You may have heard the buzz around Windows 10 Creators Update and its cool new features, from enhanced 3D capabilities and social tools to new and advanced security features. But how can Creators help your business? Let’s go over what we’ve seen so far and find out.

3D features

Microsoft wants to bring 3D software to the masses. The Creators Update aims to make 3D feel easy and approachable by integrating the technology with familiar applications Microsoft Paint and Office.

• Paint 3D can turn a sketch into a 3D graphic with a quick tap. The new sticker tool lets users stamp 2D images onto 3D ones. Love your creation? You’ll also be able to print it on a 3D printer.
• Windows Capture 3D is a scanning app for mobile devices that lets you photograph an object in 3D simply by walking around it while shooting.
• Remix 3D is Microsoft’s new destination for sharing creations. It will serve as a community library that you can add to or draw from. Once you finish a sketch, you can share it with the community and post it on social media.

How it will help your business:

• Have we mentioned Paint 3D will be integrated into Office? It will be a dream come true for heavy PowerPoint users looking to design impactful presentations. To get a better feel for the possibilities, check out Microsoft’s demo here.
• Imagine the possibilities for simple product prototyping. For example, a remote team could collaborate on a design and then print the object in their respective offices for testing. Or you could send a prototype to a retail outlet and print it onsite to obtain consumer feedback.

Connectivity and shareability

Need to message or share something fast with a colleague? In the Creators Update, person-to-person contact is going to be front and center.

• A new taskbar feature called MyPeople lets you quickly connect and share directly with your favorite people (or at least, the ones you talk to the most). Instead of looking for a “share” button within an app, MyPeople lets you drag and drop files directly to a friend’s icon to pass them along instantly. The MyPeople experience is also integrated across universal Windows apps for easy sharing.
• There’s also a new widget that lets you Skype or email your favorites quickly, and even toggle between Skype and email within the same window. (It’ll be interesting to see if Microsoft lets third-party app developers have a spot at the bar, too.)

How it will help your business:

• These friendly little updates will have a big impact on efficiency and team collaboration. They’ll be handy when you’re communicating with your team about a complex project (or even just passing along a simple doc).

Aesthetics and usability

From pen functionality to custom settings, here’s a little more of what’s in store.

• The Action Center is getting a refresh with new sliders for screen brightness and volume, as well as a few other quick actions.
• You’ll be able to personalize Windows 10 with custom accent color options, as well as theme collections available in the Windows Store.
• Love your stylus? Lucky you: There will be full pen support in Word. You can even use it to strikethrough text to have it deleted from a document. Give it a try with the new HP EliteBook x360 and optional HP Active Pen featuring WACOM technology.
• The Edge browser now lets you preview tabs by hovering over them.

How it will help your business:

• Customized aesthetics and multiple usability options offer more ways for your employees to stay comfortable and productive. Plus, your employees will likely be using Creators’ consumer-based apps for gaming and music at home, so they’ll come to expect the same customizations and updated OS at work.

Security

New and advanced security capabilities are designed to better help enterprise customers and IT admins protect, defend, and respond to threats.

• The new Windows Security Center will act as a centralized security management portal, integrating with third-party security platforms and linking directly to the Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection suite to follow an attack.
• The Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) tool will come with new actions and insights such as improved detection, enriched intelligence, and enhanced remediation to help you investigate and respond to network attacks.

How it will help your business:

• The centralized portal will allow businesses to track and monitor threats across their Windows 10 devices and network. This could be particularly attractive to large organizations that need to take faster, more comprehensive security measures to protect their endpoint and email infrastructure.

Device management

Microsoft is releasing a number of “best-in-class” capabilities to help IT teams assess, support, and upgrade devices.

• An advanced Window Analytics dashboard will allow organizations to use their own telemetry for device upgrades, updates, and health processes.
• A new Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) conversion tool will automatically convert Windows 7 devices (which use legacy BIOS) to UEFI. This conversion previously had to be done manually.
• A new mobile application management functionality will help protect data on personal devices, even if the device isn’t enrolled in a mobile device management system.

