What You Need to Run Windows 10 October 2020 Update

Microsoft has officially launched the Windows 10 October 2020 Update, and also the first wave of users can download it today simply by checking for updates manually on Windows Update.

Worthwhile to learn, however, is the fact that Microsoft has created the new OS feature update to users in stages, so few people gets it on day one. Quite simply, even if you manually look for updates in Windows Update, you’ll probably still need to wait a few more days or weeks until the October 2020 Update turns up for you personally.

Microsoft explains that just those running Windows 10 version 1903 or later can download the October update today, but the available could be further expanded to more users and devices in the coming weeks. For the time being, however, the organization just wants to make sure that everything is running as smoothly as you possibly can for everybody.

“In the work, learn and connect from home environment where individuals are relying on their PCs inside your, we are taking a measured seeker-based rollout method of the October 2020 Update. We are throttling availability within the coming weeks to make sure a dependable download experience, so the update might not be provided to you right away. Additionally, some devices might have a compatibility problem for which a safeguard hold is in place, therefore we won’t provide the update until we are certain that you will have a good update experience,” Microsoft says.

In case you’re wondering whether or not the body is capable of running Windows 10 October 2020 Update, then the answer is as simple as it could be. In case your computer has already been running Windows 10, it should be able to cope with the October update all right. Whether it doesn’t, this might be the reason you’re looking over this article in the first place.

The largest change for the October 2020 Update, as WinAero noticed, concerns the storage space, as Windows 10 now requires at least 32GB of storage for both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the operating system. Anything else is unchanged from the previous Windows 10 releases, and this is why the October 2020 Update should run just flawlessly on any device where Windows 10 is already installed.

Fundamental essentials system requirements for Windows 10 October 2020 Update:

Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster processor or SoC
RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) for 32-bit or 2 GB for 64-bit
Hard disk space: 32 GB for both 64-bit and 32-bit OS
Video card: DirectX 9 or later
Display resolution: 800 x 600, a minimum diagonal display size for the primary display of 7-inches or larger.

Needless to say, should you upgrade from a mature version of Windows, such as Windows 7, you’re going to need some hardware improvements too, especially if you would like to get the entire feature pack. However, these aren’t specific for Windows 10 October 2020 Update, because they were necessary for the prior versions from the operating-system too.

For example, if you want to enable Windows Hello facial recognition around the device, you’re going to need a unique camera that works with this particular feature – and also the same for fingerprint sensors, though such hardware done Windows 7 too, only that it wasn’t a part of Windows Hello.

At the end of your day, pretty much any device already running Windows 10 will be able to upgrade to the October 2020 Update all right. The brand new version turns up on Windows Update when it’s ready for your computer and really should then install in a couple of minutes.

Microsoft’s Windows 10 Antivirus Is really a Top-Rated Security Product Now

Microsoft has worked difficult on improving its antivirus, and at this time, Microsoft Defender, formerly referred to as Windows Defender, serves as a fully-featured security hub for Windows 10.

In other words, Windows Security now provides access not only to antivirus scanning options but also to parental control and system health information, thus offering more advanced tools to Windows 10 users.

But because far because the antivirus itself is concerned, everybody knows that its performance has gradually improved over the years. And also the latest research conducted by the experts over at AV-TEST implies that the performance of Microsoft Defender has become comparable to the one of third-party security products.

Within the August testing, Microsoft Defender earned the maximum of 18 points after scoring 6 points for protection, 6 points for performance, and 6 more points for usability. This is the top score in each test.

Microsoft Defender, now a high product

Microsoft Defender is thus a part of several 8 different security items that received the utmost rating within the research, eventually being awarded a “top product” certification that also shows just how much its antivirus engine has improved lately.

So far as the detection rates are concerned Microsoft Defender managed to block 100 percent of all threats in the July and August real-word testing and also the reference set. So overall, the Windows 10 antivirus should be able to provide solid protection against both known and new threats.

You can read more about the best Internet security software suites for Windows 10 here.

At the end of your day, users who stick to Microsoft Defender are getting exactly the same protection as those who install and pay for a third-party product. Microsoft Defender, however, comes pre-loaded with Windows 10 and doesn’t cost a single cent extra.

Microsoft Edge 88 Is prepared for that Death of Flash Player

Adobe has announced that Flash Player would go dark in December 2020, so that all another browsers out there that include this component are getting ready with this major software retirement.

