If your device is still running on Windows 10 version 1803, then we have some great news to share with you. Microsoft has announced in a new tweet today that all Windows 10 version 1803 devices are going to receive the new 1903 update. In addition, the update is being rolled out via OTA (over the air) channels and we are advising all Windows fans to download it as soon as possible because it comes with lots of software improvements that we are going to highlight below.
Windows 10 1903 Update
“We are initiating the Windows 10 May 2019 Update for customers with devices that are at or nearing end of service and have not yet updated their device. Keeping these devices both supported and receiving monthly updates is critical to device security and ecosystem health. Based on the large number of devices running the April 2018 Update, that will reach the end of 18 months of service on November 12, 2019, we are starting the update process now for Home and Pro editions to help ensure adequate time for a smooth update process,” said Microsoft in a new blog post.
Highlight Features and Software Changes
Now that we have presented the new update for Windows 10, let’s go ahead and check out what are some of the highlight features that the new update brings so that all Windows fans know what to expect once the update arrives.
Windows Autopilot
Windows Autopilot is a collection of technologies used to set up and pre-configure new devices, getting them ready for productive use. The following Windows Autopilot features are available in Windows 10, version 1903 and later:
Windows Autopilot for white glove deployment is new in this version of Windows. “White glove” deployment enables partners or IT staff to pre-provision devices so they are fully configured and business ready for your users.
The Intune enrollment status page (ESP) now tracks Intune Management Extensions.
Cortana voiceover and speech recognition during OOBE is disabled by default for all Windows 10 Pro Education, and Enterprise SKUs.
Windows Autopilot is self-updating during OOBE. Starting with the Windows 10, version 1903 Autopilot functional and critical updates will begin downloading automatically during OOBE.
Windows Autopilot will set the diagnostics data level to Full on Windows 10 version 1903 and later during OOBE.
Windows 10 Subscription Activation
Windows 10 Education support has been added to Windows 10 Subscription Activation.
With Windows 10, version 1903, you can step-up from Windows 10 Pro Education to the enterprise-grade edition for educational institutions – Windows 10 Education. For more information, see Windows 10 Subscription Activation.
SetupDiag is a command-line tool that can help diagnose why a Windows 10 update failed. SetupDiag works by searching Windows Setup log files. When searching log files, SetupDiag uses a set of rules to match known issues. In the current version of SetupDiag there are 53 rules contained in the rules.xml file, which is extracted when SetupDiag is run. The rules.xml file will be updated as new versions of SetupDiag are made available.
Reserved storage
Reserved storage: Reserved storage sets aside disk space to be used by updates, apps, temporary files, and system caches. It improves the day-to-day function of your PC by ensuring critical OS functions always have access to disk space. Reserved storage will be enabled automatically on new PCs with Windows 10, version 1903 pre-installed, and for clean installs. It will not be enabled when updating from a previous version of Windows 10.
Security
Windows Information Protection
With this release, Windows Defender ATP extends discovery and protection of sensitive information with Auto Labeling.
Security configuration framework
With this release of Windows 10, Microsoft is introducing a new taxonomy for security configurations, called the SECCON framework, comprised of 5 device security configurations.
Security baseline for Windows 10 and Windows Server
The draft release of the security configuration baseline settings for Windows 10, version 1903 and for Windows Server version 1903 is available.
Intune security baselines
Intune Security Baselines (Preview): Now includes many settings supported by Intune that you can use to help secure and protect your users and devices. You can automatically set these settings to values recommended by security teams.
Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP):
- Attack surface area reduction– IT admins can configure devices with advanced web protection that enables them to define allow and deny lists for specific URL’s and IP addresses.
- Next generation protection– Controls have been extended to protection from ransomware, credential misuse, and attacks that are transmitted through removable storage.
- Integrity enforcement capabilities – Enable remote runtime attestation of Windows 10 platform.
- Tamper-proofing capabilities – Uses virtualization-based security to isolate critical ATP security capabilities away from the OS and attackers.
- Platform support– In addition to Windows 10, Windows Defender ATP’s functionality has been extended to support Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 clients, as well as macOS, Linux, and Windows Server with both its Endpoint Detection (EDR) and Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) capabilities.
Microsoft Defender ATP next-gen protection technologies:
- Advanced machine learning: Improved with advanced machine learning and AI models that enable it to protect against apex attackers using innovative vulnerability exploit techniques, tools and malware.
- Emergency outbreak protection: Provides emergency outbreak protection which will automatically update devices with new intelligence when a new outbreak has been detected.
- Certified ISO 27001 compliance: Ensures that the cloud service has analyzed for threats, vulnerabilities and impacts, and that risk management and security controls are in place.
- Geolocation support: Support geolocation and sovereignty of sample data as well as configurable retention policies.
