The Windows 10 October 2018 Update (1809): Let's Try This Again
by Brett Howse on November 14, 2018 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Software
- Operating Systems
- Windows
- Microsoft
- Windows 10
Back on October 2nd, Microsoft announced general availability for the latest update to Windows 10, the Windows 10 October 2018 Update. The new naming is improved over what they’d been doing in the past, where updates were called Creators Update or Fall Creators Update, and hopefully this continues. As a version, this update is Windows 10 1809.
But of course, the October 2018 Update wasn’t really available in October after all, since shortly after it was released for users to install manually, several serious data loss bugs were discovered that had slipped through testing, and the update was then pulled. There’s been plenty of discussion online on how this happened, and why it’s happened, but regardless, it’s caused a rather sizeable delay in the actual rollout of this second update for 2018.
This is unfortunate on a number of levels, with the first being that these bugs were actually reported during the preview releases to the Windows Insider Program, but they weren’t actioned, and second, as Windows 10 has matured since it first came out in 2015, the hope has to be that with fewer major feature changes in each update, updates should be less intrusive and cause fewer issues, but clearly Microsoft is not quite there yet. They’ve made some changes to the Insider Program, but time will have to tell if that helps or not.
| Windows 10 Version History | |||||
| Version | Version Number | Release Date | |||
| Windows 10 Original Release | 1507 | July 29, 2015 | |||
| November Update | 1511 | November 10, 2015 | |||
| Anniversary Update | 1607 | August 2, 2016 | |||
| Creators Update | 1703 | April 5, 2017 | |||
| Fall Creators Update | 1709 | October 17, 2017 | |||
| April 2018 Update | 1803 | April 30, 2018 | |||
| October 2018 Update | 1809 | October 2, 2018 | |||
We’ve not heard of any changes to the current servicing model of two updates per year, although with both of the 2018 updates having major issues causing them to halt deployment, there’s still some concern over whether the current method is sustainable for Microsoft, and of course for the millions of business customers who have to test and maintain the OS in their companies.
But with the preamble out of the way, there are still quite a few new features for Windows 10 in the October 2018 Update which should make workflows a bit easier to manage, as well as plenty of smaller updates which we’ll go over as well. Microsoft has been focusing more on productivity features for Windows 10, which fits in well with where the operating system is most used, but they continue to improve security, privacy, and accessibility as well. Let’s dig into some of the new features coming with the Windows 10 October 2018 Update.
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HStewart - Wednesday, November 14, 2018 - link
I have the Oct update on several systems and have not run into any problems. This is actually on Windows 10 1803 but does not mean I will not update it with suppose fixesSpunjji - Wednesday, November 14, 2018 - link
"Likely one of the most annoying things on the web is auto-playing videos"Yes, that is exceptionally irritating. Why did this site start doing that, again?
timecop1818 - Wednesday, November 14, 2018 - link
Why are all Windows settings screenshots shown in some high contrast color scheme? This is not what standard UI looks like and it's painful for normal users to look at. please consider rr-taking them. thank you.mkozakewich - Wednesday, November 14, 2018 - link
It's dark mode, which is standard enough. It's one switch-flip away in Personalization -> Colors.timecop1818 - Wednesday, November 14, 2018 - link
Not standard out of the box and extremely annoying to look at. if you need high contrast to see stuff, I'm fine with that, but don't force it on regular users.Laitainion - Thursday, November 15, 2018 - link
Annoying to you, I really like it but also he's highlighting that a setting that once only affected the settings windows is now affecting more and more of the Windows shell (specifically Explorer in this update).timecop1818 - Thursday, November 15, 2018 - link
Yeah, high contrast color scheme worked since literally Windows 98. And affected all apps. This is nothing new. In fact with Windows 8+ they REMOVED a bunch of color customizations that could be done to overall UI and replaced it with the retarded flat UWP stuff. That its getting added back in is like, not news at all. If you're blind, turn on your high contrast theme, but most readers of this site probably aren't blind.ioni - Wednesday, November 14, 2018 - link
"Storage Sense"Am I missing something or is Windows going to just start deleting peoples files without telling them after this update? I hope this feature is off by default.
mkozakewich - Wednesday, November 14, 2018 - link
Probably off. If they limit this to the usual stuff like old Windows Update files, temp files, and the Downloads directory, that's fine.(I've seen a lot of problems people were having with files piling up in Downloads, so this update is made for them.)
Brett Howse - Wednesday, November 14, 2018 - link
Yes this is off by default and configurable.