The Windows 10 Creators Update will begin to roll out to Windows around the world on April 11 as a free update and Surface Book, Surface Studio are coming to new markets.
The latest update to Windows 10 is designed to unleash creativity, bringing 3D and mixed reality to everyone and enabling every gamer to be a broadcaster. Beyond creativity, it brings new features to Microsoft Edge, additional security capabilities and privacy tools, and more.
Here are just a few of the new features coming in the Windows 10 Creators Update:
3D for Everyone and enabling mixed reality
With the new Paint 3D app in the Creators Update, it's simple to create 3D objects from scratch, changing colors, stamping textures, or turning a 2D picture into a 3D work of art. Remix3D.com offers pre-made 3D art in a growing online library for your use or you can share your own creation with this creative community.
Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, and Lenovo will ship the first Windows Mixed Reality-enabled headsets with the Creators Update, starting at $299 USD later this year. These headsets will contain built-in sensors to enable inside-out, six-degrees of freedom, allowing for easy setup and free movement without the need for external markers or sensors in the wall. These devices will light up with new Windows Mixed Reality apps, which developers are creating on the recently available Windows Mixed Reality dev kits.
Watch, participate, chat and interact in real-time with Beam
Microsoft is unifying players across Xbox console and PC with Xbox Live and through programs like Xbox Play Anywhere, which enables you to buy a game once and play it on both your Xbox One and Windows 10 PC.
With the Creators Update, the company is delivering more ways to play, interact, share and enjoy across Windows 10 and Xbox One. With Beam, Creators are invited on Windows 10 PC and Xbox One to stream gameplay and interact with community in real-time using Beam's ultra low-latency - no extra hardware or software required. With Beam, you don't just watch your favorite game streams, you can chat, interact and participate with streamers and community in new ways.
Windows 10 Game Mode dedicates more system resources to your PC games. Once you've enabled Game Mode, you can apply it to any game.
Microsoft Edge
With the Creators Update, Microsof's Edge web browser is getting new features like advanced tab management to help you find, organize and open tabs you've set aside without leaving the page you're on. You can now discover and get e-books in Windows Store and read them in Microsoft Edge across all of your Windows 10 devices. And, it is the only browser that can play Netflix movies and TV shows in 4K Ultra HD resolution.
Managing your children's screen time
By reducing the blue light emitted by your screen, the night light feature helps you sleep better. With night light, when you're working late your brain is more ready to power down for a good night's sleep. Smartphone users love this feature and now, it's coming to Windows 10 with the Creators Update.
The mini view feature lets you keep an ever-present small window on top of what you're doing. This means you can do things like binge-watch your favorite show, carry on a Skype conversation or control your music, regardless of what else you're working on.
With the Windows 10 Creators Update, parents familiar with screen time limits for Windows 10 will now find a similar set of controls for Xbox One. With screen time limits parents can manage how much time their children play games across the console and PC, giving you an extra hand, say, when your younger family member has played enough Forza Horizon 3 for the day. With screen time limits, parents can set a daily time allowance for each child and your Xbox One or Windows 10 PC will automatically sign them out when time is up. For Windows 10, you can even get a report telling you what your child played each week.
Windows Hello can use any paired iPhone, Android or Windows Phone to detect when you step away from your PC or tablet, automatically locking it behind you for an extra measure of security and privacy. This remote lock feature works with smartphones, fitness bands or any device that's paired to your PC or tablet.
Additional security and privacy protection
With Windows 10, Microsoft has built a robust security protection into Windows to protect you from threats whether you are visiting a website, sending an email or storing files in the cloud.
A new service is offered to help you monitor your security, the Windows Defender Security Center. It offers a single dashboard display so you can control your security options from one place - everything from anti-virus, network and firewall protection; to assessing your device performance and health; to security controls for your apps and browser; to family safety options. And there's more: The Device Health Advisor gives you information on the vital signs of your device, and new settings give you more control over app installation. For business customers, the Creators Update will continue to bring new tools and capabilities that help simplify IT.
The Creators Update also makes it easier to manage your privacy with Windows 10 and other Microsoft services with a new set up experience that lets you choose the settings that are right for you. A new Microsoft privacy dashboard lets you see and manage your activity data across multiple Microsoft services.
Surface Book and Surface Studio coming to more markets
Surface Book with Performance base is available for pre-order today in Austria, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom and will be available for purchase on April 20th. And, Surface Studio and Surface Dial are available for pre-order today in Australia, Canada and New Zealand and will be available for purchase starting April 20th.
Windows 10 Creators Update for Surface Hub
Last but not least, Surface Hub customers worldwide will receive the Windows 10 Creators Update for Surface Hub. The update delivers some of the top requested features to make Surface Hub an even more powerful collaboration device. The updates include an improved new start screen that allows you to sign on with your credentials and access your Office 365 apps and OneDrive materials as well as new manageability tools to simplify large-scale deployments. Apps like Skype for Business are being improved to help you connect better and the Whiteboard app will now easily enable real-time collaboration between Surface Hubs.