Microsoft is also preparing for the demise of Flash Player, and based on a report from DeskModder, the company has already been working on paving the way for that alternation in its browser.

Microsoft Edge 88, which is currently within the Canary channel, no more receives updates for Flash Player components, whereas the Dev, Beta, and Stable builds have been upgraded recently in connection with this. Quite simply, Microsoft Edge 88 will probably be the very first Edge release coming without Flash Player, with all versions to be sold after that to no longer include Adobe’s software either.

Microsoft Edge 88 is projected to reach the beta channel on December 7, while the stable build should really go live six weeks afterwards January 21. Quite simply, Flash Player would live on just for a number of months in Microsoft Edge, so it’s now only a matter of time before the component is pulled for good.

Microsoft has announced in September that Flash Player could be removed from its browsers in January the coming year, therefore the discharge of Edge 88 aligns with this particular schedule.

“After December 2020, providing receive “Security Update for Adobe Flash Player” from Microsoft that applies to Microsoft Edge Legacy and Internet Explorer 11. Beginning in January 2021, Adobe Flash Player is going to be disabled automatically and all versions older than KB4561600 released in June 2020 will be blocked. Downloadable resources associated with Flash Player that are hosted on Microsoft websites will no longer be accessible,” Microsoft says.

Obviously, everybody is recommended to keep their browsers fully up to date. Without security patches, vulnerabilities in Flash Player would just remain unfixed, and given Adobe’s software has so far been one of the applications usually subjected to attacks, it’s pretty clear that the chance of potential exploits gets higher after the end of support.

Microsoft explains that security patches would only continue to be provided until December 2020, after which the company will just pull Flash Player from all its applications. And the event will happen via Windows Update, because the company will publish an OS update which will take care of this on Windows devices.

“An update titled “Update for Removal of Flash Player” will be made available via Microsoft Update Catalog, Windows Update and WSUS that permanently removes Flash Player as a element of the Windows OS devices. In order to remove Adobe Flash Player out of your systems in front of the end of support, this will be readily available for download around the Microsoft Update Catalog within the Fall of 2020. The update will be made optional on Windows Update and WSUS in early 2021 and will be made recommended a few months later. It should be noted that this update is going to be permanent and can’t be un-installed,” the company explains.

Adobe originally announced its decision to remove Flash Player in 2017, therefore the world had some 3 years to prepare for the change. Microsoft, Google, and others gradually paved the way in which for the demise of Flash in their applications, with browsers dropping key capabilities in phases, thus giving developers more time to organize their next move.

“In Summer of 2021, all of the APIs, group policies and user interfaces that specifically govern the behavior of Adobe Flash Player is going to be taken off Microsoft Edge (legacy) and Internet Explorer 11 via the latest “Cumulative Update” on Windows 10 platforms and via “Cumulative Update for Ie 11” or “Monthly Rollup” on Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 and Windows Embedded 8 Standard. Also, the “Update for Elimination of Flash Player” is going to be included as part of the “Cumulative Update” and “Monthly Rollup” this point forward. If you are working with Adobe for continued support, you should not be influenced by these changes,” Microsoft concludes.

Windows 10 Will Warn When New Apps Registers to operate at Startup

Microsoft has silently included a brand new feature in the latest preview build, also it warns the consumer whenever a new app registers to operate at startup.

In other words, should you install a credit card applicatoin that adds to the listing of programs running when the operating system boots, you should visit a toast notification to let you know this happened, with a single click giving you the option to regulate the settings.

“[App name] has become configured to operate when you log in. To alter this later, visit Settings, Apps, Startup,” the notification reads.

Currently available for insiders only

Microsoft engineer Jen Gentleman explains that the feature continues to be in the beginning and should be further refined in the coming updates. So for now, still it comes with a series of limitations, including how it detects the apps that register to run at startup.

“At this time, it’s specific to apps that will get listed in Settings > Apps > Startup apps. Doesn’t currently cover RunOnce, Service, or ScheduledTask,” the Microsoft engineer explains.

“[It’s] live in the Dev Channel builds. We do hope you enjoy it – based on the items in the Startup Apps page in Settings. Clicking the notification will give you to that page if you wanna change the settings.”

For the moment, however, the brand new feature is only readily available for users in the Windows Insider program, and Microsoft doesn’t yet have a specific ETA in your mind regarding if this could go love production devices. Features which are being tested as part of the Dev channel don’t necessarily come with a specific launch target, as Microsoft states that it just needs to further refine the experience and make sure that everything is running correctly before bringing updates to everybody.

