The Windows 10 Creators Update Arrives
by Brett Howse on April 25, 2017 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Software
- Operating Systems
- Windows
- Microsoft
- Windows 10
Privacy Changes
Windows 10 has been under scrutiny for privacy since before its debut, and while Microsoft has attempted to address some of this in the past, they are never going to appease everyone without a major shift in policy. With this update, they are making the effort to be a bit more up-front about the privacy settings, and what they do, and that’s a good change.
Prior to the Creators Update, the default during the out of box experience (OOBE) was to have an “Express Settings” where the various options were on by default, but could be changed if you specifically requested it. But, people being people, most would just click Express and go on to the next page. Now, during setup, some of the privacy settings are shown explicitly, with brief explanations of what they do. The person setting up the PC has the choice to change any of these without having to go through any extra screens. This is a very clear move towards being more transparent, even if some of the settings can’t be turned all the way off.
The one privacy setting that can’t be turned off completely is Diagnostics. As with previous versions of Windows 10, only the Enterprise version allows for this to be completely disabled, and as such it’s a point of contention for some people. Diagnostics allows Microsoft to collect data on app performance and crashes, and this data can be used to correct issues with Windows, apps, drivers, and more. There’s no doubt that this is very useful for Microsoft, and it’s something that is done in iOS and Android as well. Microsoft did remove one of the settings for diagnostics though, so now the choices are between basic and full.
The OOBE settings are a nice change, but they are only the tip of the iceberg. Under Privacy in Settings, there’s a much more comprehensive list.
Also, anyone getting the Creators Update will be prompted to choose their privacy settings after the upgrade as well, so this applies to everyone, and not just new installs.
Cortana comes to the Setup process
Speaking of the Out of Box Experience, Microsoft has added Cortana support to the OOBE, allowing this section to be completed with voice, and it includes subtitles as well if needed. Any steps towards accessibility are laudable goals.
App Installs
In an almost strange turn, Microsoft has brought back Windows RT with this version of Windows 10. You can now set Windows to only allow apps from the Store, or to warn if an app is from outside the store. This is pretty similar to how macOS works, but with the limited store offerings, it would be pretty painful to restrict Windows 10 to just store apps right now. Maybe some day in the future, but for now there are only a few Centennial apps available, and the state of UWP right now is not at the point where this would be an ideal setting.
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evilspoons - Tuesday, April 25, 2017 - link
Well, there was an extremely primitive registry in Windows for Workgroups 3.11 (not Windows 3.1), so it's more like 23-24 years :|lmcd - Tuesday, April 25, 2017 - link
While Windows 10 Mobile looks dead-ish, I wouldn't say for the reasons you guys have selected. The list of phones there consolidates the list of different cores Microsoft is supporting down to A7 (why this made the cut I don't know), A53, and Kryo. The former will probably be dropped soon, and Microsoft will go to exclusively ARMv8 powered devices. I wouldn't be surprised if support for ARMv8 devices lasts far longer than projected here. Microsoft is still investing hard in new ARM-based platforms, and devices within the same scope as those platforms will likely keep evolving.danjw - Tuesday, April 25, 2017 - link
Type: "Hopefully we will here some more news on this front soon." The "here" should be "hear".versesuvius - Tuesday, April 25, 2017 - link
In a nutshell Win 10 is one big mess. Just about everything Microsoft is doing is fixing a problem or iterating on a solution to an unknown problem. The cost and time that needs to be put into installing and running and keeping a watch on what is happening to the computer that is running Win 10 is too prohibitive.Mr Perfect - Tuesday, April 25, 2017 - link
The thing that bugs me in Creator's Update is the removal of the links to "Control Panel" and "Programs and Features" when you right click the start button. They've replaced them with links to the modern "Settings" and "Apps and Features", respectively. There are still to many settings that can't be adjusted in the modern apps, they're not ready to replace the legacy versions yet.On the other hand, they replaced "Command prompt" with "Power Shell" and Power Shell is absolutely ready to take over.
Samus - Tuesday, April 25, 2017 - link
What I find interesting are the browser power consumption benchmarks.I don't agree with Microsoft.
Edge is undoubtedly more power efficient on my laptop for light browsing sessions, but Netflix is more efficient in Chrome. Also, for light browsing, I'd say Chrome is the least efficient. It's like a Honda Civic, no matter how hard you beat on it, it gets the same fuel economy; Chrome consistently uses about the same amount of power. It is occasionally bested by Firefox and almost always bested by Edge, except in Netflix where Edge seems to use more power.
These are my observations over the years I've been running Windows 10, and honestly the anniversary update didn't improve the Netflix performance for Chrome. My laptop is a Haswell Elitebook 810 G2.
Allan_Hundeboll - Tuesday, April 25, 2017 - link
Like a Civic you say? I have Civic and it will do 15 km/l when I drive with a light foot. If I drive like I stole it it will only do about 10 km/l...Zeratul56 - Tuesday, April 25, 2017 - link
Why don't you use the Netflix app? It is pretty nice actually. I don't have my tablet in front of me but I am sure the memory footprint for the app is at least half compare to running in the browser.I am sure running Netflix in chrome has some hardware excelleration not found in other browsers. It would behoove Netflix to do that given the large user base of chrome.
I don't get why people don't jump on the app bandwagon in windows. I use the slack app over the browser as it uses much less resources. That seems to microsofts problem, they can't get people to break their old ways.
Shadowmaster625 - Tuesday, April 25, 2017 - link
I have yet to download, install, or otherwise use a single UWP app. Everything is still basically win32.mikato - Tuesday, April 25, 2017 - link
So there is no update or successor to Windows Movie Maker in this Creators Update?