[Review] What’s New in Windows 10 Creators Update

Windows 10 Creators Update was released to public for manual download on April 05, 2017. Interested people could download and install the Creators Update manually by going to Microsoft website.

How to Download and Upgrade to Windows 10 Creators Update Version 1703?

On April 11, 2017, Microsoft started releasing Creators Update via Windows Update. Computers using Windows 10 will automatically download and upgrade to Creators Update from Windows Update program. If you haven’t received the update yet, wait for some time and it’ll arrive on your device soon as Microsoft is rolling out the update in phases so it’ll take a few months in reaching all Windows 10 PCs.

Windows 10 Creators Update is also known as Redstone 2 (RS2) build. Its version number is 1703 and build number is 15063.

We have listed all new features, changes and improvements present in Windows 10 Creators Update in our exclusive changelog topic which can be found at following link:

Windows 10 Creators Update (Version 1703) Changelog

Today in this article, we are going to review Windows 10 Creators Update in details. We’ll try to discuss about all new features and major changes present in Creators Update.

If you also want to know what’s new in Windows 10 Creators Update, this review topic will definitely help you. So without wasting time let’s start the review:

New “Windows Defender Security Center” Dashboard App:

Windows 10 Creators Update comes with a new app called “Windows Defender Security Center” which is actually a frontend for the classic Windows Defender program. This new app monitors virus & threat protection, firewall & network protection, device health & performance and also allows users to customize SmartScreen filter and family safety options.

It also shows its shield icon in Taskbar notification area. If you want, you can remove the notification area icon with the help of following tutorial:

[Windows 10 Tip] Remove “Windows Defender Security Center” Icon from Taskbar

If by any chance you don’t want to use new Security Center app and want to disable or remove it, following tutorial will help you:

[Tip] Disable or Remove “Windows Defender Security Center” App in Windows 10

New “Paint 3D” App:

Microsoft has also added a new “Paint 3D” app to Windows 10 Creators Update. This app doesn’t replace the classic MS Paint application. Both traditional as well as modern (UWP) paint apps exist in Creators Update.

You can launch Paint 3D app from Start Menu’s all apps list. The app allows you to draw 3d objects and using this app is a real fun.

Paint 3D app adds a new option “Edit with Paint 3D” in image’s context menu (right-click menu). If you don’t like this new option, you can remove it using following tutorial:

[Windows 10 Tip] Remove “Edit with Paint 3D” Option from Image Context Menu

“Mixed Reality” aka “Windows Holographic” Feature:

Windows 10 Creators Update provides users virtual reality and 3d experience with the help of a new feature called “Mixed Reality” which is also known as “Windows Holographic“. It installs a few apps such as “Mixed Reality Portal” and simulators to enjoy virtual reality in Windows 10.

But your computer must meet the minimum hardware requirements to be able to use Mixed Reality feature. If you can’t use or don’t want to use Mixed Reality feature, you can uninstall or remove it using following tutorials:

[Tip] How to Uninstall Mixed Reality Portal in Windows 10

[Tip] Disable or Remove “Mixed Reality Portal” App in Windows 10

New “Game Mode” Feature:

PC gamers will definitely love this new feature. Windows 10 Creators Update comes with a new functionality called “Game Mode” which can optimize your Windows 10 PC for gaming.

When you turn on Game Mode feature, Windows 10 gives high priority to the running game and gives less priority to other background tasks and services. It improves Windows 10 performance so that you can play resource intensive games without any problem.

To learn more about Game Mode feature, check out following link:

[Tip] How to Use Game Mode in Windows 10

If you don’t want to use Game Mode feature, you can disable it with the help of following tutorial:

[Tip] How to Disable Game Mode and Game Bar in Windows 10

New “Win+Shift+S” Hotkey to Take Selected Area Screenshots:

We already know about “Win+PrtScn” hotkey to take screenshots and automatically save it to “Pictures” library folder. We also told you about “Win+Alt+PrtScn” hotkey to take particular program screenshot by utilizing Game Bar feature.

Now Microsoft has added another new hotkey “Win+Shift+S” to Creators Update which can be used to take screenshot of any selected area of your computer screen.

Check out following tutorial to learn how to use it:

[Tip] Use “Win+Shift+S” Hotkey to Take Selected Area Screenshot in Windows 10

Hidden Secret “File Explorer” App:

Microsoft has added a new “File Explorer” UWP app to Windows 10 Creators Update which can be found in “C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.FileExplorer_cw5n1h2txyewy” folder.

Microsoft has not provided any direct shortcut to launch the app as the app is not fully functional at the moment. It provides very basic functionality and is currently under development and testing. But you can test the app with the help of following tutorial:

[Review] Hidden Secret “File Explorer” App in Windows 10

Improvements to Windows Update Program:

Microsoft has made many improvements to Windows Update program in Windows 10 Creators Update. Microsoft has added a new option to pause updates for up to 35 days and defer/delay updates for up to 365 days.

