When Microsoft released Windows 10, they said it would be the last version – but that hasn’t stopped them enhancing it. The updates available in the April 2018 (Version “1803”) release continue to refine it in small but useful ways that add up to a significant improvement. Unfortunately, the update is significant and while it installs perfectly on most machines, we have encountered a few problems on a small number of devices (e.g. a specific Intel hard disk). The install is quite disruptive. For clients with Kinetics KARE (on either our Core Fundamentals or Premium KARE plans), we’ll upgrade you under the programme, but with great care! Our KARE team are being cautious to minimise inconvenience to our customers but hope to complete this over the next 6-8 weeks.
Here’s two great new features in this update that caught my eye.
[header2 text=”1. TimeLine ” align=”left” color=”#336A40″ margintop=””]
Either swipe in from the left, or hit the new switcher icon (the one to the right of the search bar as shown above) to get a list of your open windows and your recent history – documents you have had open or web pages you have been to. It’s not just the computer you are using either, but it also includes any work you have done in Office 365 on your account on any machine including your mobile!
[header2 text=”2. Focus Assist” align=”left” color=”#336A40″ margintop=””]
There is nothing worse than presenting something on your screen and having endless pop-up notifications. Even when you aren’t presenting, these notifications can be very distracting and keep you from doing your priorities. It’s now easy to turn them down or turn them off altogether. When you swipe in from the right, the list of settings now includes ‘Focus Assist’ – it looks like a crescent moon. You can have it allow all notifications (‘off’ = no filter, alarms or priority only). To set the priorities, just go into your settings and tell it whose emails or which applications you are happy to be distracted by.
