 

 

[WALLONN7]

1 hour ago, steven36 said:

Too bad mostly only people who dont use Windows 10 at all reads woody site and  articles like these dont have any barring on sites like Nsanedown  were many site members were testing Vista .Windows 7 , Windows 8.1 and  now windows 10 just for shits and giggles  too  figure out how too crack it .

 

Really?! That's all?!

 

You know, my jaw dropping with the recurring ease with which you manage to diminish the importance of the NSF and its members and then immediately put yourself above everything... Grease your chest and let go of your maxims as always echo:

 

Quote

 

"Because with me none of this occurs"...

                                                                                      "Only newbies go through this ..."

                                                                                                                                                                   "It's typical of "haters"...

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  And so on...

 

 

The more I read what you write, the more I convince myself that you are wasting your time with us... Why are you so snobby?! Why this sick need to pose as right, putting others under your ego?!...

 

Do not humiliate yourself down to our "newbie tester level"!!! Be happy with your peers!!!

[Karlston]

1 hour ago, steven36 said:

Too bad mostly only people who dont use Windows 10 at all reads woody site

 

Well, for a start Woody does and I'd put his real world experience ahead of his critics.

 

There's any number of Woody fans that use Windows 10. Woody's followers do so to keep up with Windows (including 10) news, and to find out when it's safe to apply Microsoft's less-than-stellar-quality updates (including Windows 10 ones).

 

1 hour ago, steven36 said:

Ether you hate windows 10 and dont use it or ether you tolerate it and do use it.

 

If you're suggesting that all Windows 10 abstainers hate it, or that no Windows 10 users love it, then dream on...

 

I don't use Windows 10 because it's not as stable, not as mature, and gives users less control than Windows 8.1 (and 7, and...). If Microsoft ever sorts out those, I'll become a happy Windows 10 camper too.

[Batu69]

Topic merged.

[Ryrynz]

Not as stable as 8.1? Never had an issue with it... but hey you're right about one thing, it's stable cos it's fucking moving nowhere.