Major update to Microsoft Edge. Support for copy and paste hotkeys in Bash

Helpful Hints

Another update came out in the spring Windows systems 10, unlike standard updates, in Windows 10 Redstone 4 there are a number of significant changes and small but nice improvements.

Additional Display Options

This section is very useful for systems that have 2 or more video adapters installed at the same time. His vocation is the ability to set the handler for individual applications one of the video cards. Previously, this was implemented by video adapter manufacturers AMD and NVidia, but now Windows itself supports the function. native application Microsoft takes precedence over other program definitions.

There is an item in the "Parameters" panel, where we select "System", then "Display" and click on the link of the same name. To set the system behavior, specify the path to the program exe-file and select the video processor for processing.

time scale

The Windows 10 1803 Redstone 4 update added a useful feature - Timeline, in fact it is an improved standard panel taskview. To display the function, you can use the Win + Tab hotkeys or click on an item in the taskbar. In a kind of report, all user actions in the system over the past 30 days will be presented, and it will also be possible to perform them again. After clicking on an action, the corresponding task will start.

Now the function supports synchronization with the cloud Microsoft service. In practice, this means that it is easy to continue working on files that are on a desktop computer from a tablet or laptop, or vice versa. Today, Timeline does not yet support synchronization with mobile devices. iOS platforms and Android, but this is planned to be introduced in the near future.

Transferring a file to a nearby device

A new feature in Windows 10 build 17134 Redstone 4 - Near Share is already familiar to some of us from our experience with Apple, so it's called AirDrop. Now a laptop or desktop PC with bluetooth module easily transfer content to another device.

Recall that you can use OneDrive to share data with devices that are not nearby.

Speed up feature updates

Today, they often complain that on older computers, and not only, the update process takes a long time. Sometimes it disrupts the working day of users completely and they have to go to work on weekends. Now the problem is no longer so acute, most of the installation procedure will be performed in the background.

Of course, in order for the system not to lag, you should have sufficient PC resources, but for most this is not a problem. The installation priority is low, that is, there should not be a strong slowdown.

The best result was shown by tests conducted at Microsoft, now installing new version Windows takes not 82 minutes, but exactly half an hour.

Focus Assistant in Windows 10 1803 Redstone 4

It is a revised image of the Do Not Disturb feature or on the Flight smartphone. The mode is automatically activated after launching most full-screen programs, but it is available for activation manually or at a certain time.

Supports notification priority setting. With his help individual messages can be received even through games and other applications, but non-priority notifications will be cut off. When the user exits the mode, he will be shown all the notifications that he missed.

View telemetry data

Finally, the dissatisfaction of users and their puzzlement with the imposed function of collecting diagnostic data reached Microsoft. Many today distinguish the so-called "tracking" in the "Ten". To gain the trust of users, a page has been launched that displays the data that the system sends. Everything has become more transparent and accessible.

Finding the tool is easy in the System Settings section. Now, if you have any doubts, it's worth going in and familiarizing yourself with the type and amount of data transferred to Microsoft. Additionally, the user can change the amount of telemetry.

Improvement of the "People" function

The Windows 10 Redstone 4 update includes a modernized feature that was introduced during the last major update. Useful feature is the ability to drag a contact with the mouse to the taskbar. The maximum number of contact details is 10, they can quickly send messages, animations and emoticons. Already now there are applications that work with this function, now the integration has become even easier.

Changing fonts in Options

Microsoft continues to stick to the concept of abandoning the obsolete Control Panel in favor of improving the Settings feature. Now the developers are busy changing the Fonts screen.

They can be found:

Click on "Settings".
Go to the "Personalization" category.
Select "Fonts".

Here it is easy to change, view or remove installed fonts. Downloading them has become even easier, since the fonts are available in the official store.

If you have any questions on the topic "Features of Windows 10 Redstone 4", you can ask them in the comment

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The next major Windows 10 update is codenamed Redstone 4 and has version ID 1803, which means the update is expected in March.

Microsoft has not officially announced the name of the new version of Windows 10, but according to inside information with Bug Bash it might be called the Spring Creators Update.

In this article, we have collected all the new features of the system that have appeared in recent Windows builds 10 Insider Preview, specifically in build 17083 on January 24, 2018.

Timeline - a list of activities on your devices

The Timeline feature was originally expected in the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update but has been delayed.

Timeline expands the capabilities of Task View by adding a history of the activities you have previously performed on your computer. Click the "Task View" button on the taskbar or use the Windows key + Tab to see the activities you did "Earlier today" or in previous days. Timeline can show sites you've opened in Microsoft Edge, articles you've read in the News app, documents you've worked on in Microsoft Word and the places you've viewed in Maps.

The main purpose of this function is to resume activities that were abruptly interrupted or deliberately postponed.