Buy Microsoft Windows 10 from softwareonlinedeal.com

Microsoft Office Apps Be visible on Windows 10 without Clear Reason

Microsoft Office PWAs permit you to access the online versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint from the desktop, all powered by a browser of your liking on Windows 10.

However, the way PWAs happen to be designed requires the user to manually access an internet site offering such an app and then manually request the installation. In other words, if you would like the Office PWAs to show up on your Windows 10 desktop, you have to connect to the internet form of the productivity suite with a browser that supports PWAs, for example Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge, after which manually choose to install the apps.

Nevertheless, something strange happened recently on the number of Windows 10 devices, according to BornCity.

Specifically, the Microsoft Office PWAs wound up installed on Windows 10 computers for no clear reason, even without users specifically requesting everything.

How you could do nobody knows for sure, but through the looks of things, all PWAs were installed on October 10 on these Windows 10 computers. Dedicated entries for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook were created within the Start menu, and all sorts of apps appeared underneath the recently installed section too.

Obviously, those who don’t want the PWAs on their devices can easily remove them, but however, Microsoft installing them without first asking users is one thing that could generate more criticism against the Redmond-based software giant.

The organization hasn’t offered an explanation for what exactly happened, so I reached to the organization to inquire about more details and can update the post if an answer is offered.

At this point, it’s still unclear who got the Office PWAs and who didn’t. I checked my Windows 10 devices and none of them received these unwanted apps, though I actually do come with an Office 365 subscription, so apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint already are installed on my computers.

As the aforementioned source notes, this unexpected installation of Office apps on Windows 10 devices could be in some way related to the Office add-on for Microsoft Edge.

Through the looks of products, all PWAs that were installed quietly on Windows 10 originated from Microsoft Edge, the brand new browser that the company configured because the default option on its operating system. So theoretically, the PWAs were served through Edge, though at this time, we still don’t know if this also happened on computers where Microsoft’s browser isn’t set as default.

BornCity suggests that the Office add-on for Edge may be the culprit, though judging from the information published on its official page, the last update was shipped on October 12, whereas all PWAs were installed on Windows 10 on October 10, 2 days earlier.

However, providing access to Office apps is the reason for the advantage add-on.

“Office browser extension puts an icon around the Microsoft Edge toolbar that gives you direct access to your Office files, whether they are stored online or on your pc. Office web extension can open files stored in OneDrive and OneDrive for Business. You get the characteristics of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Onenote, and Sway right in your browser without the need for Office installed,” Microsoft explains.

At this time, things are still super-vague, therefore it remains to be seen how the Office apps wound up on Windows 10 computers out of the blue. For the moment, the good news is that it requires only a few clicks to get rid of them all, though it is obvious this isn’t necessarily convenient since nobody asked for the installation of the apps to begin with.

Microsoft Announces AV1 Codec Support in Windows 10

Microsoft is a co-founder from the Alliance for Open Media, or AOM, a company that developed the AV1 standard to enables better compression and improved video image quality.

And since Microsoft claims that AV1 has become so advanced lately, having the ability to reach 50% better compression than H.264 and 20% much better than VP9 for the same video content, the organization is now prepared to bring it to Windows 10 around the next-generation hardware.

“This fall, Microsoft’s hardware partners are rolling out hardware-accelerated AV1 video support on new Windows 10 systems using the latest GPUs. With video consuming an ever-increasing area of the world’s internet traffic, better compression technology helps you to improve video image quality while also reducing bandwidth consumption,” Microsoft says.

Required chips

To use hardware-accelerated AV1 video on Windows 10 you’ll need Windows 10 version 1909 or newer, the AV1 Video extension in the Microsoft Store, an up-to-date browser (Microsoft Edge is going to do all right), the latest graphic drivers, as well as one of the following GPUs or CPUs:

11th Gen Intel Core processors with Intel Iris Xe Graphics
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs
AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series Graphics

“If you want to look under the hood to see when you’re receiving AV1, some streaming services have methods to show this information. For instance, on YouTube you can right-click on the video and select “Stats for nerds”. Once the video is AV1 encoded, you will see “av01…” in the “Codecs” line around the stats overlay,” Microsoft explains.

The Redmond-based tech giant has become on the point of finalize the work on another Windows 10 version, this time called the October 2020 Update, so updating to this new release should technically enable you to get covered as far as the support for AV1 is concerned, so long as another requirements are met.

