Why should a business upgrade to Windows 10?

Virtual Desktops

Users without a multi monitor setup often find themselves running out of screen space and getting overloaded with apps. Well Windows 10 now includes Virtual Desktops which allows you to have a number of desktops running with different apps, browsers & software opened within them. A great use case for this is when you want to keep personal & work apps separate or you might want to organise desktops based on projects. This is a feature competitor operating systems have had for many years and it’s a welcome addition many users have been waiting for. 

Updates

Microsoft is frequently releasing updates for Windows 10 which not only include bug fixes and security updates but also new features to help improve productivity for users. Check out the recent May updates to show the type of features Microsoft is constantly adding to Windows 10.

A reason many businesses are thinking about moving to Windows 10 is because Windows 7 End of Life is fast approaching. This means any devices running Windows 7 past 14th Janauary 2020 will be vulnerable as Microsoft are no longer offering security updates. Find out more about Windows 7 End of Life here.

Universal Apps

The App Store offers a wide range of Universal Apps designed for Windows 10 to help with productivity, work and social networking. These apps will run in a sandbox environment to help make them more secure than your standard windows apps. Also the apps can integrate with the action centre providing you with notifications.

If you are signed into the App Store with your Microsoft account then you can also enable the apps to sync between your Windows 10 devices. This is great if you have multiple devices because it saves you having to re-download all the apps again on each device. 

Speed

The Windows 10 operating system boots up much faster than other operating systems and the overall performance is a lot smoother than its predecessors. If you’re running an older desktop or laptop then switching should give you a little bit of a performance boost, however you would need to check your PC met the minimum requirements first.

Action Centre

The new action centre provides a quick access location for all notifications that pop up, so if you miss them they are all within the action centre to view. In previous versions of Windows if you missed a notification there was no way to go back and easily see it. The action centre also provides an area for quick actions like turning WiFi, Bluetooth, Flight Mode, etc on and off similar to how you do on smartphones. Like a lot of the new features within Windows you can customise the action centre to suit your requirements.

Battery Life

The power management within Windows 10 is significantly better than its predecessors especially when running applications, web browsing or watching movies. This is great for business users who have to do a lot of travelling around with their laptops. Windows 10 also includes some new battery saving tools built into the settings, allowing you to decide when the battery saving kicks in and options on what the battery saving does.

Windows Defender

Windows 10 comes built in with an Antivirus and it’s enabled by default which many users are unaware of. This saves you having to go out searching for a third party antivirus. You are protected from the off with Windows Defender and it’s a very good antivirus with very little impact on your system as it’s built into Windows.

Windows Defender has been around for years (formerly called Windows Security Essentials) but it has always ranked low on antivirus comparative websites. This is the reason you have probably never used it or even heard of it before. However over the past few years Microsoft has spent a lot of time improving Windows Defender and now it offers great protection with the added bonus its built into Windows 10.

Here’s a website which tests a range of antiviruses on a regular basis, you can see how Windows Security ranks.

Start Menu

Hooray its back! Microsoft took away the start menu in Windows 8 and it didn’t go down well for business users. Microsoft’s aim was to make it better for touch screen devices and give it a tablet feel. However the start menu was the key navigation tool for many users and the majority of us found it a lot slower trying to find apps and navigate around.

So they’ve added it back and this time it’s much improved providing quick access to everything you need. It also allows you to customise the start menu now so you can add in software shortcuts, files and apps, grouping them together if required. The Live Tiles feature which was in Windows 8 showing you information like weather, news, calendar events and more at a quick glance can now be added onto the start menu. 

Secure Boot

Windows 10 now has a secure boot mode which means when your computer or laptop starts up it will only boot with trusted firmware approved by Microsoft. This will prevent anyone from installing unauthorised operating systems or making changes when the system is starting up.

Windows Sandbox

One big feature Microsoft released recently in an update of Windows is the Sandbox. This threat protection feature allows users to run files, apps or visit sites that you think might contain malware in an isolated environment, protecting your actual Windows installation by sectioning it off with a firewall. When you close the Sandbox it erases everything in there.

This is only available within the Pro and Enterprise editions of Windows 10 and you need to enable a few steps to get this setup, here’s a guide Microsoft have provided.