Timeline supports synchronization between devices. Thus, you can continue any activity on another PC where your account is used. Personal voice assistant Cortana will offer a list of activities to resume when you switch to another device.

The user can use the scrollbar or search string to navigate through activities. All activities are sorted by day, and daily activities are sorted by hours. you can use context menu to clear activities for a specific hour. You can set up Timeline in the app Settings > Privacy > Activity Log.

Microsoft plans to integrate this function into mobile applications so that users can switch between tasks even on different types of devices. However, app developers will need to first implement support for this feature in order for it to work with computers and mobile apps.

New features for developers and system administrators

Curl and Tar commands. Curl Utilities and Tar for downloading files and extracting .tar archives, which are commonly used in Linux, are now built into Windows and are available under paths: C:\Windows\System32\curl.exe and C:\Windows\System32\tar.exe.
Native UNIX sockets. Windows 10 now natively supports UNIX sockets with the new afunix.sys kernel driver. This improvement will make it easier to port the application from Linux or other UNIX systems in Windows.
Support for serial devices for Linux applications. Linux applications running in Windows subsystem for Linux (WSL) can now access serial devices (COM ports).
Background tasks for Linux applications. Linux applications running on the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) can now run on background. This means that applications like sshd, tmux and screen will now work correctly.
Permissions improvements for Linux applications. Users can now run applications with elevated (admin) and normal access ( standard user) in one WSL session.
Support for scheduled tasks for Linux applications. You can now run a Linux application in WSL from scheduled tasks.
Support remote connections for Linux applications. Users can run WSL while connected using OpenSSH, VPN, PowerShell, or other remote access tool.
Fast conversion Linux paths on Windows. Team Wslpath allows you to quickly convert paths Linux on Windows.
Registry process. V Task Manager you will see new process with the name "Register". This is a minimal process designed to store registry data for Windows kernel. Since the data was previously stored in the kernel anyway, general use system memory remains unchanged. Microsoft says this will allow them to optimize the amount of memory used by the registry in the future.
Windows Defender application guard. The Windows Defender Application Guard feature for protecting Microsoft Edge, which was introduced in the Fall Creators Update, was originally intended for users of Windows 10 Enterprise. Now one is available Windows users 10 Pro, but disabled by default.
New delivery optimization policies. New policies allow you to control the Delivery Optimization feature used for app updates in windows update and the Microsoft Store. For example, administrators can limit bandwidth based on the time of day. These policies are available under Administrative Templates > Windows Components> Delivery Optimization in the Group Policy Editor.
Microsoft decided to delay the release of the Sets feature in Windows 10 - it is excluded from the test builds of Redstone 4.
Sets introduces a new unique tabbed experience that allows users to combine various applications and sites in one window. For example, a user can open a Word document in one window, search Google system and a note from OneNote and easily switch between each app or site.

The idea is to allow users to conveniently group content from the web with application content.

The Sets feature should return to Redstone 5 Insider Builds once Redstone 4 is released. Microsoft is still experimenting with this feature and figuring out how it will work.

Based on materials Comss.ru

Good luck and all the best!

Update for Windows 10 Redstone 5 scheduled for autumn 2018. This major update includes the addition of a clipboard history that syncs across devices and the long-awaited dark theme for File Explorer.

Sets - tabs for each application - delayed

New Sets Function will be the biggest change in Redstone 5. Almost every window on the desktop now has a tab bar, and you can combine tabs from several different applications in one window.

This means that Windows finally got not only the "Tab Explorer", but something more. For example, you might have a window that contains a Microsoft Word document, a Microsoft Edge web page, and a File Explorer tab. You can drag these tabs between windows, or use a keyboard shortcut such as Ctrl + Win + Tab to switch between them.

Sets works with almost every traditional desktop application, every and even Microsoft Office applications such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Desktop applications that have their own custom headers do not support Sets. For example, applications such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, iTunes, and Steam do not have Sets mode tabs.

Unfortunately, this feature was removed from build 17704, which was released on June 27, 2018. Microsoft wants to take more time to polish Sets and says it will return in a future update. We expect to see the Sets feature in Redstone 6, which will most likely be released in the spring of 2019.

Alt + Tab shows tabs - delayed

Along with the introduction of Sets, Microsoft also changed how Alt + Tab works. Tab sets and even tabs Microsoft browser Edge are displayed next to open windows when pressing the key combination Alt + Tab . You can restore the old behavior of Alt + Tab if you only want to see windows when you press Alt + Tab .

This change does not affect applications such as Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, which use their own tab style. However, if Chrome and Firefox ever enable Sets support, their tabs will show up in the Alt + Tab switcher.

Since the implementation of Sets was delayed until the next update, the Alt + Tab update also made no sense, so it was postponed until the next major update.

