Windows 10 October 2018 Update – No Sets, but Clipboard and Notepad
Microsoft failed again. Last year, the company announced that it aims to release new feature updates for Windows 10 in March and September. At the beginning of this year, March ended without the release of what everyone thought was going to be the Spring Update. However, that became the Windows 10 April 2018 Update and it was close to being called the May Update. A bug that Microsoft found in the release-to-manufacture version threw a spanner in the works and caused the software to be delayed for several weeks.
Anyway, Microsoft has now made the Windows 10 October 2018 Update available, although it may take a while before it appears for everyone. As with the April 2018 Update rollout, Microsoft is using machine learning to analyze which systems can safely receive the update and then gradually expand the distribution. The version number goes from 1803 to 1809 and the code name of the update was Redstone 5, after an ore in Minecraft. It is therefore the fifth update that brings new functionality to Windows 10.
exit sets
Just like at the beginning of this year, there is another appealing feature that has been rolled over to a next release and this time it is Sets . The feature was in the Insider builds for a long time, but was not yet working properly and was removed from the test build in June. Sets allow users to run programs side by side as tabs in a window. Microsoft is now aiming to integrate Sets into the Windows 10 update that will be released early next year. This is known by the code name 19H1.
The addition of new functionality is accompanied by the disappearance of functions that Microsoft considers to be obsolete or unnecessary. For example, the Hologram app has been replaced by the Mixed Reality Viewer and the TPM management console has been removed. The features for that are now part of the Windows Defender Security Center. In the control panel of the traditional Windows environment, under ‘power management’, the screen brightness slider has disappeared. The Snipping Tool is going to clear the field, but it is still there. As Microsoft indicates when opening the tool, this will be replaced by the new Snip & Sketch app.
General
Microsoft has continued to roll out its Fluent Design view with this update. In some new places you can see the subtle and less subtle graphic effects, such as with the Windows Defender Security Center, which is now simply called Windows Security. Notifications to the ‘notifications and actions’ screen appear with a fade in . The Settings menu also spontaneously shows some tips, which you can of course also call up via the Tips app.
Dark Explorer
One of the most noticeable changes users may experience after the update is in File Explorer. Since the 2016 Anniversary Update, Windows 10 has had the option for a light or dark ‘app mode’, which makes apps and settings appear light or dark. Microsoft has extended that choice to the Explorer. Some will probably like it, but for others, the dark mode will take some getting used to. The File Explorer is a bit busier than many Windows 10 apps from Microsoft and also widely used, so the impact of the change is greater. For those who want the dark mode for the other apps, but find it too intense for the Explorer, there is unfortunately no option: it is all or nothing.
It takes a while to find new functionality. It appears that the Explorer can now sort files by 0kB, 0 – 16kB, 16kB – 1MB, 1MB – 128MB and so on under the designations ’empty’, ‘very small’, ‘small’, ‘normal’, ‘large’ and so on. Previously it was 0 – 10kB, 10kB – 100kB, 100kB – 1MB and 1MB – 16MB.
Notepad
It’s been a while since Microsoft updated Notepad, so it was a surprise to see this little program from the ‘old’ Windows environment get some new features. The changes are not great; Notepad has not become Notepad++. However, you can now search directly with the Bing search engine from within the program, Notepad now immediately fills in selected text when replacing with Ctrl+H and entire words can be deleted before the cursor with Ctrl+Backspace. In addition, there is the option to magnify text with a zoom function, and for developers, Notepad can now correctly display text files created in Unix, Linux, or macOS, thanks to support for line breaks from Unix and macOS. Until now, there was only support for Windows Carriage Return & Line Feed, or CRLF.
Cut and edit screenshots
We wrote above that the Snipping Tool will disappear. It’s still there, but Microsoft is directing users to its successor, Snip & Sketch, the snipping tool formerly called Screen Sketch that was already included in Windows 10’s Ink environment. Win+Shift+S brings up a toolbar at the top, with the options to create rectangular or freehand crops or full screen images. Once the snip has been made, a pop-up will appear to open Snip & Sketch and edit the image further. Screenshots can also be produced from that program, where you can indicate that the app will make the screen crop immediately, or in three or ten seconds. The old Snipping Tool could do that in one to five seconds.
Ray tracing in DX12
With the arrival of the October 2018 Update, DirectX Raytracing is out of the experimental phase and Windows 10 has official support for it. Ray tracing is seen as the future of games as real-time calculation of the path of light and its reflections comes within reach, resulting in realistic game images. Microsoft added DXR to the DirectX 12 API early this year as an experimental functionality. The first video cards with support for Raytracing are now on the market and the first three games that can handle the API will soon follow: Battlefield V, Metro Exodus and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. More games should follow later. Microsoft claimsto have designed the API in such a way that it works with hardware from all suppliers and can piggyback on the evolution of GPUs.
Clipboard sync
The key combination Win + V brings up a clipboard with not a single copied item, but several. You can save text and images to paste elsewhere later. Images can be up to 1MB in size. It is not entirely clear how many items can be on the clipboard. In any case, we came to twelve, but perhaps more is possible. The clipboard can be cleared by pressing ‘Clear all’, but parts that you want to keep can be pinned.
