The Windows 10 April Update (1803): The Littlest Big Update
by Brett Howse on May 25, 2018 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Software
- Operating Systems
- Windows
- Microsoft
- Windows 10
Nearby Share
One feature that should be very useful to certain people is Nearby Share. This lets you quickly and easily share files between people from PC to PC, without having to send an email or use a messaging app as the transfer tool. Nearby Share works over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, and will use Wi-Fi as the preference. In an office, this was something done via a USB drive most recently, but with wireless and Bluetooth in all modern laptops, it makes sense to leverage that to avoid a step.
It should be very useful in certain situations, and isn’t tied to an account so you can send to any nearby device. The receiver will have the option of accepting the file. It’s not on by default, but can be toggled on when needed. It’s definitely something you’d not want to leave on.
Easy Bluetooth
Windows 10 now supports a simpler Bluetooth pairing process for some devices which lets you pair devices with a single click. You’ll get a pop-up notification asking if you want to pair a device, and if you say yes, it’s all setup. Devices have to support this though, and ones that require PINs are not going to work with a single click setup.
Windows 10 S Mode
Windows 10 S launched with the Surface Laptop as its first device to offer the constrained version of Windows 10 that restricts users to only running apps from the Store. The idea was to keep people from harming themselves, and to keep performance levels where they should be, by not allowing people to just install whatever they want, and to keep apps in packages that allow for easy removal and less items running at startup. This is pretty much how any modern smartphone works of course, but the downside to it on Windows 10 was that the Microsoft Store is not known as one of the key selling features, so uptake and usuage of Windows 10 S had to be pretty small. With the April Update, this is replaced by Windows 10 in S Mode, which is just a setting that can be enabled on any PC to make it like Window 10 S was. It'll still likely never get used, but it's a much better solution than another version of the OS just for this purpose. There's reasons you'd want this of course - education being a great example - but the average consumer is choosing Windows for the legacy application support, so this new model is definitely the better way to handle it.
The drawback is that S Mode is a one-way setting at the moment. A machine can be set in S mode when imaged using an unattended.xml file and dism, but if it's set back to regular Windows 10, there's not a way to switch back and forth.
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ChristopherFortineux - Friday, June 8, 2018 - link
Windows 10 has a dark mode across the entire system. MacOS is currently about to implement a dark theme. Selecting Settings > Personalization > Colors, Then at the bottom select "Dark" under Choose your default App mode. As for enabling it within Explorer that will require changes to core files through other means. You can choose dark colors for title bars etc and save the theme under the Themes tab.tamalero - Tuesday, May 29, 2018 - link
This patch is buggy as hell compared to the past ones for me. For example.. clicking on timeline/task view instantly crashes windows explorer. Closing all my windows.cm2187 - Tuesday, May 29, 2018 - link
Is the start menu working now or is it one of these “hard computer science problems”?sadsteve - Tuesday, May 29, 2018 - link
Updated 9 desktops and 2 laptops with only one problem. My AnyDesk connection to my headless SageTV server no longer works properly. It connects and just sits there waiting for the screen to update. I have to plug a monitor into the server to get it to function. I've ordered a monitor emulator to fix the issue.Icehawk - Tuesday, May 29, 2018 - link
Ugh. RDP was changed in this update and now it’s a UWP app :( yay it doesn’t work. Thankfully the old RDP is still available if you search for it.MS for the love of god stop with the UWP crap in the OS, it looks like garbage and have half the functionality of the original ones we all know and have been using for ages. Settings can go eat a donkey dick
ChristopherFortineux - Friday, June 8, 2018 - link
Everything will be built into new menus and functions. You are not going to change this choice. Maybe, change platforms.croc - Tuesday, May 29, 2018 - link
I think I am beginning to see a pattern here... Fall updates for lots of new goodies, Spring updates to clean up the mess and maybe add a gadget or two.ChristopherFortineux - Friday, June 8, 2018 - link
Process of evolving an OS. Build up features. Fix issues and resolve any messes that occur. Continue design directives.Mark Woodward - Wednesday, May 30, 2018 - link
I feel Microsoft engineers should check the update thoroughly before rolling it out to the masses, like they do on https://drasticds-emulatorapk.com/Because there will be another update to fix the issues created by this one! Read more at https://cheatengineandroidapk.com/
BigDragon - Thursday, May 31, 2018 - link
My tablet PC (Yoga 720) pulled this update down Tuesday night. I noticed when I tried to use the machine Wednesday only to be greeted with update screen after update screen. Not like I was trying to use the computer to do stuff or anything.Sadly, the update broke my microphone and mouse cursor. Took an hour to figure out why I could listen to my mic, but Discord couldn't detect or use it. Turns out disabling the "let apps use my microphone" and then turning it right back on was all that was needed. Driver and settings changes elsewhere had zero impact. As for the mouse cursor, it disappears the moment I touch the screen and never comes back. Previously, using the touchpad would cause the mouse cursor to come back. Now it's just permanently gone. Windows no longer distinguishes between touch and touchpad input.
This has been one frustrating update. Definite regression in features I use. I don't use any of the stuff outlined as changes and additions in this article.