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Windows 10’s first major update is available. Here’s everything you need to know

November 13, 2015

It’s already November, and the first major Windows 10 update is here. It seems like only weeks ago, Microsoft was rolling out its new operating system. Time flies by with so many tech developments every day. Microsoft’s Terry Myerson announced on the company blog that the “next milestone” has been reached, and the update is available for PCs and tablets. Xbox One consoles and certain mobile phones will also benefit from the update soon.

Hailed as an enterprise-oriented update more than anything else, the new Windows 10 has been improved in many aspects – Mail, Calendar, OneNote, Photos, Store, but the most significant effects can be experienced in performance and compatibility.

According to a blog post by Microsoft’s Terry Myerson, Executive Vice President, Windows 10 can now be recommended with confidence to entire organizations: “Today, we reach our next milestone as the first major update to Windows 10 is now available for PCs and tablets. With this update, there are improvements in all aspects of the platform and experience, including thousands of partners updating their device drivers and applications for great Windows 10 compatibility. But most importantly, with this free update we have reached the point in the platform’s maturity where we can confidently recommend Windows 10 deployment to whole organizations”, writes Myerson.

Major improvements

The performance improvement can be seen right from booting. Windows 10’s booting time is now up to 30% faster than Windows 7’s, tested on the exact same device. Though speed wasn’t necessarily a major issue among users, it’s still great to see your device start faster than before.

With the Surface Pro 4 and the Surface Book recently launched, it’s only normal that Microsoft would bring improvements to the devices’ pen. Cortana can now recognize scribbled notes from the Notebook – for example emails, phone numbers, addresses. Besides expanding Cortana’s availability in Canada, Australia, Japan and India, Microsoft’s assistant can also keep track and offer reminders regarding your events, or even book an Uber ride for you.

For some time now, notably since the release of Windows 10, Microsoft has been trying to convince users to ditch their current browsers (probably Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome), and start using Internet Explorer’s younger brother – Microsoft Edge. This autumn update brought better performance and security for Edge, along with some new options that will help your overall experience in a Microsoft ecosystem. Probably the most useful new feature will be Favorites and Reading list syncing across devices, but definitely the most enjoyed by users will be the tab hover preview. It sounds like a simple change – and it is, but it improves the user experience.

The enterprise dilemma

Everyone can see that technology is influencing workplaces every day. The big dilemma for device and software developers is how to make something easy to use, that at the same time has complex capabilities. It’s the era of adaptability and security in the tech world, and Microsoft is aware of it.

Terry Myerson writes in his blog post: “Our IT Pros know they can offer more. With this first major update to Windows 10, we’re empowering them to do so—with the first platform which spans all device types, enables management of both corporate owned and BYOD, and upgrades existing devices. Windows 10 is already actively running on more than 110 million devices including 12 million business PCs, and is compatible with the past while embracing our new way of working.

The Windows Update for Business brings better security and reduced management cost for organizations, offering as well much needed control over the updates. This way, the IT responsible can basically optimize the whole process, so that the company won’t face any serious interruptions.

Another free service targeted at the business side of Windows is the Store for Business. Organizations can manage and distribute available apps or their own custom apps, through their very own private store.

Other important business updates include the Mobile Device Management – empowers IT to manage all the Windows 10 devices linked to the organization, and Azure Active Directory Join – one secure login for all the Windows 10 devices.

Improved security

No one seems to be completely safe, but at the same time, the overall cost reduction for businesses that comes with tech solutions, can’t be ignored.

Every week we see in the news another major data breach – costing organization’s productivity, customer’s trust and driving a real impact to their business,writes Myerson. “We know these breaches often take 200+ days to detect and we see the tremendous costs of them. Industry experts predict there will be over two million new malware apps by the end of the year. We designed Windows 10 to protect our customers from these modern threats, and continue to strengthen Windows 10 as the most trusted platform ever,” he added.

Included features to strengthen his statement:

Credential Guard safeguards credentials inside a hardware-based virtualized environment and breaks the popular “pass the hash” used in many major breaches.

Device Guard uses Trusted Boot to prevent intruders from installing malware, helping to keep company devices secure.

Windows Hello enables people to say goodbye to passwords with enterprise-grade biometrics including fingerprint and facial recognition.

Windows Defender, our free anti-malware service protecting almost 300 million Windows devices every day.

With this new update Microsoft is making a pretty clear statement toward enterprises. Windows has just taken a giant leap to becoming a good solution for all types of users, and it feels like it’s just a few steps away from becoming the Walmart of the tech world: save money, live better. Other (albeit smaller in scale) enterprise Windows updates will be coming in the following months.