Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is now available: A collection of many small and medium-sized...

[Julio Franco]

Microsoft started rolling out the Fall Creators Update this morning to Windows 10 PCs worldwide. As usual, the roll out will be in phases, with newer machines receiving it first as an automated update, or if you check manually and your PC is eligible for this first phase, it will download and install it (version 1709) right away.

The update is launching roughly six months after the first major Creators pack, containing a number of fresh features in addition to the usual bug fixes and security patches. The Start menu has been slightly improved to enable grouping of app tiles into folders by grabbing and dropping a tile on top of another, similar to how you group together apps in your smartphone.

Other small usability settings include better Personalization options, so you can modify the color of the UI and Windows will remember previous themes used, so you can go back and forth easily. A new night light setting shows warmer colors to rest your eyes at night -- similar to what flux does (highly recommended) but now built into the operating system.

Also debuting on the Fall Creators Update are the first hints of Fluent Design, an effort to make the Windows UI, styling and themes more unified across apps and interfaces. The changes are subtle, but this should work nicely in combination with improvements for high DPI screens touted on this update.

OneDrive is receiving an overhaul to bring files on-demand. Folders and files will be able to selectively be downloaded so that local disk space will not be eaten up by rarely used data. For those wondering about the now obsolete Windows Movie Maker, a new app called Story Remix will serve as a replacement to provide basic multimedia creation and editing. Images and videos can be dropped in, rearranged and easily turned into a suitable output format.

The global Windows Settings have also been fine-tuned to make searching simpler. Apps and Gaming now have their own settings categories. Windows Defender is now "Windows Defender Antivirus" showing some new visual cues across the OS.

Microsoft Edge and Cortana are getting several new features and updates, even though many users don't take full advantage of them or simply disregard them (most in favor of Chrome or Firefox), Edge is slowly turning into a robust and flexible browser. It will be a hard road to make it a popular choice among users though.

Along with the Fall Creators Update, Microsoft is opening up Windows Mixed Reality and a range of mixed reality headsets started shipping today from the likes of Acer, Dell, HP and Lenovo, starting at $399 including motion controllers. A Samsung headset that uses AMOLED screens instead of LCD will sell for $499 later this year, too.

Cloud-based clipboard support is making its way to Windows as copying from a Windows 10 device to a mobile phone or tablet will eventually be possible. This feature will likely work similarly to the Apple Universal Clipboard that connects macOS and iOS, while Windows 10 will support iPhones and Android handsets.

Microsoft also announced new Surface Book 2 laptops to coincide with Windows 10's latest major update.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/70820-windows-10-fall-creators-update-available-october-17.html

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

OK. So far nothing about the upcoming update has caught my attention yet.

 

[IAMTHESTIG]

Wish M$ would put some effort into a dark theme for their x86 based software, like File Explorer, old Control Panel applets we still have to use because they don't exist in the new metro-style apps, and Office. With bigger and brighter monitors, the excessive use of the color white can be straining on the eyes.

 

[Kendogo7]

Not sure why they didn't include it but Windows will have HDR support with that update. That alone is big news!
http://windowsreport.com/fall-creators-update-settings/

 

[Nobina]

I just care about bug fixes. I don't know about you guys but with the latest version of W10 search/cortana breaks multiple times a day on multiple PCs. I'm used to running stuff from search and this made me upgrade to W7. These are all features I bet majority doesn't care about but MS went full quantity over quality. Fix the damn bugs first and then add features second.

 

[Squid Surprise]

I just care about bug fixes. I don't know about you guys but with the latest version of W10 search/cortana breaks multiple times a day on multiple PCs. I'm used to running stuff from search and this made me upgrade to W7. These are all features I bet majority doesn't care about but MS went full quantity over quality. Fix the damn bugs first and then add features second.

You might just want to reinstall.... cause no one I know has any issue with search/Cortana (other than being annoyed by Cortana's voice)... I use it all the time and haven't had any issues either...

I'm a tad concerned about Windows Movie Maker being declared "obsolete"... how come?? And will I still be able to use it? I'm now teaching Grade 2/3 and I regularly edit Youtube videos (like Just Dance, and other kiddy videos) with it in order to add my own students.... would prefer not to have to use another program (I know there are plenty of better ones - but for free, Move Maker was pretty darn useful).

