Windows 10 October 2018 Update - Removed Features

In the April 2018 Update of Windows 10, Microsoft deprecated (removed) the Homegroup feature.  I call this out not because I liked this feature personally, but it was a semi-large feature loss for the OS.  There are some old features being remove in this version of the OS, but nothing too major.

Deprecated features (and removed)

• The FontSmoothing option in unattend.xml has been removed. Windows 10 now uses ClearType by default.
• The Hologram app has been replaced with Mixed Reality Viewer.
• The Phone Companion app, has been replaced by the Phone page in the Settings app to sync smartphones with the PC.
• The Trusted Platform Module management console, has been replaced by the Device Security page in the Windows Defender Security Center.
• Updates through Windows Embedded Developer Update, now require you to download updates from the Microsoft Update Catalog.
• Business Scanning, aka Distributed Scan Management (DSM)
• limpet.exe: which is used to access TPM by Azure connectivity, has been released as open source.

Deprecated features (and NOT removed)

• Paint has been deprecated since the April 2018 Update, but is made available for download in the Windows store for now.  At some point in the future it might be officially removed.
• There are some programming interfaces and GUI tools that are going to be replaced:
• Companion device dynamic lock APIS is being replaced by Dynamic Lock
• OneSync service is being replaced by the Outlook app syncing
• The Snipping Tool is being replaced by the Snip & Sketch app

Getting the Windows 10 October 2018 Update

As of a few days ago, Microsoft has started deploying the Windows 10 October 2018 Update (aka version 1809).  This is part of a regular feature roll-out that the company does about every six months for Windows 10. There are lots of new features, and some deprecated ones (such as the Phone Companion app). 

Some of the new features include:

• SwiftKey keyboard for touchscreen PCs
• A better screenshot tool
• The "Your Phone" app for iPhone and Android devices
• Enhanced privacy controls
• More intelligent, faster and efficient updates.

Note: 

If possible, I would recommend holding off for a few weeks as Microsoft is working out some bugs right now with this update because of some hardware compatibility issues.

As always it is recommend that you backup your whole system including your important data before installing any major system upgrade like this one.

As always Microsoft distributes these updates a few different ways.  Most people will pick it up through automatic updates, this can randomly happen to users over the next few weeks and months.  If you want it faster you can manually check for the update and see if it is available for you.  To do this, in the Search box in the taskbar, type “Check for updates.” Once there, simply press the "Check for updates" button to begin the download and installation process.

You can also manually download the software, by going to microsoft.com/software-download/windows10, then click the "Update now" button to begin the update.  This will download the Windows 10 Update Assistant. Otherwise press the "Download the tool now" button to start building a bootable Windows Installation ISO or USB key.

Happy downloading and installing…