Skip to content

TechRepublic

  • Top Products
  • AI
  • Developer
  • Payroll
  • Security
  • Project Management
  • Accounting
  • CRM
  • Academy
Resources
  • TechRepublic Premium
  • TechRepublic Academy
  • Newsletters
  • Resource Library
  • Forums
  • Sponsored
Go Premium
Popular Topics
  • Top Products
  • AI
  • Developer
  • Payroll
  • Security
  • Project Management
  • Accounting
  • CRM
  • Academy
  • Project Management
  • Innovation
  • Cheat Sheets
  • Big Data
  • Tech Jobs
View All Topics
Go Premium
Microsoft

Windows 10: The best new features coming to Microsoft’s latest OS

By Nick Heath April 4, 2016, 6:55 AM PDT

Image
1
of 11

windows-10-lead.jpg
windows-10-lead.jpg
Windows 10: The best new features coming to Microsoft’s latest OS

In the pipeline

Image: Nick Statt/CNET

In the pipeline

Microsoft continues to build out Windows 10 – with a bumper crop of new features announced at its Build conference last week.

These enhancements will be pushed to to Windows 10 users over the coming months, with many arriving in summer when the OS will get a major upgrade dubbed the Windows 10 Anniversary Edition.

Here are the key upgrades heading to Windows 10.

Image: Nick Statt/CNET
ink.jpg
ink.jpg
Windows 10: The best new features coming to Microsoft’s latest OS

The write stuff

Image: Microsoft

The write stuff

Using a digital pen to write and scribble on the screen of Windows 10 PCs and tablets will get easier.

In a boost to devices that support such pens, such as the Microsoft’s Surface tablet, the OS’ new Windows Ink feature will allow users to jot down notes on the screen without unlocking the device.

Windows Ink will also allow users to write messages on sticky notes and, if appropriate, have them automatically translated into calendar appointments and reminders.

Support for Windows Ink in Microsoft Office, Maps, the Edge browser and other apps will allow users to draw, write and annotate using their pen. Windows Ink will make using the pen in Office more satisfying than it currently is, for example tidying up highlighted marks on documents so they neatly align with text.

Windows 10 will also gain the Ink Workspace, a hub for launching apps that support writing and sketching using the Surface Pen.

Image: Microsoft
win10-inking.png
win10-inking.png
Windows 10: The best new features coming to Microsoft’s latest OS

Ink everywhere

Image: Microsoft

Ink everywhere

Support for drawing, writing and annotating using digital pens will likely come to many apps.

Microsoft says that support for Microsoft Ink will be easily added to Universal Windows Platform apps, requiring just two lines of XAML code.

Image: Microsoft
win10-ruler.png
win10-ruler.png
Windows 10: The best new features coming to Microsoft’s latest OS

Digital ruler

Image: Microsoft

Digital ruler

It sounds simple, but the new on-screen ruler should prove to be a useful addition for those who want to draw straight lines using a digital pen.

Image: Microsoft
cortana.png
cortana.png
Windows 10: The best new features coming to Microsoft’s latest OS

Smarter Cortana

Image: Microsoft

Smarter Cortana

The attraction of a virtual assistant is the simplicity with which they allow you to carry out tasks.

To ease the process of using Windows 10’s Cortana, the voice-controlled assistant will no longer require you to log into Windows, with users able to make a note, play music or set a reminder from the lock screen.

Cortana will also become more proactive and make suggestions based on a user’s past behaviour – offering to order lunch or to arrange transportation.

More apps will also be able to use Cortana to automatically complete tasks for users or to carry out actions based on context, such as the user’s current location or time of day.

Image: Microsoft
hello.jpg
hello.jpg
Windows 10: The best new features coming to Microsoft’s latest OS

Windows Hello comes to apps and the web

Image: Microsoft

Windows Hello comes to apps and the web

Windows 10 already lets you log into the OS using your face.

The anniversary edition will extend this biometric log-in to Windows apps and websites via Microsoft Edge. As with the OS, users will be able to authenticate their identity using a facial, iris or fingerprint scan.

Another new feature will allow users to unlock a PC running Windows 10 Enterprise Edition by tapping a Windows Hello-enabled phone, although Microsoft has said the feature will only be available on “select premium phones”.

Image: Microsoft
android.png
android.png
Windows 10: The best new features coming to Microsoft’s latest OS

Android app notifications on Windows 10

Image: Microsoft

Android app notifications on Windows 10

In future, notifications on Android devices will be able to show on Windows 10 PCs.

Any notification popping up on the Android notification panel can, via the Cortana Android app, also appear as a notification on a linked Windows 10 desktop.

Microsoft demoed the ability at its recent Build conference for developers.

Image: Microsoft
extensions.png
extensions.png
Windows 10: The best new features coming to Microsoft’s latest OS

Browser extensions

Image: Microsoft

Browser extensions

Microsoft’s Edge browser will soon gain support for extensions.

Extensions are small programs that can be downloaded to add new functionality to a browser, and are already found in Chrome, Firefox and other browsers today.