Hope MS' replacement program works the same way...

 

[psycros]

I just care about bug fixes. I don't know about you guys but with the latest version of W10 search/cortana breaks multiple times a day on multiple PCs. I'm used to running stuff from search and this made me upgrade to W7. These are all features I bet majority doesn't care about but MS went full quantity over quality. Fix the damn bugs first and then add features second.

This. Windows users are NOT Mac users and cramming in a bunch of third-rate bloatware isn't going to bring anyone over from the Apple camp. Besides, Apple's stuff is about the best you can get in that ecosystem while in the Windows world there are plenty of superior alternatives to anything Microsoft produces. Besides, do you really want Microsoft looking at all the content you create? We all know that will be the default setting. I also figure if you read the TOS in the Creator's Edition closely you'll find they get ownership of anything you put on Onedrive.

 

[Nobina]

You might just want to reinstall.... cause no one I know has any issue with search/Cortana (other than being annoyed by Cortana's voice)... I use it all the time and haven't had any issues either...

I'm a tad concerned about Windows Movie Maker being declared "obsolete"... how come?? And will I still be able to use it? I'm now teaching Grade 2/3 and I regularly edit Youtube videos (like Just Dance, and other kiddy videos) with it in order to add my own students.... would prefer not to have to use another program (I know there are plenty of better ones - but for free, Move Maker was pretty darn useful).

Hope MS' replacement program works the same way...

I did reinstall multiple times from different .iso files (all from MS) and I also installed it on different PCs. I'm guessing there is a setting that breaks it because I like to turn a lot of stuff off on a clean install of Windows 10.

 

[Teko03]

Timeline and pick up where you left all are extremely welcoming features. I believe this update is also bringing a swipe enabled touch keyboard...LONG overdue.

 

[Reehahs]

You might just want to reinstall.... cause no one I know has any issue with search/Cortana (other than being annoyed by Cortana's voice)... I use it all the time and haven't had any issues either...

I'm a tad concerned about Windows Movie Maker being declared "obsolete"... how come?? And will I still be able to use it? I'm now teaching Grade 2/3 and I regularly edit Youtube videos (like Just Dance, and other kiddy videos) with it in order to add my own students.... would prefer not to have to use another program (I know there are plenty of better ones - but for free, Move Maker was pretty darn useful).

Hope MS' replacement program works the same way...

I did reinstall multiple times from different .iso files (all from MS) and I also installed it on different PCs. I'm guessing there is a setting that breaks it because I like to turn a lot of stuff off on a clean install of Windows 10.

I had to reset Windows 10 PC because of the "Name not available" virus that embedded itself so deeply into Windows than no security product could fix it. Now the start menu, search functions and the Windows apps (inc store) are all broken.

 

[lostinlodos]

You might just want to reinstall.... cause no one I know has any issue with search/Cortana (other than being annoyed by Cortana's voice)... I use it all the time and haven't had any issues either...

I'm a tad concerned about Windows Movie Maker being declared "obsolete"... how come?? And will I still be able to use it? I'm now teaching Grade 2/3 and I regularly edit Youtube videos (like Just Dance, and other kiddy videos) with it in order to add my own students.... would prefer not to have to use another program (I know there are plenty of better ones - but for free, Move Maker was pretty darn useful).

Hope MS' replacement program works the same way...

I did reinstall multiple times from different .iso files (all from MS) and I also installed it on different PCs. I'm guessing there is a setting that breaks it because I like to turn a lot of stuff off on a clean install of Windows 10.

That was a known issue in one of the test rollouts. Make sure your not a fast ring insider. If you're on the insider program roll back two generations and remove yourself, then update.
If your not an insider rollback one generation, join the SLOW ring insider updates, and then update.
Looks like you caught a bad update that wasn't intended for you.
Also of note is by default Microsoft shares updates to 10 across computers in the same network. Once you do the above on all your systems you may want to disable the update sharing feature which will download a larger ISO initially and then share bits of the same file across multiple computers. So an error in the initial download may well leak into all other updates on the rest of the network

 

[EClyde]

I sure like 7.

 

[deemon]

I hope it fixes the bugs they introduced to us with spring creators update and not make even more new ones.