Clipboard history and sync

Redstone 5 Update for Windows 10 will also bring some powerful new clipboard features. You will be able to sync clipboard history between devices. You will also be able to sync the clipboard manually by clicking the icon in the clipboard popup, preventing potentially sensitive data like passwords and credit card numbers from syncing.

Going forward, Microsoft will add cloud clipboard support to the On-Screen Keyboard for Android, iPhone, and iPad. You will be able to copy and paste between your phone or tablet and your Windows PC.

Dark theme for Windows 10 File Explorer

Windows 10 will have dark theme for explorer. It turns on automatically if enable system-wide dark theme across Parameters → Personalization → Colors.

Microsoft has added dark theme support to File Explorer, including a context menu that appears when you click right click mice on the desktop. There is also a new dark theme for the default dialog boxes Open and save file.

SwiftKey is coming to Windows 10

Microsoft bought swift key keyboard in 2016. SwiftKey is still available for android phones, iPhone and iPad, and now got to Windows 10.

New screen capture utility

Windows 10 now has new handy screenshot tool. You can use it to take a screenshot of part of the screen, a single window, or the entire screen. Once you've taken a screenshot, a new tool lets you draw additional elements on your sketch and add annotations, including arrows and highlights.

This tool appears when you press Win + Shift + S . There is also a setting under Parameters → Special abilities → Keyboard, which makes the new tool available on click Print keys screen on the keyboard.

If you run the old scissors, you will see a message saying "the scissor tool will be removed in a future update". At present Microsoft time has no plans to remove the tool in Redstone 5, but it may be removed in Redstone 6.

Microsoft Edge browser updates

Microsoft has also done a lot of development work on Edge. The menus and settings page of Edge ... have been redesigned. In the new menu, common commands such as " new inset' and 'new window' are highlighted with large buttons, and the new settings page is categorized so it's easier to find specific settings.

Edge now has a "Media Autoplay" option under Parameters → Additionally. You can control which websites can automatically play videos. Allow is the default, and allows websites to play videos when viewing a tab. limit allows sites to play muted videos so you won't be overwhelmed by the audio. block blocks autoplay of videos on sites until you start interacting with media content.

Edge browser interface also got some other useful features. You can now see your top sites in the "jump list" that appears when you right-click a shortcut on the taskbar or start menu. On the panel, you can right-click to find options such as show in Folder and copy link.

Web authentication has also made its way to Edge, which will allow the use of a FIDO U2F security key and other hardware-based authentication when logging into a website. Hopefully one day they can eliminate passwords.

Edge has also been redesigned with an improved tabbed panel with a new depth effect. If you are using Edge as your PDF viewer, you will see new icon for PDFs in File Explorer.

Finally, the Edge browser now has a new "beta" logo in the Windows 10 Insider Edition, drawing attention to the fact that you are using the unstable version of Edge.

Improving Mobile Broadband

Microsoft is moving to a new " network adapter» in Windows. This will improve the connection reliability of mobile broadband (LTE) PCs, whether they use a SIM card or a USB tethering.

This new driver the default since version 17677, and improvements are made to how Windows handles mobile channel data transmission.

Hidden window borders and acrylic design

Microsoft is blurring window borders in Windows 10. Instead of colored window borders, you'll now see gray borders that gracefully fade into the shadows of each window. However, you can still enable colored window borders if you want a bit more color.

This visual change is part of Microsoft's move towards a new "free design" that they are slowly rolling out to Windows 10.

Mail ignores standard browser

Microsoft has forced the Mail app to only open links in Microsoft Edge, even if your default browser is Chrome, FireFox, or another browser.

This is just part of a larger trend that Microsoft is taking to bring Edge to Windows. For example, the links you click on the Start menu already only open in Microsoft Edge.

Windows Defender will change its name

Appendix Windows Defender Security Center now simply called "Windows Security". In chapter Current Threats → Virus and Threat Protection all potential threats that need action, if any, are now shown.

In chapter Windows Security → Virus and Threat Protection → Parameter management now you can enable the option block suspicious behavior. Microsoft says it will allow Windows Defender use technologies that will help protect your computer from intrusions.

If you use the Controlled Folder Access feature to protect your files from ransomware, it will now be easier to allow recently blocked apps to access your files.

Installing fonts for everyone

Older versions of Windows allow administrator users to install fonts, which are then made available to all users on the system.

Redstone 5 improves upon this and gives everyone the option to install fonts. If you right-click a font file in File Explorer, you can select Install to set it to the user account only, or Install for all users to set it for all users on the system. But the last option requires administrator permission.

When previewing a font file after double tap The Install button will now only install the font for the current user.

