It has been one year since Windows 10 was released, and Microsoft is giving it plenty of polish and new features on the new “Anniversary Update” which is available August 2nd. The first year of Windows 10 has been a great success for Microsoft, as Window 10 is now 20% of the PC market share. Microsoft continues to improve their OS with many new features with many being a direct result of customer feedback from the Insider Program. Here are a few of the best features of the new Anniversary Update:
Dark Theme:
The Anniversary update adds a new “Dark Theme” which makes the “Settings” app and many other default Windows applications backgrounds be black. It’s a little easier on the eyes than solid white everywhere. You can turn on Dark Theme under Settings>Personalize>Colors> Choose your app mode> Select “Dark”
Edge Browser 2.0
The Edge browser was Microsoft’s replacement to Internet Explorer that was released with Windows 10. It’s a very fast and easy-to-navigate browser, but last year, the biggest thing missing from it was extensions. For many users, extensions like Last Pass and Ad Block Plus are a must-have for web browsing, and as good as Edge is, without these powerful extensions, it could never fully replace Chrome or Firefox. Now with the Anniversary Update, Microsoft is adding the extensions to the Edge browser.
One area where Edge has an advantage already over Chrome and Firefox is in its power efficiency. Microsoft compared the browsing time of competing browsers on the same Dell hardware to showcase how much more battery you can squeeze out of your laptop when using Edge.
Finally, another great addition made to the Edge Browser with this update was “Intelligent Auto-Pausing”. Edge will automatically detect unnecessary flash content not central to the web page and pause it automatically to get rid of annoying video and audio found on many webpages.
Text from your PC
Your mobile device can now be tied much closer to your PC with Cortana. Android and iPhones can send notifications and low battery warnings to your PC when they have the Cortana app installed. This reduces the need to pull out your phone every few minutes and check it while working at your PC. The communication between the phone and PC is two-way, so you can see a text come in on your PC and respond to it. You can also look up directions on the desktop and push them to your phone for later.
The Windows 10 Anniversary update brings many features and improvements to the OS. The update is large and could take up to a half an hour to complete. We will be covering more features and improvement in part two of this blog!