Mozilla Thunderbird 78.3.2 Is Now Readily available for Download – What’s New

Microsoft’s Outlook is generally considered the key email app on Windows, but at the same time, Thunderbird is becoming more and more popular, not only on Linux and Mac, but additionally on Microsoft’s very own operating system.

Regardless of the adoption of Outlook increasing lately, especially among company employees and following a Office 365 suite benefitting from the remote working trend, Thunderbird continues to be one super-popular choice and it happens for a good reason

Not only that it packs a super-advanced feature lineup, but Thunderbird also sports a clean and intuitive interface that can be further customized according to your preferences.

At this time, Thunderbird utilizes a following platforms:

Windows: Windows 7 or later
Mac: macOS 10.9 or later
Linux: GTK+ 3.14 or higher

As you probably know already, Windows 7 has already been discontinued and only receives updates as part of the ESU program released by Microsoft for companies. So Thunderbird still supporting the platform is good news for those who are yet to help make the switch to a newer version of the operating system, though at some point in the near future, Mozilla would drop Windows 7 compatibility too. No information in connection with this has been shared though.

A brand new version of Thunderbird is available for download today, and while the focus isn’t on additional features, it still has a couple of notable changes which are worth highlighting.

First of all, Thunderbird 78.3.2 introduces a brand new update for the update system, so beginning with this version, the applying will no longer automatically install updates when the Preferences tab is active. This should help prevent the app’s closure when users setup the applying.

Just as expected, there are new improvements for that OpenPGP implementation, with Mozilla explaining the next in the official changelog from the app:

OpenPGP: Improved support for encrypting with subkeys OpenPGP: Encrypted messages with international characters were sometimes displayed incorrectly

So far as Windows users are concerned, there are two notable improvements.

First of all, this update introduces dark mode, high contrast, and Windows theming fixes, so overall, Thunderbird should align together with your visual settings on a Windows computer more seamless.

After which, the Thunderbird update fixes the Windows installer becoming unreadable with the Windows high contrast mode, and this build resolves the whole thing, rendering everything correctly again.

The update brings with just one known issue, as Mozilla says that the message list is not centered on startup, but of course, this isn’t something that affects the functionality from the app in a substantial way.

Obviously, this update is really a revision to Thunderbird 78, and all sorts of changes that Mozilla has one of them build are available too.

While there are many improvements in Thunderbird 78, one of the things I really like the most relating to this version of the email client on Windows is it finally includes support for minimizing the app to tray, an element that makes it so much easier to understand the app is running and quickly access its features.

“On Windows, you can now keep Thunderbird running in the background without taking up any space inside your task bar. With this new option enabled, when you minimize your Thunderbird window, it will likely be reduced to a small icon in the system tray (the little area next to the body clock within the lower-right corner of your screen). A click on Thunderbird’s tray icon brings it back,” Mozilla explains.

The full list of additional features available in Thunderbird 78 on all supported platforms can be obtained.

What’s New within the First Microsoft Surface Duo Update

Microsoft is officially an Android hardware maker now after the discharge of the top Duo, the company’s dual-screen model that went on sale in September.

The top Duo is Microsoft’s first Android device, and also the Redmond-based software giant has promised to help keep it up-to-date based on Google’s typical release schedule, which means that monthly security patches could be published for those customers.

The October 2020 update is now here for the top Duo, and explains that in addition to the security improvements that are rolled out by Google, this release also comes with further refinements.

For instance, this update includes call stability and experience improvements, while also refining the touch input. What’s more, the device stability has additionally been further enhanced, and starting with this update, the Facebook Messenger single-screen experience ought to be smoother.

As per Microsoft’s official changelog:

Addresses scenarios outlined within the Android Security Bulletin – October 2020.
Improves call stability and experience.
Improves touch stability.
Improves Facebook Messenger single screen experience when launching by hitting Facebook chat bubble.
Improves device stability.

At this point, this very-first Surface Duo update is only readily available for unlocked Surface Duo models, but Microsoft promises the AT&T locked models would have it shortly too.

There are no known issues within this update, which implies that everything should run properly with no issues whatsoever.

Worthwhile to learn, however, is that these updates are cumulative, meaning installing the latest release provides you with all the improvements that the company has published for that previous months. It is really an approach that Microsoft can also be using on the desktop for Windows 10, though in the case of the Surface Duo, you can’t uninstall or return to an earlier software version after installing an update.