Power Usage Details in Task Manager

Now Windows Task Manager contains two new columns on the Core Processes tab. These columns will help you understand which apps and services on your system are consuming the most power. They take into account CPU, GPU, and disk usage activity to estimate how much power each process is using.

In a collumn Energy consumption shows the current energy consumption of the process in this moment. In column Energy consumption trend Shows power consumption over the last two minutes, so you can see processes that are using a lot of power even if they are not currently using it.

Make text bigger

Windows 10 Redstone 5 allows you to increase the size of text throughout the system, including in the Start menu, in File Explorer, and in the Settings app.

To do this, go to the section Parameters → Special abilities → Display. Adjust the slider to enlarge the text to the size you want.

New Game Bar Features

Game bar , which was redesigned in April 2018, has several new useful features. It contains built-in audio controls that allow you to select the default audio output device or control the volume of other applications on your system.

It also offers performance visualization features so you can see your game's frames per second (FPS), CPU usage, GPU VRAM usage, and System System usage. random access memory over time.

The game bar also has a toggle allocate resources. It allows you to activate a new game mode that improves game performance on computers with a lot of background tasks.

Wireless projection control

While projecting your screen wirelessly, you will see a bar at the top of the screen - just like when using Remote Desktop. This panel shows you are connected and provides an easy way to disconnect or reconnect.

Windows has several "modes" that you can turn on when projecting wirelessly.

In game mode, screen lag is minimized to improve gaming experience when projecting wirelessly.
In video mode, screen latency has been increased to ensure smooth video playback.
"Performance" is the default mode, it balances latency so that the screen remains responsive and there are not too many graphical glitches during video playback.

Big Skype update

Skype for Windows 10 will receive big update, including customizable themes, a new layout for contacts, and the ability to customize group call, dragging people to select who you want to see on the screen. Microsoft has also made it easier to access the screen during calls.

Notepad supports Linux and Mac Line Endings

Windows Notepad finally learned to support UNIX-style end-of-line (EOL) characters. In particular, Notepad now supports UNIX/Linux line endings (LF) and Mac line endings (CR). This means that you can take a text file created on Linux or Mac and open it in Notepad - and it will look as expected! Previously, the file would have looked messed up.

You can even edit the file in notepad and save it, and notepad will automatically use the appropriate file ending lines. Notepad will still create files with Windows line endings (CRLF) by default. The status bar shows what type of line ending is used for the current file if you turn it on by clicking View → Status bar.

Copy and paste keyboard shortcut for Bash

Windows Subsystem for Linux starts Bash and other environments command line linux based Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu, Fedora, openSUSE and Debian. If you're using Bash on Windows, together in Redstone 5 you'll get a feature that many people have been asking for: keyboard shortcuts for copy and paste.

Now you can right click on the title bar of the console window, open Properties to find and activate the option that allows you to use Ctrl + Shift + C and Ctrl + V to copy and paste. By default, these keyboard shortcuts are disabled for compatibility reasons.

These keyboard shortcuts are available in all console environments, but they are especially useful in Linux shell environments where keyboard shortcuts ctrl+c and Ctrl+V are mapped to other functions and do not work like copy and paste.

Launching a Linux Shell from File Explorer

Now you can directly launch a Linux shell in a specific folder from File Explorer. To do this, hold down Shift key, right-click a folder inside File Explorer. You will see an option Open Linux shell next to the standard option Open a PowerShell window.

Search with Bing in Notebook

Notepad now has a feature Search with Bing- why not?

To use it, select the text in the notepad document, and then select Edit → Search with Bing or press Ctrl + B .

Diagnostic Data Viewer Improvements

Microsoft first introduced Diagnostic Data Viewer in the Windows 10 April 2018 Update. It must be installed through the Microsoft Store and shows you exactly what diagnostic data and telemetry Windows 10 sends to Microsoft servers.

In Redstone 5 diagnostic data viewer now also shows Problem Reports. They are generated when applications crash or encounter another issue and provide Microsoft or the application developer with information that may be needed to resolve the issue.

You can see information about when the problem report was created, when it was submitted, and which application caused the problem.

Appendix Diagnostic Data Viewer now has some additional filtering features that can be used to sort diagnostic data.

More useful features and interesting changes

As usual, Microsoft has contributed quite a lot small changes, improvements and fixes for Windows 10.

