The Rest of the Features
Notepad has been with Windows since nearly the beginning and finally it has received some new features. This includes line numbers when using word-wrap, new Find experience when using word-wrap, notification when making unsaved changes, text zoom, and new shortcuts.
Since Windows 10 started with Feature Updates, areas of the operating system ported over from Windows 7 have slowly been phased out. This is apparent with every new release increasing the amount of features in Settings, and deprecating the old items. This version finally allows the Network Status page to be more comparable to Control Panel. The new Wifi 6 and WPA3 are now supported in 2004, preventing such attacks as DragonBlood and KRACK.
Just like Windows has handled it with Microsoft Office apps for years, there’s the new ability to automatically restore open UWP (Universal Windows Platform) apps, such as Calendar and Mail, after a reboot. There’s also an improved tablet experience for convertible PCs.
And for years, gamers and administrators alike have begged for the Task Manager Performance tab to support graphics card performance options. Windows now includes GPU performance metrics, just like other major components. It should be noted that although GPU performance is now monitored, thermal metrics are still not included.
Some Driver Issues
It should also be noted that the initial release of Windows 10 2004 didn’t come without a few hiccups and this isn’t anything new (Windows 10 1809, anybody?). There have been reports of bugs in various drivers including peripherals, accessories like Bluetooth, audio as well as graphics and display issues. Fortunately for many, Microsoft already caught a number of these with Windows Insiders testing and has enabled a number of blocks for devices that may have these unsupported drivers.
For example, certain audio drivers were highlighted early: “To safeguard your update experience, we have applied a compatibility hold on Windows 10 devices with affected Conexant or Synaptics audio drivers installed from being offered Windows 10, version 2004 or Windows Server, version 2004 until the driver has been updated,” Microsoft stated. There are also outstanding issues with Realtek Bluetooth drivers, Intel integrated GPUs, Thunderbolt, and older Nvidia display adapters. For administrators, it’s always recommended to test the Feature Update first in an environment that’s representative of the production environment to catch any potential issues.
Organizations, as well as consumers, that run Windows 10 version 2004 will have full update support for 18 months (support until December 14, 2021).
How Syxsense Can Help
Overall, trusting Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) or other third-party patching solutions may not bring these devices to a supported version successfully. Leveraging a cloud-based solution to bring older Windows 10 devices up-to-date ensures success and standardization, whether devices are inside or outside the network.
Syxsense Manage includes the ability to migrate managed devices to any desired version of Windows 10 through the use of a Feature Update task. Simply prepare end-user installation delay and reboot options, choose the devices to target, and select a time for the upgrade that works best for these target devices. A phased deployment approach is also recommended by the industry and is always easily done with Syxsense Manage.