Windows 10 Features: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Windows 10 Features: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

For such a large and complex operating system like Windows 10, there are obviously features Microsoft got completely right and then some that … not so much.

Now that we have lived with the various versions and updates of Microsoft’s latest OS, isn’t it time we conduct a postmortem of all that Windows 10 comprises? What do we like and what are our pet peeves?

With a selective feature by feature check, I plan to look periodically under a virtual magnifying glass to examine what’s good and bad (or just plain ugly) about each feature. This will be based on both my experience with the OS since its first release and with a composite of opinions from other users (media and end users).

To get underway with this continuing series, Feature-By-Feature, here’s are the first three guinea pigs under the glass: Automatic Updates, the Start menu and Contana.

In later installments Windows Secrets will examine the good and bad of  the Command prompt, Edge browser, One Drive, and the Microsoft Store.

Automatic Updates

Until Windows 10, updates and patches were user customizable. You could select which ones to install or choose not to install any. Those days are over. With Windows 10, all updates are foisted on users whether they like it or not. In fact the only ways to avoid having them installed is to disconnect from the Internet.

The good: The updates include the latest security patches and feature improvements, and they come on a scheduled basis, so you don’t have to make time for upgrades. And emergency fixes will get pushed to you.

Starting with the Fall Creators Update (1709), Microsoft included ransomware protection as part of its routine security updates. The four components of what it calls Windows Defender Exploit Guard are designed to lock down the device against a wide variety of attack vectors and block behaviors commonly used in malware attacks, while enabling enterprises to balance their security risk and productivity requirements.

Users can also choose the time updates can and cannot be installed. And for the 21 people still using dial up modems or for those folks with metered (i.e. pay by the minute) accounts, they can modify the advanced update settings so no installs are made – at least for a set amount of time.

The bad: When a patch causes problems and prevents us from using Windows to any degree, there is an arcane way to uninstall the troublesome patch. Time consuming and frustrating, the process of applying a patch should have been more thoroughly tested is a major downside of automatic updates. In the past, you could check the install/wait advise of Susan Bradley before okaying an update. Now we read about what shouldn’t have been after the fact. We can’t cherry pick the patches we want to install.

The ugly: You press Shut down but the message reads “Working on updates. Don’t turn off your computer.” Next time you boot up the PC and get a message, “Please wait while updates are installed.”

Yes, updates are all about intruding on our time when we least expect it.

Start Menu

The good:  It used to be labeled Start but in Windows 10 it got a demotion to an untitled Windows icon. Like all things Microsoft, it all got bigger and ever more customizable. The customization is essential since the jumble of “tiles” on the display can actually make it difficult to find what we are looking for.

While all the apps, functions and features are listed in the left vertical column, similar to previous Start menus, it’s the system of tiles propagated on the right that provides a unique place to add frequently used apps, websites, and Windows functions. Tiles associated with Internet-sourced services like weather and news by default are ‘live’ in that they flash streamed updates. (The persistently blinking of the live tiles can be annoying for some users, and with a right-click can be turned off.)

The default set of titles does include some useful apps amid the revenue-baiting games. But an easy right-click on those can 86 them, simplifying the display. (If you have a touch screen right-click by holding your finger down for a second.)

Customization extends to drag and drop organization, putting the tile where you want. Resizing of the tile palette is accomplished by just grabbing the right border and pull to the left to shrink it. Resizing a tile is a right-click away. And that left column is alphabetized; clicking the letter atop each group will bring up an index of each letter to quickly jump to the one you want instead of having to scroll down until you reach it.

For folks who prefer the olden days of Windows 7 and want no a no-tile look, simply right-click each tile and choose Unpin from Start. When the last tile is eliminated, just the left column Start menu, a la Windows 7, will remain.

(For more finely-detailed instructions on how to customize your start menu, read Richard Hay’s “Quick and Easy Ways to Customize Your Windows 10 Start Menu.”)

The bad: The argument can be made that Microsoft went overboard with its tiled Start menu. The default Start is a confusing mess, what with the alphabetized left column and the random tile set which requires users to handle the heavy lifting of futzing with customization. While the Windows 10 Start was created in reaction to user disdain for all that was in Windows 8 and what users liked in Windows 7, the hybrid which resulted is sort of a FrankenWindows to meet the dual needs of touchscreens and mice.

The ugly: See the bad.

Cortana

The good: Following in the footsteps of Apple’s Siri, Microsoft introduced Cortana in Windows Phone first,  and then went all-out with its integration in Windows 10. Named for a character in the Xbox game Halo, Cortana is even voiced by the actress from the game, Jen Taylor.

Cortana gets better as it learns from your queries. It handles basics like reminders of shopping lists and appointments, looks up contacts, tells you the weather, stock quotes, sports scores, and flight status. If you are using Windows Mail, Cortana will even scan package delivery notices and check their expected arrivals.