Here are some of the most interesting ones:

Battery level of other Bluetooth devices A: This only works with devices that support this feature, such as Microsoft's own Surface Pen. You'll also see a notification when one of these devices is running low on battery.
Privacy notices: If your privacy settings are blocking access to the microphone in the app, you will see a pop-up notification informing you of this. This notification only appears the first time an app restricts access to the microphone.
Focus Assist Improvements: The feature is now enabled automatically to reduce interruptions when you play full screen mode games. Previously, this feature only supported full-screen DirectX games.
Adjusting the video depending on the lighting: at turning on Windows 10 uses your device's brightness sensor to auto tuning video playback to make it more visible based on the lighting around you. For example, it can make dark scenes brighter if you're watching in a very bright room.
Improvement of file storage areas: Windows can automatically uninstall unused files from local onedrive storage to free up space. They will be re-downloaded when you try to open them again.
Sound settings: v sound screen in settings now has a "Device Properties" section of the link to rename your audio devices and select the surround sound settings.
HEIF editing support: You can now rotate HEIF images and edit their metadata in File Explorer after installing HEIF support via the Store.
Safe removal of external graphics cards: now appeared " safe way remove" external GPUs connected to your PC using Thunderbolt 3. "Safely remove hardware and eject media" for ejecting drives now also shows external graphics processing hardware. Select a GPU to extract it. If any applications are currently using your GPU and it can't be safely disabled, you'll be told which applications you need to close before trying again - just like when safely removing USB drives.
Settings after update: after the update, you will now see the new settings screen, which provides information about the new Windows features and options available for customization.
Local settings: You can now go to Settings → Time & Language → Region and override various regional settings such as preferred currency, calendar, first day of the week, and date format.
Language Packs: Store language packs can now be installed by going to Settings → Time & Language → Language → Add Language Windows display with local experience packages.
Calendar search: You can now search for events in the app's calendar. Yes, for some reason the Calendar app didn't have a search feature yet. Unfortunately, search only works for Outlook, Hotmail, Live, and Office 365 accounts. It doesn't work with Exchange Server, Gmail, Yahoo or other IMAP calendars.
Typing Insights: Windows uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to help autocomplete words and correct spellings, such as when in water from the touch keyboard. You can now view information about this under Settings → Devices → Input → View Input.
Magnifier upgrade: there is now an option in the menu Parameters → Special abilities → Magnifier to keep the mouse in the center of the screen. The magnifier has some new zoom levels and can zoom in by 5% or 10%.
Narrator Improvements: many new features, such as the ability to search for text on the screen using new feature search.
Improvements for mixed reality : Microsoft has made significant changes to its mixed reality environment, including the ability to stream audio and mixed reality to your PC headset and speakers.

We'll be following the development of Redstone 5 to stay updated on all the new features and changes until its release in Fall 2018.

But her release was delayed.

Timeline expands the capabilities of Task View by adding a history of the activities you have previously performed on your computer. Click the "Task View" button on the taskbar or use the Windows key + Tab combination to see the activities you performed "Earlier today" or in previous days. Timeline can show sites you've opened in Microsoft Edge, articles you've read in the News app, documents you've worked on in Microsoft Word, and places you've viewed in Maps.

The main purpose of this function is to resume activities that were abruptly interrupted or deliberately delayed. Timeline supports synchronization between devices. Thus, you can continue any activity on another PC where your account is used. Personal voice assistant Cortana will offer a list of activities to resume when you switch to another device.

The user can use the scrollbar or search bar to navigate through activities. All activities are sorted by day, and daily activities are sorted by hours. You can use the context menu to clear activities for a specific hour. You can set up Timeline in Settings > Privacy > Activity Log.

Microsoft plans to integrate this feature into mobile apps so that users can switch between tasks even on different types of devices. However, app developers will need to first implement support for this feature in order for it to work with computers and mobile apps.

Sharing files with nearby devices

Windows 10 (version 1803) has a new file sharing feature called "Near Share" that's similar to Apple's AirDrop.

Viewing diagnostic data

Microsoft is trying to fix the privacy issues in Windows 10 and make things more transparent. To that end, Redstone 4 will feature a new application, the Diagnostic Data Viewer. This program in text form will show diagnostic information that is sent to Microsoft servers. The tool even displays all the information about your device that is stored in the Microsoft cloud.

To enable this feature, go to Settings > Privacy > Diagnostics & Feedback and turn on the “Diagnostic Data Viewer” option. The page warns that this feature may require up to 1 GB disk space. After activating the feature, you can follow the link to go to the Windows Store to download the free Diagnostic Data Viewer. This application allows you to view diagnostic data, supports search and filters by different types events.

Microsoft also allows you to delete diagnostic data collected from your device. Just click the "Delete" button in the section Deleting diagnostic data on the Settings > Privacy > Diagnostics & Feedback page.

Users who are not administrators will have greater control over the diagnostic data sent to Microsoft. Any user can go to the app Settings > Privacy > Diagnostics & feedback and select the amount of data to send "Basic" or "Full". Previously given parameter Only administrators can change.

Microsoft has also expanded the online privacy control panel. There's a new Activity Log page that lets you view the information Microsoft collects about PC usage.

