14 DAY TRIAL // Windows 10 October 2020 Update is finally available for users, and just as expected, it’s not a massive feature update. At least, not as massive as the May 2020 Update that launched earlier this year, with the focus this time mostly on under the hood refinements.
But the October 2020 Update does come with a series of new goodies of its own, and without a doubt, one of the most important is the refreshed Start menu.
Beginning with the October update, the Start menu features theme-aware live tiles which better align with the visual settings in the system.
“The Start menu has a more streamlined design. A uniform, partially transparent background to the tiles creates a beautiful stage for the redesigned app icons like Calculator, Mail and Calendar. This refined Start design looks great in both dark and light themes, but if you’re looking for a splash of color, first make sure to turn on Windows dark theme and then toggle “Show accent color on the following surfaces” for “Start, taskbar, and action center” under Settings > Personalization > Color to elegantly apply your accent color to the Start frame and tiles,” Microsoft explains.
The new Chromium-powered Microsoft Edge is also getting an important list of improvements, and one of the biggest is the addition of tabs to the Alt + Tab app switcher interface.
Before the October 2020 Update, whenever you press Alt + Tab to jump from one app to another, the interface only displayed the apps. After the update, you can also see the tabs loaded in Microsoft Edge, so you can thus quickly jump to that one site that you are looking for, all without first opening the browser.
Also important to know is that the Chromium-powered Edge is now bundled with Windows 10 by default, so you no longer have to download it manually or from Windows Update. Edge Legacy continues to be offered with Windows 10, only that it has now become a second-class citizen.
“With this update comes the latest and greatest version of the new Microsoft Edge. Since launching back in January, we’ve seen phenomenal growth and we’re excited it’s included in this update,” Microsoft explains.
These are pretty much the biggest changes in the Windows 10 October 2020 Update, and they come alongside a series of more subtle refinements.
For example, Microsoft has added refresh rate options in the Settings app, as well as a few touches to the notifications displayed in the lower right corner. Microsoft explains:
“2-in-1 devices now naturally switch by default to the new tablet experience without the notification toast asking you to switch into the tablet mode when you detach the keyboard, helping to keep you in your flow. New app logos at the top of notifications now make it much easier to identify who they are from. And the new “X marks the spot” lets you quickly click, close and get back at it.”
There are also improvements specifically aimed at commercial and education customers, including support for virtualization-based security for fingerprint and face sensors, simpler device management, WDAG compatibility for Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Edge, and a personalized tab page in the new Edge browser.
Needless to say, the rollout of Windows 10 October 2020 Update happens in stages, so not everybody sees the new release right now in Windows Update. Microsoft says it’ll accelerate the release cadence in the coming weeks after it determines the reliability of the update on more configurations out there. In the meantime, you are not recommended to bypass the upgrade blocks and install the October 2020 Update using other methods, such as dedicated ISO images.