Support for extensions has already been added to Edge for those testing pre-release builds of Windows 10 under the Insider program.

The first extensions to be supported by Edge are Microsoft Translator, an extension that automatically translates pages in over 50 different languages, an extension to augment mouse gestures support, and a preview version of the Reddit Enhancement Suite.

Microsoft promises more extensions will be added later this year, including AdBlock, LastPass and Evernote.

Image: Microsoft
pinned-tabs.png
pinned-tabs.png
Windows 10: The best new features coming to Microsoft’s latest OS

​Pinned browser tabs

Image: Microsoft

​Pinned browser tabs

Microsoft is also adding to Edge the ability to pin your favorite sites and web apps so they always have a tab open in the browser.

Image: Microsoft
maps-app-pc.png
maps-app-pc.png
Windows 10: The best new features coming to Microsoft’s latest OS

​Updated Maps app

Image: Microsoft

​Updated Maps app

The Maps app has several new features, as well as UI and performance improvements.

Additions include one-tap access to search and directions, the ability to view multiple searches and directions at the same time, labels for search results on the map and turn-by-turn directions read by Cortana.

The improved app is available now to those testing Windows 10 under the Insider program.

Image: Microsoft
bash-win10.png
bash-win10.png
Windows 10: The best new features coming to Microsoft’s latest OS

​Access Linux command-line tools in Windows

Image: Microsoft

​Access Linux command-line tools in Windows

More one for developers, Microsoft is also bringing the ability to run the Bash shell to Windows.

The Bash shell is a command line interpreter that is available on many different Linux distributions, as well as Mac OS X.

The shell includes a host of tools that allow power users to carry out and orchestrate complex chains of commands.

Bash will be available via a Universal Windows Platform app, which will provide an image of the Linux distribution Ubuntu and run on the Windows 10 desktop.

Users will be able to use the Bash shell to download and install programs from the command line, as they do from inside Ubuntu. Microsoft says Ubuntu software will run as fast in the Windows app as it does natively, thanks to a software subsystem for handling Linux system calls.

Microsoft has described the app as offering a developer toolset. While it has access to the files on the Windows PC, the app only provides access to a command line — not a graphical desktop — and reportedly has limits on what it can be used for, such as not being able to run a server.

Image: Microsoft
  • Microsoft
  • Software
  • Account Information

    Share with Your Friends

    Windows 10: The best new features coming to Microsoft’s latest OS

    Your email has been sent

Share: Windows 10: The best new features coming to Microsoft's latest OS
Image of Nick Heath
By Nick Heath
Nick Heath is a computer science student and was formerly a journalist at TechRepublic and ZDNet.
  • Account Information

    Contact Nick Heath

    Your message has been sent

  • |
  • See all of Nick's content

Daily Tech Insider

If you can only read one tech story a day, this is it.

TechRepublic TechRepublic
  • TechRepublic on Facebook
  • TechRepublic on X
  • TechRepublic on LinkedIn
  • TechRepublic on YouTube
  • TechRepublic on Pinterest
  • TechRepublic RSS
Services
  • About Us
  • Newsletters
  • RSS Feeds
  • Site Map
  • Site Help & Feedback
  • FAQ
  • Advertise
  • Do Not Sell My Information
  • Careers
Explore
  • Downloads
  • TechRepublic Forums
  • Meet the Team
  • TechRepublic Academy
  • TechRepublic Premium
  • Resource Library
  • Photos
  • Videos
  • Editorial Policy
  • Legal Terms
  • Privacy Policy
© 2025 TechnologyAdvice. All rights reserved.
CLOSE

Create a TechRepublic Account

Get the web's best business technology news, tutorials, reviews, trends, and analysis—in your inbox. Let's start with the basics.

Already registered? Sign In
Use Facebook
Use Linkedin

* - indicates required fields

CLOSE

Sign in to TechRepublic

Not a member? Create an account
Use Facebook
Use Linkedin

Lost your password? Request a new password

CLOSE

Reset Password

Please enter your email adress. You will receive an email message with instructions on how to reset your password.

Check your email for a password reset link. If you didn't receive an email don't forgot to check your spam folder, otherwise contact support.

Back to login
1 Finish Profile
2 Newsletter Preferences
CLOSE

Welcome. Tell us a little bit about you.

This will help us provide you with customized content.

No thanks, continue without
1 Finish Profile
2 Newsletter Preferences
CLOSE

Want to receive more TechRepublic news?

Newsletter Name
Subscribe
Daily Tech Insider
Daily Tech Insider AU
TechRepublic UK
TechRepublic News and Special Offers
TechRepublic News and Special Offers International
Executive Briefing
Innovation Insider
Project Management Insider
Microsoft Weekly
Cloud Insider
Data Insider
Developer Insider
TechRepublic Premium
Apple Weekly
Cybersecurity Insider
Google Weekly
Toggle All
No thanks, continue without

You're All Set

Thanks for signing up! Keep an eye out for a confirmation email from our team. To ensure any newsletters you subscribed to hit your inbox, make sure to add [email protected] to your contacts list.

Back to Home Page
×