The “quick pairing” feature makes it easy to pair Bluetooth devices with Windows 10 computers. bluetooth device into pairing mode next to the computer. Windows 10 will automatically recognize the device and show you a pairing prompt - you no longer need to go to the Settings app to access your Bluetooth settings.

Initially, the new feature will work with Surface Precision mice and devices whose manufacturers have added support for the new feature. Similar technologies are used on other platforms: Fast Pair on Android or AirPods quick pairing from Apple.

Support for Progressive Web Apps in the Windows Store

The Microsoft Edge browser is getting a number of new features that allow you to run Progressive Web Apps (Progressive Web Apps). web apps, PWAs) in Windows 10. This is new standard web applications that behave like normal desktop applications. Each application has its own window and taskbar shortcut, is capable of working offline, and can send notifications. PWA technology is already supported by Google, Mozilla and Microsoft, and Apple already working on implementing support.

Microsoft will index and offer Progressive Web Apps in the Windows Store. They can be installed just like any other Windows 10 app. In the future, you are also expected to be able to install them directly from Microsoft Edge.

Soon we will be able to see in the Windows Store google apps, such as Gmail or Google Calendar. Developers will be able to create applications that can run almost anywhere and the need for training individual versions for different platforms will disappear. As a result, Windows 10 users will be able to get more quality applications.

Update installation process All Windows 10 users will appreciate this change. This means that the installation wait time will be reduced. The online phase of the update installation process will run at a low priority and the performance of the computer will not suffer much. According to Microsoft tests, this innovation has reduced the time of the offline phase of the update (when the system is unavailable) from 82 minutes to 30 minutes.

Installing Windows 10 feature updates just got faster

The focus assistant will automatically turn on under certain device usage scenarios - when mirroring the screen to a projector or when running a DirectX game in full screen mode. The tool supports different notification priorities, so you can allow high priority notifications and temporarily block low priority notifications. By disabling Focus Assist, the user will see a summary of any notifications that have been missed.

To set up the feature, go to the Settings app > System > Focus Assist. On this screen, you can set notification priorities and set the hours when you want Focus Assist to turn on automatically. You can also turn Focus Assist on or off using the notification icon on the right side of the taskbar.

Language packs in the Microsoft Store

Language packs are now delivered through the Microsoft Store. You can install the required language pack directly in the Store or by going to Settings > Time & Language > Region & Language.

Microsoft says the company is using artificial intelligence and machine learning for its translations. Availability language packs in the Store means they can now be updated more frequently.

Display options: Advanced scaling options

Information about screens and monitors is now available in Settings > System > Display > Advanced display options.

Developers are trying to improve the display of old desktop applications on high-resolution screens. To do this, in the section Settings > System > Display > Advanced scaling options, a new option “Fix scaling for applications” has appeared. When enabled, Windows will attempt to automatically adjust apps so they don't look blurry. In addition, Windows 10 will automatically detect blurry apps and suggest fixing them.

Additional per-application settings will be available by right-clicking on the .exe executable and selecting Properties > Compatibility > Change high DPI settings.

Rejection of the “Homegroup”

Support for HEIF images

Windows 10 now supports image viewing in high format Efficiency image file(HEIF) without the use of third-party software. The graphic format used by the Camera app on iPhone mobile devices. Moreover, Google also adds support for this format to Android.

The first time you try to open a HEIF or HEIC file, the Photos app will open and start installing the required codecs from the Microsoft Store. After that, images will open seamlessly in the Photos app, and thumbnails and metadata will be available in Windows Explorer.

Sign in without a password in Windows 10 S mode

Microsoft will now allow you to sign in without entering a password. At first, this feature will only be available on Windows 10 S. To do this, you will need to download the Microsoft Authenticator app and configure the Windows Hello service accordingly.

After that, you will no longer see the password form, either in the Settings app or on the login screen. If you are unable to use your smartphone, you can alternatively enter your PIN code to log in.

New Options and Other Changes

OneDrive status in the navigation pane. Information about the sync status of folders saved to OneDrive now appears on the left navigation bar Windows Explorer. To enable or disable this feature, select the menu View > Options > View and find the option “Always show availability status”.

Windows Update Icon. When a warning or alert occurs, the Windows Update service icon will appear in the system tray.
Windows Update will block hibernation: If your computer is connected to an AC adapter, Windows Update will prevent your PC from going to sleep for a maximum of 2 hours if a system update is required. As a result, you are more likely to install updates if you are not using a PC.
Recovering passwords for local accounts. Users can set security questions for local accounts. You will need to answer the security questions on the authorization screen when you try to regain access to your computer. To set security questions, go to Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options.

Improved emoji input. Emoji keyboard available on Windows combination+ . or Windows + ; , will not automatically close after selecting an emoticon. You can select multiple emoji characters at once. Press the Esc key or the "X" button to close the keyboard. The touch keyboard will also suggest emoji when you type certain words, such as "unicorn" (unicorn).
Application startup management. You can now configure app startup in the Settings app > Apps > Startup. Previously, this option was hidden in the Task Manager.