In addition to this clipboard history, there is the option to synchronize the clipboard items online with your Microsoft account. This ensures that you can paste texts on other Windows 10 October 2018 devices where you are logged in. For the time being, it only concerns texts, with a maximum size of 100kB. With the expansion, the Clipboard has immediately earned a place in the Settings. There, only the history and synchronization can be switched off and on separately. Those who use the touch keyboard in tablet mode can open the clipboard from there with a special button. The clipboard has become a lot more convenient with the functions and the functionality is simple, but effective.
“Your Phone” app
Windows 10 already offered the option to connect your smartphone to the PC. The option is present under Phone in the settings. With this, Windows redirects you to mobile Microsoft apps such as Cortana and the Microsoft Launcher. After pairing, users can continue mobile activities on their PC. Microsoft calls this “Continue on PC,” and with this October update, Microsoft is adding the “Your Phone” app to its operating system as part of this.
This app suggests you install the “Companion App for Your Phone” from the Play Store. During installation, you must log in with your Microsoft account and give that Android app permission to access the photos and text messages. The Your phone application on the PC then shows recent photos from your mobile, which you can immediately copy and share, also via drag ‘n drop. In addition, there is a section for recent text messages, which not only shows the conversations, but also lets you compose and send new messages. The Windows app excels in simplicity and there are no further settings. Furthermore, the mobile app only shows references to other Microsoft apps and is therefore an entrance for Microsoft to increase its presence on Android smartphones.
Conversely, Microsoft is increasingly bringing functionality from Android smartphones to PCs, as the company demonstrated app mirroring in its Your Phone app last Tuesday. In the demonstration, Microsoft showed a Snapchat conversation in the PC app from mobile, where the user could create and send messages on the PC. This seems like a smart way to prevent people from having to grab their smartphone every time they work on their PC. When this feature will appear is unknown and it seems unlikely that it will become possible with an iPhone, given Apple’s strict control over the integration with third-party platforms.
Edge
No Windows 10 update without updating the low-user-plagued Edge browser. The most obvious change is that the items in the drop-down menu have been rearranged and now each has its own icon. In addition, Microsoft now shows the shortcut key combinations by default, so that they are easier to learn. The parts of the Hub, such as Downloads and History, can now also be found here. The distinction between the Hub and the other options has always been a bit contrived. The icons of the Hub, Notes and the Share menu can now be removed from the toolbar for a calmer look. If you want to keep everything at hand, you can keep them and add Books, History and Downloads as you wish.
The “Open with Internet Explorer” option seemed to have disappeared for a while, but Microsoft isn’t ready to say goodbye to that old browser just yet. In Edge, IE can be opened via ‘More tools’, where the developer tools can also be found. Conveniently, Edge can disable autoplay. Under the advanced settings you can allow, restrict and block autoplay.
Game bar
The ‘Game bar’ is the overlay integrated in Windows 10 to start game streams, for example. It can be called up with Win+G. Microsoft has now made it a separate app and narrowed down the view a lot. At the same time, the window is more elongated, so it is no longer really a bar. That’s to make way for audio volume sliders, which give streamers more control over audio playback. The Game bar initially also seemed to show frame rates, cpu usage and the amount of ram in use, but this doesn’t seem to have made it to the final version.
To search
The search window has been greatly enlarged to make it clear that Apps, Settings, Documents, Photos or the Web can be searched. In addition, Timeline’s “Pick up where you left off” feature, which was added with the April 2018 Update, is prominently featured in the window. Below that is also room for Cortana’s suggestions. It seems that Microsoft is pushing Cortana a little less forward within Windows. The name has even been changed to Cortana & Search. When looking for software, there is a direct link to the installation from the Windows Store.
SwiftKey
In 2016, Microsoft acquired SwiftKey , and as of this update, that company’s technology is the basis for text input suggestions. With the touch keyboard in tablet mode, those suggestions also appear with the well-known swiping movements to form words. The autocorrect and predictions only work in combination with the languages English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese or Russian for the time being. The emoji panel can also be called up via the keyboard, or via Win+. in a text field. That has been updated to the 11.0 set with 157 new emoji.
Others
Numerous minor changes and bug fixes have been made that are not covered here. For example, support for leap seconds and the Precision Time Protocol has been added, there is a special HD Color page with settings for HDR display and in the Display section of the Accessibility options there is no longer the option to only make everything bigger, but also to only enlarge text within Windows.
Conclusion
The Windows 10 October 2018 Update is perhaps the least exciting update to Microsoft’s operating system since the November 2015 Update, which only brought bug fixes. That does not mean that little has changed, because it is again a large package of small changes. However, this update lacks an eye-catching new application, as Sets could have been. Mirroring Android apps also seems to be a promising feature, but apparently came too late for this edition. With two feature updates per year, Windows 10 is not standing still anyway, so there is little reason to complain in that regard. This update may be a bit boring, but new functionality is always welcome and there is no reason not to update.