All the Coolest New Features in the Windows 10 Creators Update
Microsoft is doing everything it can to generate interest in the relatively mundane Windows update experience. However, today’s release – Creators Update – is a little more fun than regular system tweaks. Is its hilarious name worth it? Maybe if you are a fan of MS Paint.
The Creators Update doesn’t seem as significant as last summer’s ” Anniversary Update ” for Windows 10, which tweaked and refined the system a year after its initial release. But it normal; The Creators update isn’t about small performance tweaks. It’s about wacky apps and games. Here are some outstanding new features.
Paint is a 3D painting fever dream
One of the nicest surprises when Microsoft first announced the Creators Update was an overhaul of Paint, the classic Windows app many used to spend countless hours as a child painting pixel art. You can still do all of this in the classic version of the app, but Microsoft has reimagined Paint with 3D modeling in mind.
But this is unlike any 3D modeling program you’ve ever used. In fact, I was a little disappointed when I finally tried it. It’s not so much about real 3D modeling as it is about a way to draw strange blobs and text in 3D space without any specific purpose. Which, admittedly, brings us back to the fact that as a child, we spent time on Paint. You can draw in 2D, as well as draw shapes and extrude them into 3D space, add text and import shapes from the Remix 3D library, and upload your own creations. But I found this to be surprisingly counterintuitive. I couldn’t figure out, for example, how to change the color or font of existing text, and manipulating objects in the 3D scene was strangely cumbersome. This is more like creating a digital diorama than creating a stage.
But there is a silver lining if you want something more utilitarian: Microsoft already has it in the form of 3D Builder , which most people have never heard of. This is not new, but I just discovered that it was already on my laptop when I tried to open my beautiful Paint scene and accidentally opened it in 3D Builder.
So if you’re feeling a little underwhelmed by the practical aspects of Paint, chances are you already have a decent 3D modeling developer from Microsoft installed.
You can instantly stream your games using the Xbox app
Microsoft is also trying to bridge the gap between Xbox and Windows and has integrated streaming into the Xbox app after buying Beam, a Twitch rival last year . When you play any game, you can simply press Windows Key + G and a floating “game bar” will appear. There you can start streaming and also switch to the new game mode.
What does Game Mode do? Your game is supposed to take precedence over other background system processes in order to get slightly better system performance, or at least more consistent performance so that frame rates don’t drop. In the future, publishers will turn on Game Mode automatically when you launch your games on Windows 10. Don’t expect any miracles, though.
Night light lulls sleep
You’ve probably heard that the blue light from our screens confuses our brains about the time of day and ruins our sleep. Since there is some evidence to back this claim , all major operating systems now have night mode, which warms up the screen color to a pale orange color. (The above image was just simulated in Photoshop, as screenshots do not preserve orange color.)
Microsoft’s version is nicely named Night Light and really looks like f.lux . In my experience, it’s pretty nice when it fires after sunset and the windows glow like a Himalayan salt lamp. That being said, I almost always turn it off to watch Netflix or YouTube without rose-colored glasses. This is a pretty cool feature and more people will use it now as it is built into Windows by default. But if you want full control over the color temperature of your screen, just use f.lux.
Edge is a fast browser with improved tab management
In the context of web browsers, Microsoft Edge has a clear advantage as it is native to Windows, and it does seem a little faster and lighter than Chrome or Firefox. In my experience, it also saves a lot of battery life when streaming videos via Edge when compared to its competitors.
Microsoft is trying to expand its advantage in the home market by creating a browser with a lot of features that you might be used to with Chrome extensions. You can now see all your tabs at once, and you can also snooze them all for later if you don’t want a million pages to open but want to keep your precious tabs.
There is also a cool annotation feature that allows you to draw all over the page like an NFL tutorial. I’ll probably never use it, but it’s fun. Unfortunately, I literally couldn’t figure out how to save my annotations as an image file (you can share them in OneNote and other places, but you can’t just save the image).
Microsoft gives you more control over your privacy
After catching criticism for being opaque about what data Microsoft collects about Windows usage, the first thing you’ll see when you install an update is a prompt with different privacy options. You can choose whether Microsoft is allowed to target ads based on your usage (no thanks), collect diagnostic data (fine), know your location, and a few more settings. There are also more controls to manage Windows updates themselves if you are worried about unwanted reboots or annoying update requests.
These are the most notable updates in this release, but there are also many smaller features such as Dynamic Lock, which allows you to connect your phone to your computer so it locks when you go out of range, and picture-in-picture. Support for Universal Windows Apps so you can watch floating videos in the corner of your screen (that is, when developers enable this feature in their own apps). The Creators Update is rolling out today, or you can manually request a download from Microsoft using the Update Assistant .