Cortana can take dictation and produces nearly accurate results. When you use a phrase with the word about that prompts Cortana to start an email. While that hands free ability is–to pardon the pun—handy, depending on your email app it does invariably require some hands-on touch ups. Cortana can try to identify music that is playing, use Windows Maps to quote distances, store hours, give traffic reports, and pinpoint addresses. What Cortana delivers to you is all set up in its own, comprehensive Settings menu

Indeed with each feature update of Windows 10 Cortana’s versatility has gotten better at answering whatever query you throw at her. But like digital assistants Siri and Amazon’s Alexa, she is not foolproof and will tell you that when she can’t come up with the right answer or, indeed, any answer.

The bad: In order to get Cortana services you seemingly have to sign your life away to Microsoft. The company states that its intention in harvesting your data is to make Cortana work better for you and every other Cortana user. Okay, that is the basic principal behind AI processing. But while Microsoft adds that it does not use the information to sell targeted ads, on the other hand it does use some data it gets from you from outside of Cortana (such as the Edge browser) for targeted ads.

Cortana, by its nature, and from your setup entries, will know where you live and keep a record in its Notebook, of everything you ask or search. (George Orwell had the right idea about Big Brother, he just had the wrong year.)

If you don’t like the idea that Microsoft is reading your digital tracks, you can click “No thanks” and not use Cortana. Its search bar reverts to a Start menu text entry only.

The ugly: You need some time and patience to read through Microsoft’s Cortana privacy explanation. While it is short on the expected legalese, it does take longer than a laundry spin cycle to read and absorb it thoroughly. It might give you pause and none of it is pretty. But it is definitely worthwhile information to understand before setting up Cortana or even after you have.

Ask @WinObs: Can I Postpone Receiving the Next Feature Update for Windows 10?

Q. Can I postpone receiving the next feature update for Windows 10?

Microsoft has been developing the fifth feature update for Windows 10 since late last year, and that work is now in the final stages as they stabilize the update and prepare for its general availability next month.

When Windows 10 first came out almost three years ago, there were no official options for consumers to delay the installation of a new feature update. Once it arrived on Windows Update for your device there was no turning back from that upgrade cycle.

However, if you are running Windows 10 Professional, settings have been built into the OS that will give you a couple of options for delaying the upgrade to the latest feature update.

Note: This option is not available as part of Windows 10 Home.

If you go into Windows Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update and then click on Advanced Options under Update settings.

This is where you have two options for postponing updates to Windows 10. Let’s take a closer look at what is at your disposal for delaying a feature update upgrade.

First, let’s begin by looking at the last option on the page labelled Pause Updates. This is one single toggle that will allow you to pause all updates for Windows 10 for 35 days. Turning this option on will pause both feature and quality updates. Feature updates arethe big releases each March and September with new features, and quality updates are the monthly cumulative update patches that are used to address security and system performance related issues.

Once your 35-day paused period has passed, your system will have to download and install any pending updates before you can use this pause feature again on this device.  This would include both feature and quality updates if available.

So, if you are looking to just delay the installation of the next feature update for about a month this option should work very well to cover that period. Since Microsoft usually announces the expected release date for their semi-annual feature updates, you can keep an eye out for that news and then put the pause into effect just prior to that date.

If that 35-day period is not sufficient for you to delay the next feature update then you will want to look at the options that are listed under Choose when updates are installed on the top half of this settings page.

Two new terms are introduced under these settings. You can select either from the drop-down at the top of the settings page.

Semi-Annual Channel (Targeted) – This is the status of any feature updates on the day they are released and ready for download to most consumer systems as part of a rollout by Microsoft.

Semi-Annual Channel – A feature update usually gets this designation a couple of months after its release. By this time, it has had a couple of monthly cumulative updates released to cover any security/performance issues. At this point Microsoft considers the release is ready for use across most organizations.

Your first option under these settings to delay a feature update is to use this drop-down box and select Semi-Annual Channel as your readiness branch for feature updates. This should give you a delay of about two months after the initial release of the latest feature update before it would be installed on your system.

Be aware though, Microsoft does not make a formal announcement of when a feature update reaches this status so that time frame might vary between feature update cycles.

There are two additional drop-down boxes in this area that allow you to designate a specific number of days to defer the installation of feature or quality updates on your system. This is the setting that provides the greatest amount of control over when a new feature update will be downloaded and installed on your device.

The first drop-down box allows you to pick the number of days (up to 365) to defer a feature update and if it is set to 0 then the update will be downloaded when it is available or based on other settings you have selected for pausing updates.

In the second drop-down box, you can opt to delay quality updates for up to 30 days. My recommendation here is to only change this if you maintain rigorous security patching on your own. You would not want to leave your system vulnerable to an active exploit or to a bug that you are experiencing.

In both of these situations, your device will have to download any pending feature or quality updates after the deferment period expires before you can set a new period to defer updates.

As I mentioned earlier, if you are on Windows 10 Home, these options are not available to you for deferring or pausing updates. While there are options available from third party apps to perform similar actions, I don’t recommend these. Your best bet if you need to exercise this kind of control over pausing/deferring updates is to invest in an upgrade to Windows 10 Professional, then take advantage of the options outlined above.