The Windows 10 April Update (1803): The Littlest Big Update
by Brett Howse on May 25, 2018 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Software
- Operating Systems
- Windows
- Microsoft
- Windows 10
Timeline
Arguably the biggest feature new feature for Windows 10 is one aimed squarely at productivity. Timeline is part of the Task view feature that was previously in Windows 10, and accessed in the same way, either by clicking the icon on the task bar, or pressing Win + Tab. The idea of Timeline is to make it very easy to get back into a task you were doing previously or find some information you know you had open in a browser.
Sorry for the poor screenshot but Timeline isn't working for me
By default, Timeline is only set to go back a single day, and apps will be sorted by hour. You can optionally enable it to go back 30 days as well, which seems like a more useful method to have as the default.
You can also adjust how Timeline works in the Privacy settings. When enabled, Timeline will sync activities from this PC, and also sync them to the cloud, so you can access documents and information across devices. But if you’d rather not have that data collected, you can disable the cloud sync, the local PC activity collection, or both.
Focus Assist
Another feature added with the April Update which focuses on keeping you focused is Focus Assist. After clamoring for notifications on the PC after seeing their benefit in mobile, it quickly became apparent that, while useful, notifications can also be a distraction.
In previous versions of Windows 10, Microsoft offers a Quiet Hours feature where you could set the PC to not provide notifications depending on the time, but with Focus Assist, that ability is expanded upon.
In addition to being able to schedule a time when notifications are muted, you can now change what level of notifications come through, with a custom priority list. You could in theory mute all notifications except those you want to see, which sounds fairly useful, or you could just set a time where you want to get some work done and only have alarms appear.
There’s also additional new automatic rules for notification action when duplicating a display, which will be very beneficial to avoid embarrassing notifications when using a projector, as well as when gaming.
Enabled by default is also a summary of notifications that were missed while focus assist was on, so if you were gaming, you’ll get a handy summary of everything that happened while you were having some fun, so you can get back to work.
This is of course still coupled with the notification settings where you can enable or disable notifications per-app.
Focus Assist is the kind of feature that Windows 10 needs. Notifications are great, but they can be distracting when you’re trying to get some work done. It would be great if Microsoft added some more settings here to allow you to create more automatic rules, such as when you have an app open, or additional time slots rather than just the single time you can enable it now.
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ChristopherFortineux - Friday, June 8, 2018 - link
Windows 10 has a dark mode across the entire system. MacOS is currently about to implement a dark theme. Selecting Settings > Personalization > Colors, Then at the bottom select "Dark" under Choose your default App mode. As for enabling it within Explorer that will require changes to core files through other means. You can choose dark colors for title bars etc and save the theme under the Themes tab.tamalero - Tuesday, May 29, 2018 - link
This patch is buggy as hell compared to the past ones for me. For example.. clicking on timeline/task view instantly crashes windows explorer. Closing all my windows.cm2187 - Tuesday, May 29, 2018 - link
Is the start menu working now or is it one of these “hard computer science problems”?sadsteve - Tuesday, May 29, 2018 - link
Updated 9 desktops and 2 laptops with only one problem. My AnyDesk connection to my headless SageTV server no longer works properly. It connects and just sits there waiting for the screen to update. I have to plug a monitor into the server to get it to function. I've ordered a monitor emulator to fix the issue.Icehawk - Tuesday, May 29, 2018 - link
Ugh. RDP was changed in this update and now it’s a UWP app :( yay it doesn’t work. Thankfully the old RDP is still available if you search for it.MS for the love of god stop with the UWP crap in the OS, it looks like garbage and have half the functionality of the original ones we all know and have been using for ages. Settings can go eat a donkey dick
ChristopherFortineux - Friday, June 8, 2018 - link
Everything will be built into new menus and functions. You are not going to change this choice. Maybe, change platforms.croc - Tuesday, May 29, 2018 - link
I think I am beginning to see a pattern here... Fall updates for lots of new goodies, Spring updates to clean up the mess and maybe add a gadget or two.ChristopherFortineux - Friday, June 8, 2018 - link
Process of evolving an OS. Build up features. Fix issues and resolve any messes that occur. Continue design directives.Mark Woodward - Wednesday, May 30, 2018 - link
I feel Microsoft engineers should check the update thoroughly before rolling it out to the masses, like they do on https://drasticds-emulatorapk.com/Because there will be another update to fix the issues created by this one! Read more at https://cheatengineandroidapk.com/
BigDragon - Thursday, May 31, 2018 - link
My tablet PC (Yoga 720) pulled this update down Tuesday night. I noticed when I tried to use the machine Wednesday only to be greeted with update screen after update screen. Not like I was trying to use the computer to do stuff or anything.Sadly, the update broke my microphone and mouse cursor. Took an hour to figure out why I could listen to my mic, but Discord couldn't detect or use it. Turns out disabling the "let apps use my microphone" and then turning it right back on was all that was needed. Driver and settings changes elsewhere had zero impact. As for the mouse cursor, it disappears the moment I touch the screen and never comes back. Previously, using the touchpad would cause the mouse cursor to come back. Now it's just permanently gone. Windows no longer distinguishes between touch and touchpad input.
This has been one frustrating update. Definite regression in features I use. I don't use any of the stuff outlined as changes and additions in this article.