Settings Windows Defender: The Settings > Update & Security > Windows Defender page has been renamed to “Windows Security”. It now offers quick access to various settings security, including account protection and device security. Read more in the Windows Defender Security Center Improvements overview.

Categories in privacy settings: Separate categories have appeared in the Settings > Privacy menu in the navigation bar, which now separate Windows privacy settings and application permission settings.
Quick access to application settings. You can now right-click on an app's tile or start menu shortcut and select More > App Settings to quickly open a settings page where you can adjust app permissions, reset, delete the app or its data. This screen is also available in Settings > Apps > Apps & features by clicking on the app's name and tapping "More options". The new screen also displays the app's version number, startup tasks, and command line alias.
Scissors and Paint 3D. The Scissors app, which is used to capture screenshots, has new button"Edit in Paint 3D".
Keyboard settings. The new keyboard settings page is available in the Settings app > Time & language > Keyboard. On this screen, you can switch between different layouts, adjust autocorrect, sounds, and other advanced options. Some settings have been removed from the Control Panel and are now available in the Settings app.
Prefer cellular data. You can now choose to prioritize cellular data over Wi-Fi either all the time or when your wireless signal is weak. This setting is available in Settings > Network and Internet > cellular if your device has the required hardware components installed.
Narrator in safe mode: Windows now allows you to use Narrator's text-to-speech feature even when the system is booted in safe mode.
Wi-Fi and Ethernet data consumption. In Settings > Network & Internet > Data usage, you can now set data limits, apply background data limits, and view data usage across Wi-Fi and wired Ethernet connections in addition to cellular connections. You can right-click the Data Usage tab on the Settings app screen and select the Pin to Start menu option to see your data usage in a live tile format on the Start menu.
Selecting a handwriting font. You can choose the font that your handwriting will be converted to. The setting is available in Settings > Devices > Pen & windows ink> Change handwriting font.
Built-in handwriting panel. Now you can easily use handwriting in some text fields, such as in the Settings app. When focus is placed on a field, the handwriting panel will expand.
Reset game mode settings. You can reset all game mode settings to their default values by going to Settings > Games > Game Mode> Reset game mode options.
Simplified installation of Windows Hello. In Login Options Windows section Hello, you can now set up face, fingerprint, or PIN login.
Auto-hide scrollbars in Windows: Windows automatically hides scrollbars in new UWP apps, but you can now disable this behavior in Settings > Ease of Access > Display > Windows auto-hide scrollbars.
Enable or disable color filter hotkeys. In Settings > Ease of Access > Color Filters and High Contrast, you can now enable or disable hotkeys. They are disabled by default.
Viewing and clearing the dictionary: On the Settings > Privacy > Speech, handwriting, and text input page, you can view the custom dictionary or clear it if necessary.
Disk cleanup in storage settings. The Disk Cleanup tool is now available in Settings > System > Device storage > Free up space now.

New sound settings options. Many sound customization options such as input and output devices, troubleshooting, etc. are now available in Settings > System > Sound. The new “Application and device volume” page allows you to set individual audio input and output devices for individual applications or for the system as a whole.
Language hints. When typing with the keyboard, you can now enable language hints. You can use the arrow keys to navigate through the hints, and the space bar to use the selected hint. This feature is disabled by default and only works in English so far.
Working folders on request: the Work Folders feature, which allows companies to share access to employees separate folders, got a new option "Access files on demand". When enabled, the Work Folders feature will work like OneDrive in Windows Explorer - all files will be visible, but will only be downloaded when you try to open them.
Improved eye control: Microsoft added a built-in eye tracking feature with the Fall Creators Update. Simplified scrolling and clicking functions and common tasks, such as pausing, are now implemented. This feature requires a special eye-tracking peripheral.
Multilingual Text Prediction: when typing with the touch keyboard, you no longer need to manually switch languages. Windows will automatically show the word in one of three commonly used languages. You can change this feature in Settings > Devices > Input > Multilingual Text Prediction.

