Windows 10 Creators Update is the best version of Windows 10 ever

[Guest John Cable]

 

What makes Windows 10 Creators Update the best version of Windows 10 ever? Quality. Our dedicated focus on customer obsession – listening and responding to user and partner feedback – are key to the quality improvements in Windows 10. The top areas we consistently hear about through our feedback channels are around power, performance, and reliability. These fundamentals are key elements that users look for in a device and value because they impact their everyday use, like longer battery life, faster web browsing, streaming videos longer and device stability. Knowing these elements are important to a great user experience, we’ve continued to invest in these key areas to deliver an even better user experience with the Creators Update. As a result, the Creators Update is the most performant and reliable version of Windows 10 ever! I’m excited to share a number of improvements in fundamentals that Windows 10 devices enjoy after updating to the Creators Update from the Anniversary Update.

 

Improvements in quality for everyday tasks

 

Battery life improvements

 

 

With the Creators Update, we delivered battery life improvements – both big and small. I’d like to showcase a few of our efforts:

 

Together with our device partners, we’re striving to make it so you’re able to get every ounce of battery life out of your PC. The new performance power slider feature lets you quickly trade performance of your device by switching to battery saver or best performance mode levels, allowing you to choose the power mode you want. For example, if you are playing a game, and want to max frames per second (FPS), or you are creating a 3D animation or video rendering and want max speed versus battery life – the slider is there to unleash the full power of your device. Device partners are beginning to enable the power slider on select new devices and current devices via an update. For example, when Surface Pro 4 users were recently updated to have the power slider, they saw an average uptick of over 5% battery life!

 

Another way to get longer battery life is through operating system efficiencies. You can now stream movies online 2.5% longer and watch videos offline up to 5% longer with the Movies & TV app than in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update. Likewise, we know users spend a lot of time using their browser – surfing the web, watching movies and videos, or playing games online. I’m happy to report that the latest version of Microsoft Edge has brought a 17% improvement in battery life across every-day tasks like these! And compared to Windows 10 November Update the Mail app is now 40% more power efficient at syncing mail in the background – making sure you have more battery to spend on the things you love. These are just a few examples of efforts to reduce power consumption that impact your device’s battery life.

 

Performance improvements

 

 

When you’re ready to get down to work or play, you want your Windows 10 device to respond quickly. In the Creators Update, we’ve made starting up, and using your device, faster than the Anniversary Update in multiple ways:

 

• Booting up your device is now 13% faster, and logging in after boot is up to 18% faster.
  
• Unlocking your device with Windows Hello Facial recognition is up to 30% faster.
  
• Microsoft Edge is also up to 53% faster in the Creators Update thanks to efficiency improvements that make scrolling pages and loading pages faster, and website rendering and interaction more responsive.
  
• Two features used daily are the Start Menu and Windows Search, and we’ve improved both – the Start Menu opens faster, and we’ve optimized Windows Search performance.
  
• For devices on which multiple users log-in (e.g., classrooms) the first user log-in is up to 47% faster in the Creators Update.
  

Reliability

 

 

Like power and responsiveness, we know a reliable device is a must. A fundamental priority is that Windows devices be free from system issues and driver crashes. Given the diversity of the Windows 10 ecosystem – over 500 million active devices (from PCs to tablets to ATMs) running in 190 countries – key to this achievement is working with our partners. With well over 400 thousand ecosystem drivers on Windows 10, we work closely with device manufacturers to test and ensure the reliability of their device drivers. Month over month we strive for OS stability issues to trend to zero. With the Creators Update we’re making good on this goal:

 

• Among users who update to the Creators Update, we’ve seen an 18% reduction in users hitting certain system stability issues versus earlier versions of Windows 10.
  
• Our close collaboration with our ecosystem partners has resulted in a 39% total reduction in operating system and driver stability issues between the Anniversary Update and Creators Update.
  

Reduced customer support volumes

 

 

While we see our investment in the fundamentals and elsewhere reflected in our consumer and commercial customers adopting Windows 10, one of the best gauges of quality is how our customers perceive us. Our internal customer support teams are reporting significant reductions in call and online support request volumes since the Anniversary Update. During this time, we’ve seen a healthy decline in monthly support volumes, most notably with installation and troubleshooting update inquiries taking the biggest dip. Likewise, top OEM partners have reported reductions in OEM support calls over this same period.

 

Improved quality as measured by customer support volume

 

 

 

While the number of support calls has diminished significantly, we’ve also expanded our feedback and communications channels. Through the Windows Insider Program, Feedback Hub app, Customer Service and Support, community forums and social media, listening to user feedback daily enables us to quickly identify, engage and respond to issues as they arise. Your feedback is our secret sauce! It enables us to make improvements across the fundamentals and other areas within our monthly updates. So please, keep the feedback coming using the Feedback Hub app!

 

And of course, security

 

 

While best in class security does not improve battery life or make your device faster, like reliability, security is top of mind for you and our partners. We are committed to providing the best-in-class security. In each new Windows feature update, we build the latest security technology deep into the operating system. In each new monthly quality update, we add another layer of security, one that tracks emerging and changing trends in malware and viruses. As always, being on the latest version of Windows 10 provides the most up-to-date security technology. To take advantage of all these improvements, and the new feature benefits Window 10 offers, update to the Creators Update today. Visit our Windows Security page to see which version your device is running and how to update. Once you start the update process you’ll be prompted to review your privacy settings first. Because we take your privacy seriously, starting next week, you will be prompted to review and confirm your privacy settings without delay. It will only take a few moments for what we believe provides you with the best balance between privacy, security, and control.

 

Windows 10 Creators Update is the most performant and reliable version of Windows 10 ever!

 

 

We are always improving Windows 10. By listening to user and partner feedback, we evolve Windows to make each quality update and each feature update better than the last. It also assures we continue to keep Windows 10 the most reliable, performant and secure version of Windows ever.

 

The post Windows 10 Creators Update is the best version of Windows 10 ever appeared first on Windows Experience Blog.

 

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