Free WINDOWS 10 Update Arriving On 1 st Year Anniversary

If you are a lucky user of the Windows 10 operating system, you’ll have something to look forward to this summer. It was the summer of last year that saw the debut of the latest version of Microsoft’s long-running powerhouse computer O.S., and they’re gearing up to celebrate its first anniversary in style. So clean up your ears and listen hard: Microsoft is putting together a Windows 10 Anniversary Update. It’s coming out on August 2. And it is going to be free!

Microsoft itself made the announcement on its own blog, by the hand of Windows and Devices Group Corporate Vice President Yusuf Mehdi. With over 350 million devices worldwide running on Windows 10 according to Mehdi, the O.S. has reached the highest level of satisfied customers in comparison to any of its older brothers. With feedback taken from over 135 billion hours of total recorded use of Windows 10, Microsoft has been able to assemble the best and most wanted features to be included in the upcoming Anniversary Update.

The main gist of the update is in additional security improvements, the Windows Ink app, innovations for easier computer device sharing in classrooms, and upgrades to the Microsoft Edge browser, Xbox gaming, and everyone’s new favorite helpful voice on your Windows-driven device: Cortana. For PC/laptop users, Cortana will soon be able to interact with you and do computer stuff at your request from the lock screen, saving you the trouble of unlocking every time. She will now also store and remember specific information, and notify you of things across all your Cortana-equipped devices.

On the security front, there are additional features to the free anti-malware program Windows Defender and the introduction of the new Windows Hello biometric authentication support. For business owners, the Anniversary update significantly boosts protection from cyber-attacks with the Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection, detecting malicious assaults and tracing them back with reports to the Windows intelligence network. There’s also the nifty Windows Information Protection, easily keeping business and personal computer data apart for added safety.

Next on the Anniversary Update is the Windows Ink platform, giving stylus input support to most applications. You can now handwrite on Smart Sticky Notes or Microsoft Office (making corrections on documents by hand is fun), draw directions on Maps and make annotations on sites displayed on Windows Edge. Graphic artists can now draw on the screen instead of a tablet and musicians can compose digitally. Imagine the possibilities.

Other upgrades go to making better your gaming experience with Xbox Play Anywhere (shared progress on an Xbox game between a paired Windows 10 PC and an Xbox One) and Language Region independence regardless of where in the world you’re playing at. Then there are new power-ups for Microsoft Edge in power-saving, less memory consumption, modern web standard accessibility and the availability of Edge extensions on the Window Store. Educational users will have an easier time doing their own tech support with the “Set up School PCs” app, share lots of devices at one with Windows Imaging and Configuration Designer, and create secure computer-stored tests with the “Take a Test” app.

There’s one last reminder however. As reported in CNBC, after July 29 there will be no more free updates of devices running on Windows 7 and 8.1 as there has been since the debut of 10. Come the 30 th , Windows 10 will be priced at $119 according to Windows and Devices Group Corporate President Terry Myerson. So power up to Windows 10 now if you can, while there is still “free” time, and watch out for the Anniversary Update coming on August 2.

Photo Credit to www.microsoft.com