How it will help your business:

• Even though Windows 10 already improves task management, these improvements alleviate concerns businesses have had when moving to a new OS. These updates will expedite and streamline a number of IT management tasks by moving resources and time-intensive tasks to the cloud.

Source by http://www8.hp.com

For more info about HP products, visit our ICT Hardware website.

This August, Microsoft released the Windows 10 Anniversary Update—appropriately named as it came a year after the original Windows 10 release. Windows 10 has shown itself to be functional and friendly across all devices—the perfect OS for businesses with BYOD programs and cross-platform use. Here are a few cool features the Anniversary Update includes that can help your business, whether you’ve already upgraded to Windows 10 or are planning to do so soon.

 

Windows Hello goes mobile

• Windows Hello already lets you sign into your computer with your face, fingerprint, or iris scan. The Anniversary Update takes Hello’s biometric authentication a step further, expanding it to Windows apps and supported websites. Once you have hardware (such as the HP Elite x3) and software that supports Windows Hello, you’ll be able to sign into apps the same way. This also extends to Edge, 10’s browser that offers biometric authentication on supported sites. Basically, get ready to sign into websites with your eyeball.
• The Anniversary Update also lets you sign into your PC with a companion device, such as a smartphone, a multi-use tablet device like the Elite x3, or even a fitness band. (You know, so your eyeball doesn’t get tired of constantly being used to sign in, and you can do some actual work.)

Cortana gets a brain boost

• Microsoft is pouring a lot of effort into making Cortana the virtual assistant that business pros can’t live without. The latest update gives Cortana greater access to the Office, Outlook, and Calendar apps. This insight means you can give it commands like “Send Dave the Excel sheet I worked on this morning.” Or if you create an event that conflicts with something else on your calendar, Cortana will let you know that you’re already booked.
• Cortana is also accessible from the lock screen now. Once this feature is enabled, you’ll be able to access Microsoft’s digital assistant by saying “Hello, Cortana” or by tapping the Cortana icon. From here, Cortana can schedule appointments, find directions, and create reminders.
• Cortana’s mobile capabilities are pretty cool, too. Once you install the Cortana app to your mobile device, it can mirror notifications like incoming calls and low battery warnings to your PC. (You get to choose which app notifications pop up, of course.) And if you’ve misplaced your device, just say “find my phone” and it will locate it on a map. (Hopefully you just left it in the lunchroom.)

The Connect app

• Now you have an incredibly easy way to cast your mobile device to the big screen—no docks or gear required. The Anniversary Update’s new Connect app lets you wirelessly connect your mobile device to a computer using 10’s mobile Continuum feature. Your device’s Continuum desktop just runs on the other computer inside a window. Pretty handy for business presentations and other work-related screen sharing.

Skype preview

• Many offices lean on Skype for their business communications, so it’s nice that the Anniversary Update offers a preview of the new Skype app, which has been redesigned from the ground up for 10. All of Skype’s standard features are included in the release, and you can also try out their “Skype Bots” which were introduced earlier this year. And since Skype’s baked directly into 10, you can reply to a message as soon as a notification pops up without having to open the app.

More cool features

• The Action Center, 10’s notifications hub, now lets users set priority levels for individual apps so they don’t drown in notifications.
• Managing multiple desktops continues to get easier. The Task View interface lets you right-click a window to move it to another desktop instead of dragging it. Even better, you can now pin windows so they appear on all desktops. (Convenient for messaging apps and other things you always want to keep an eye on.)
• Ever get stalled during the day by an automatic Windows update? Now you can set up Active Hours—a timeframe of up to 12 hours that’s off-limits for automatic updates—so you can stay productive.

Microsoft, Windows, Continuum, Skype, Hello, Cortana, Edge, Office, Outlook, and Connect are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.