“Software updates can’t be uninstalled or reverted for an earlier version. Whenever you install the latest update, you’ll will also get all of the previous updates in case your Surface doesn’t have them already. Only updates that affect Surface Duo will be downloaded and installed. After the updates are installed, tap Restart now,” Microsoft says.

Also worth keeping in mind is the fact that these updates don’t land on all devices at the same time, but they’re pushed towards the Surface Duo units out there in phases. In other words, not everybody receives them on the first day, therefore it could take some time until it turns up on all devices. However, since Surface Duo is only available in the United States and Microsoft doesn’t have a big device base to update, there’s a chance the rollout doesn’t take too long before it’s completed, and so i expect the monthly patches to visit live on all devices in a single day or two after the rollout starts.

The limited availability of the Surface Duo, however, isn’t good news for purchasers no residing in america and who hoped to have their on the job this dual-screen model. Microsoft doesn’t appear too keen on launching the top Duo in international markets, and individuals close to the matter said the software giant could reconsider this approach in early 2021.

Quite simply, the Duo will remain only at customers within the U.S. for many more months before Microsoft could finally result in the final call and choose whether other markets have it too. Obviously, it could be a little too later from the hardware perspective, especially since Surface Duo already comes with a previous-generation processor which has caused so much criticism from people who expected nothing else than the the best about this model.

Is that this Truly the Modern Windows 10 Design That Users Are Longing for?

Microsoft isn’t necessarily in a rush to overhaul the feel of Windows 10, though new feature updates typically bring additional options in connection with this to further polish the experience using the OS.

For example, Microsoft has announced theme-aware live tiles within the Start menu, and this new facelift has already been obtainable in the preview builds of Windows 10, using the launch for production devices to occur at some point in the approaching months.

Meanwhile, it’s also no secret that users have been drooling after more advanced customization options for quite a long time, and at Softpedia we occasionally highlight concepts that envision how Windows 10 in general can evolve within the direction expected by users.

This idea we have here was published on reddit a couple of hours ago and it is already gaining a great deal of positive feedback, as it envisions additional polishing having a touch of additional blur that somehow appears to seem sensible.

Modern UI concept for Windows 10

Although some say that this approach pushes Windows 10 even nearer to macOS from the design perspective, which isn’t really wrong, to be honest, everything seems to get together quite nicely about this imaginary desktop. The live tiles themselves are also getting an update, though I’m not necessarily a large fan from the bold fonts within the interface of an operating system.

The best thing Microsoft can perform whenever such concepts go viral would be to actually check them out, because they perfectly describe how users want Windows 10 to be improved to begin with.

The next feature update for Windows 10 is version 20H2, that is officially called Windows 10 October 2020 Update, which is projected to launch as soon as this month. However, expect only little improvements when it comes to looks, as the focus this time is on under the hood refinements.

Windows 10 Build 20226 Available these days for Download

Microsoft just released Windows 10 build 20226 to users in the Dev channel within the Windows Insider program.

There’s only one major change in this new preview build, as Microsoft has included storage health monitoring to safeguard user data.

Specifically, Windows 10 users will discover a notification that displays a note like “a hard drive might be vulnerable to failure as well as your attention” whenever the operating system determines there’s an opportunity of drive failure.

“Attempting to recuperate data after drive failure is both frustrating and expensive. This selection is made to detect hardware abnormalities for NVMe SSDs and notify users with enough time for you to act. It is strongly recommended that users immediately back up their data after getting a notification,” Microsoft explains.

“Clicking on the notification or navigating towards the drive properties page kept in storage Settings (Settings -> System -> Storage -> Manage disks and volumes -> Properties) will provide additional details.”

More bug fixes

Apart from that, this era is all about improvements and bug fixes, and you can check out the full changelog within the box following the jump.

Worth highlighting, however, is a change concerning theme syncing, as Microsoft says this feature is going to be off automatically in the operating-system.

“We’re starting to unveil a big change that will turn off theme syncing. Included in that, you will no longer see “Theme” as an option in Sync your settings, and changes designed to your background won’t sync across device. If you’ve been using theme synchronization, when setting up a new PC or account there will be a one-time download of the last saved synchronized desktop background to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\WallpaperBackup if you need to access it,” the software giant says.

The new build is available today in the Dev channel and could be downloaded from Windows Update.