 

[poohbear]

Finally we can have file on demand with onedrive! Picking and choosing which folders I can have on my laptop vs my desktop is essential, no clue why it has taken so many years for such a basic function!

 

[Greg S]

The most useful feature that I will actually use is having GPU usage shown in task manager. This should have been standard on Windows 7 but somehow wasn't.

 

[NicktheWVAHick]

Hopefully it won't screw-up my computer.

 

[torchyear]

Wish M$ would put some effort into a dark theme for their x86 based software, like File Explorer, old Control Panel applets we still have to use because they don't exist in the new metro-style apps, and Office. With bigger and brighter monitors, the excessive use of the color white can be straining on the eyes.

Settings / Personalisation / Colours / Choose your default app mode: dark

 

[oldikes]

Wish M$ would put some effort into a dark theme for their x86 based software, like File Explorer, old Control Panel applets we still have to use because they don't exist in the new metro-style apps, and Office. With bigger and brighter monitors, the excessive use of the color white can be straining on the eyes.

Settings / Personalisation / Colours / Choose your default app mode: dark

that is for new windows style apps and not for "File explorer, old control panel applets, and office".

 

[torchyear]

that is for new windows style apps and not for "File explorer, old control panel applets, and office".

Settings / Ease of Access / High contrast / Choose a theme: High Contrast #1 / then customise to heart's content

Office 2016 also has File / Options /General / Office theme: Dark

Alternately, turn the monitor brightness down so the whitepoint luminance matches the reflectance of that sheet of paper on your desk

IMO the theme brightness is a non-issue as it's always been user customisable, but Microsoft really needs to fix high DPI font scaling, which has been completely borked since time immemorial.

 

[IAMTHESTIG]

that is for new windows style apps and not for "File explorer, old control panel applets, and office".

Settings / Ease of Access / High contrast / Choose a theme: High Contrast #1 / then customise to heart's content

Office 2016 also has File / Options /General / Office theme: Dark

Alternately, turn the monitor brightness down so the whitepoint luminance matches the reflectance of that sheet of paper on your desk

IMO the theme brightness is a non-issue as it's always been user customisable, but Microsoft really needs to fix high DPI font scaling, which has been completely borked since time immemorial.

The high contrast theme looks horrible, absolutely horrible. Those themes are for people who are nearly blind. The other dudes are right there is no proper dark theme for x86 applications that are still a major part of Windows, like File Explorer. The Office 2016 one is ok but a bit bland. Honestly they have a really nice one for Visual Studio 2015. It's a shame no one seems to have interest in having that in the rest of the OS.

And yes of course you can turn your monitor brightness down but then that ends up making any graphics and video dull and low contrast. M$ just needs to make some proper dark themes for their entire OS, quit defending their half-assed approach.

You are right about the scaling issues, there is still plenty of improvements to be made in this area.

 

[holdum323]

Hi. I'm not here to cause trouble. I'm here to pass forward and learn. Here's my thread that I created tonight. I am who I am and that's the only way I know how to act.
https://www.techspot.com/community/topics/windows-10-oct-17-update.241657/#post-1641915

 

[Zordon]

Wish M$ would put some effort into a dark theme for their x86 based software

Go to Personalise, Colors and change Choose your default app mode to Dark

 

[David Belkin]

Updated from 1703 to 1709 via Windows Update (64 bit), update went smooth, however, it disabled my Bitdefender 2018 Firewall and it Bitdefender refuses to re-enable.

 

[misor]

Just finished downloading win10 fcu 64bit iso using media creation tool [ 3.54 GB (3,809,476,608 bytes) ]. I will be creating a bootable usb installer after I transfer some files from my usb drive.

Updated from 1703 to 1709 via Windows Update (64 bit), update went smooth, however, it disabled my Bitdefender 2018 Firewall and it Bitdefender refuses to re-enable.

maybe antivirus needs to be manually reinstalled.

edit: my avast free antivirus edition did not need reinstallation.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Wish M$ would put some effort into a dark theme for their x86 based software

Go to Personalise, Colors and change Choose your default app mode to Dark

x86 software, not UWP apps. There is no proper dark mode for X86 apps, like the file explorer.