You can visit following tutorial to learn how to use these options:

[Tip] How to Defer or Pause Windows Updates Download in Windows 10

Also now you can exclude device driver updates download from Windows updates using group policy or registry editor as mentioned in following tutorial:

[Windows 10 Tip] Disable Automatic Driver Updates Installation via Windows Update

Microsoft has also added a new status icon to Windows Update settings page which helps users in checking the system update status easily.

Users can now also change active hours range to 18 hours in Windows Update settings.

Improvements to Start Menu:

Microsoft has also made some improvements to Start Menu. Now you can hide All Apps list from Start Menu using a new option “Show app list in Start Menu” present in Start settings page.

[Tip] Hide or Remove All Apps List in Windows 10 Start Menu

Also you can now group tiles on Start Menu into folders by dragging a tile on top of another tile.

Improvements to Registry Editor:

That’s really a welcome move from Microsoft. After long time, Microsoft has made some major changes and improvements to our favorite Registry Editor (regedit.exe) tool in Windows 10 Creators Update.

Microsoft has replaced the Status bar in Registry Editor with new Address bar which allows user to copy the key path easily as well as navigate to any key directly by pasting the key path in address bar and press Enter key. You can show/hide the address bar by checking/unchecking “Address Bar” option present in View menu.

You can also now change font used in Registry Editor tool using View -> Font menu.

Registry Editor now also supports general keyboard shortcuts such Ctrl+L to set focus to address bar and Alt+Up Arrow, Alt+Left Arrow, Alt+Right Arrow to go up, backwards and forwards respectively.

Improvements to Settings App:

In Windows 10 Creators Update, 3 new sections have been added to Settings app which are Apps, Gaming and Mixed Reality.

Microsoft has moved Apps & features, Default apps, Offline maps and Apps for websites tabs from System section to new Apps section.

As you can see in above screenshot, a new feature has been added to Settings -> Apps -> Apps & features page to control what types of apps are allowed to install on your PC. You can select the option to allow apps from Store only or from anywhere. Unfortunately this feature is broken at the moment and doesn’t work sometimes.

Also now you can hide or remove desired pages from Settings app to restrict users from accessing those pages:

[Tip] Hide/Remove Pages or Sections from Windows 10 Settings

Improvements to Microsoft Edge Web Browser:

Microsoft has made lots of improvements to Microsoft Edge web browser such as:

• Supports for Ctrl+O keyboard shortcut for setting focus to the address bar.
• “Snooze” feature on tabs for setting Cortana reminders.
• Support for reading unprotected e-book in EPUB file format.
• New tab preview bar.
• New “Set these tabs aside” feature to quickly and easily manage tabs.
• Addition of “New window” and “New InPrivate window” options in jumplist.
• New click-to-run functionality for Flash content.
• Support for Microsoft Wallet.
• Read aloud feature to read e-books.

PowerShell Replaces Command Prompt Everywhere:

Microsoft has tried to replace Command Prompt shortcuts with PowerShell tool in almost every place for example, when you press Shift key and right-click in Windows Explorer (This PC), you get “Open PowerShell window here”. In previous Windows versions, the default option was “Open Command window here” in the context menu.

Win+X menu also now contains PowerShell shortcuts instead of Command Prompt.

If you want to restore Command Prompt shortcuts, following articles will help you:

[Tip] Restore Command Prompt Shortcut in Win+X Menu in Windows 10

[Windows 10 Tip] Restore “Open Command Window Here” Option in SHIFT+Right-Click Menu

Night Light (Blue Light) Feature:

Microsoft has added “Night Light” feature which was initially called as “Blue Light” to Windows 10 Creators Update. This feature can be found in Settings -> System -> Display -> Night light page. You can turn on/off Night Light according to your requirements. This feature helps you sleep by lowering the amount of blue light emitted from your PC and by displaying warmer colors at night.

You can learn more about this feature at following link:

[Tip] How to Use Night Light (Blue Light) Feature in Windows 10

Some Other Changes which are Worth to Mention:

Apart from above mentioned features and changes, following are some other features and improvements in Windows 10 Creators Update which are worth to mention:

• Themes page in Settings app now allows you to change background image, color, sounds and mouse cursor settings. You can also directly apply themes or download new themes from Store using this page.
• Now if you upgrade to a new version of Windows 10, uninstalled apps will no longer reinstall after upgrading. (More Info)
• Now you can set Ethernet (LAN) connections as Metered connection in Settings -> Network & Internet -> Ethernet page. (Related)
• You can now pick your own custom accent color in Settings -> Personalization -> Colors page.
• New sync provider notifications in Windows Explorer to showcase new Windows 10 features. If you want to disable these notifications, STEP 8 in this guide will help you.
• New privacy settings can be customized at Out-Of-Box-Experience (OOBE) screen which is displayed when you setup Windows 10 PC for the first time.
• Control Panel shortcut in Win+X Menu has been replaced with modern Settings shortcut. (How-to restore guide)
• Improvements to Cortana.
• Improvements to Game Bar.
• Improvements to modern (UWP) apps.