Last blog we talked about several features that were released in the Windows 10 Anniversary update. We will be covering several more features in the update, as well as things we didn’t like about the update.
Action Center Upgrade
The Action Center is a notification hub that was new to Windows with the release of Windows 10. It looks and feels very much like the notification and control hubs featured in most smart phones today.
In the new Action Center, you have much more control over notifications. You can set priority levels for various apps so that the most important notifications show up on top, as well as limit the number of notification you receive.
You can adjust these settings in Settings > System > Notifications and Apps
Cortana Is Smarter but Harder to Turn Off
Cortana is Microsoft’s digital assistant who you can speak to, give commands, ask questions, set reminders, and now connect to your mobile device to send notifications and text messages. With the Anniversary update, Cortana is now enabled in over 1000 apps from the Windows 10 store which gives Cortana more control over apps and able to do many more tasks. Cortana is becoming the smartest of the digital assistants, but for those who don’t see the need for her, turning off Cortana has become harder.
Before the Anniversary update, there was a simple setting for turning Cortana features off, but now in the Anniversary Update, there is no such setting. Window 10 Home users must use a registry change to turn her off, and Window 10 Pro users have the option to turn her off in group policy. This is definitely a step backwards, as most users will not be able to easily find these work arounds without doing some research.
Edge Browser Is Improved But Not a Daily Driver
In the previous blog, we talked about how Edge was being improved with the addition of extensions, including Ad Block Plus and Last Pass. After using Edge for about a week, I found it couldn’t replace Firefox or Chrome as a default browser. It is improved with these additions, but some simple tasks like dragging URL’s to favorites list and making simple changes in Settings seemed more cumbersome. After a week, I was back to using Firefox. Edge is a massive improvement over Internet Explorer, but still needs some UI improvements for me to choose it over Firefox or Chrome.
