The major features of Windows 10 version 1903

[Karlston]

The next major version of Windows 10 is Windows 10 version 1903 (the April 2019 Update or 19H1); if things go as planned, it will be released in March/April of 2019.

 

The new version of Windows 10 will be offered as a direct download and via Windows Update. Users need to actively seek for the update using Windows Update in the beginning, and it is only offered to certain computer configurations at first that Microsoft considers optimal.

 

Insider Preview builds give us a clear picture of the changes and feature additions in the new Windows 10 feature update release.

 

It will also be interesting to see if Microsoft manages to release a build that is more stable and less bug-ridden than the last feature update release Windows 10 version 1809. Microsoft had to pull the release shortly after release.

Windows 10 version 1903: new features

Reserved Storage

 

 

The new version of Windows introduces a new storage concept called Reserved Storage. It reserves a certain amount of storage for the operating system for use by Windows updates, applications, temporary files and system caches.

 

Reserved storage used about 7 Gigabytes of space on a test system with a 128 Gigabyte hard drive. Windows users may notice a drop in free storage space thanks to reserved storage.

 

Microsoft plans to turn on the feature only for new installations and for pre-installed systems. It is possible to enable Reserved Storage on systems that get upgraded to Windows 10 version 1903, however.

 

Storage Sense

 

 

Windows 10 version 1903 features Storage improvements. When you open the Storage settings in Settings > System > Storage, you will immediately see how optimization options.

 

Windows may display how much storage you may free up by cleaning temporary files or by removing applications or features.

 

There is also a new "Optimize Drives" option which launches a defragmentation management window.

 

Windows Sandbox

 

 

Windows Sandbox is a new security feature that Microsoft plans to introduce in Windows 10 version 1903. It works similarly to third-party sandboxing solutions and uses Microsoft Hypervisor and hardware virtualization at its core. The sandbox requires Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise.

 

You may use it to run any executable file to block it from interacting with the underlying operating system. In other words: what happens in Windows Sandbox stays in Windows Sandbox.

 

Sandbox was launched with a basic set of features but has been improved in recent Insider builds. One new feature that Microsoft added was support for configuration files to control certain Sandbox features.

 

Windows Sandbox is ideal for testing applications and for privacy / security purposes.

 

Smaller changes

• Command Prompt and PowerShell text zooming support. Just use Ctrl-Mousewheel to zoom in or out. Zooming changes the size of the console window and makes text larger or smaller in the process.
• Cortana and Search go separate ways. You find a search bar and a Cortana button on the Windows taskbar in the new Windows 10 release.
• Emoji 12.0 support.
• Extension: new Chrome extension for Timeline, Chrome and Firefox Windows Defender Application Guard extension.
• File Explorer may display file dates using a conversational format. You can turn this on or off.
• File Explorer supports options to access Linux files in a WSL distro from Windows.
• Focus Assist may block apps from showing notifications in full screen mode.
• Fonts may be installed using drag and drop in Settings > Personalization > Fonts.
• Office app is included in this release by default.
• Protection History is new in Windows Security.
• Recommended Troubleshooting section under Home > Update & Security > Troubleshoot designed to fix certain issues automatically.
• Registry Editor: press F4 to jump to the end of the address line and get a list of dropdown suggestions.
• Reset This PC: improvements to the user interface.
• Retpoline patch to improve performance of Spectre mitigations is enabled by default.
• Search features a new Top Apps section that lists regularly used apps (and is pretty useless in my opinion).
• Search locations (those that Windows indexes) can now be managed from the Settings app. Check Settings > Search > Searching Windows.
• Sign-in option to sign-in without a password using a (linked) phone number.
• Swiftkey, a technology to improve the touch keyboard experience, is now available for more languages.
• Start Menu uses a slimmer design with just one colour of application tiles (instead of two).
• Start Menu option to unpin an entire group from Start.
• System apps: it is possible to uninstall more system apps using built-in functionality (and not PowerShell magic or third-party apps to do so).
• Task Manager displays scaling info. Also, legacy program scaling is turned on by default and you may set a default Tab in Task Manager.
• Troubleshooting: Windows 10 version 1903 may remove installed updates automatically as a last resort to fix non-booting PCs.
• Windows 10 Active Hours may adjust automatically based on usage. See Settings > Update & Security > Change active hours. Also, other Windows Update changes.
• Windows 10 Home admins may pause updates now.
• Windows 10 version 1903 supports the RAW image file format by default. Means: file explorer displays RAW image thumbnails and may use metadata of RAW files.
• Windows Mixed Reality: run desktop (win32) apps.
• Windows (light) theme in Themes. You may install it by going to Settings > Personalization > Themes.
• Your Phone app may support screen mirroring in the new release.

 

Source: The major features of Windows 10 version 1903  (gHacks - Martin Brinkmann)

[Ryrynz]

Emoji 12.0 support.

That's what we're waiting for boys.. Are your bodies ready?