Curl and Tar commands. The Curl and Tar utilities for downloading files and extracting .tar archives, which are commonly used in Linux, are now built into Windows and are available at C:\Windows\System32\curl.exe and C:\Windows\System32\tar.exe.
Native UNIX sockets. Windows 10 now natively supports UNIX sockets with the new afunix.sys kernel driver. This improvement will make it easier to port applications from Linux or other UNIX systems to WIndows.
Registry process. In the Task Manager, you will see a new process named "Registry". This is a minimal process designed to store registry data for the Windows kernel. Since the data was previously stored in the kernel anyway, the total system memory usage remains unchanged. Microsoft says this will allow them to optimize the amount of memory used by the registry in the future.
Windows Defender Application Guard. The Windows Defender Application Guard feature for protecting Microsoft Edge, which was introduced in the Fall Creators Update, was originally intended for users of Windows 10 Enterprise. One is now available to Windows 10 Pro users, but disabled by default.
New delivery optimization policies. New policies allow you to control the Delivery Optimization feature used for app updates in Windows Update and the Microsoft Store. For example, administrators can limit bandwidth based on the time of day. These policies are available under Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Delivery Optimization in the Group Policy Editor.
Windows Hypervisor Platform API. The new API allows third-party applications to create and manage partitions, customize memory layouts, and control virtual processors.
Custom scripts during update: companies can now configure their computers to run their own scripts during the Windows feature update installation process.
New power plan in Windows 10 Pro for Workstations: new policy Ultimate Performance builds on the already familiar High Performance policy and includes additional optimizations to reduce micro-latencies as well as advanced power management techniques. The scheme will only be available for desktop computers and may increase power consumption.
Productivity apps in Windows 10 Pro for Workstations: in Windows 10 Pro for Workstations, the Start menu will now show dedicated productivity apps instead of custom applications and games like Candy Crush.
Windows AI Platform and other new APIs: Microsoft announced support for new APIs for developers, including the Windows AI platform. Developers will now be able to import existing models machine learning from various platforms and run them locally on Windows computers 10.

Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) improvements

Native UNIX sockets: The new UNIX sockets work not only for Windows applications, but also for Linux applications in the Windows Subsystem for Linux.
Serial Device Support for Linux Applications. Linux applications running on the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) can now access serial devices (COM ports).
Background tasks for Linux applications. Linux applications running on the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) can now run in the background. This means that applications like sshd, tmux and screen will now work correctly.
Permissions improvements for Linux applications. Users can now run both elevated (administrator) and normal (standard user) applications in the same WSL session.
Support for scheduled tasks for Linux applications. You can now run a Linux application in WSL from scheduled tasks.
Support for remote connections for Linux applications. Users can run WSL while connected using OpenSSH, VPN, PowerShell, or other remote access tool.
Quick conversion of Linux paths to Windows. The Wslpath command allows you to quickly convert Linux paths to Windows.
Setting launch options. The user can now change some of the startup settings for Linux distributions for the WSL subsystem. Each Linux distribution has its own file in /etc/wsl.conf. You can edit the file to change automount options and network settings.
Environment variable exchange: The new WSLENV environment variable is common to Windows and Linux distributions running WSL. You can format variables and they will work correctly on both Windows and Linux.
Case sensitivity for Windows: new NTFS option can enable case sensitivity in folder. After enabling the option, even Windows applications will treat files in that folder with case sensitivity. This will allow you to work with two files named "example" and "Example" and Windows applications will treat them as different files.

Sets interface for launching applications in tabs is available in Redstone 5

Microsoft has decided to delay the release of the Sets feature in Windows 10 - it is excluded from the test builds of Redstone 4 and is available in pre-release versions Redstone 5 .

Sets introduces a new and unique tabbed experience that allows users to combine different apps and sites in one window. For example, a user can open a Word document, a Google search engine, and a OneNote note in the same window, and easily switch between each application or site. The idea is to allow users to conveniently group content from the web with application content.

Cloud Clipboard will be available in Redstone 5

Microsoft originally announced that the cloud clipboard would be part of Timeline. It was expected to appear in the system with the release of the Fall Creators Update. Cloud Clipboard allows you to sync your copied text and data with other devices, which will improve your productivity when working with multiple devices. For example, you can copy a piece of text on a Windows PC using hot windows keys+ V and then paste it on the iPhone.

This feature appeared in early versions Redstone 4 but has since been removed. It looks like Microsoft wants to devote more time to the development of the cloud buffer. We hope to see this feature in the next major feature update.

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Microsoft is starting to cut back on adding new features to Windows 10's upcoming major update, codenamed Redstone 4 - by now, the public can already appreciate most of the significant upcoming changes thanks to the latest test Insider builds preview. The developers as a whole have moved into the testing and debugging phase of this spring update. So let's take a look at the main innovations that will appear in Redstone 4.

Timeline

The biggest and most interesting change for users in Redstone 4 is the Timeline. We are talking about the recent applications screen from Microsoft, which will display all the actions of the user on his devices over the past 30 days, making it easy to understand where he left off in one or another compatible application. From there, you can view your browsing history, open documents, visited places in the Maps app, read articles in the News app, and more.

Timeline synchronizes information from all devices associated with the user account, so that it will be possible, for example, to start working on a laptop on the road, and then continue it at home on a desktop system. The new screen can be accessed from the Task View area.

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