Windows 10 news recap: New updates, activation rules, and more

In this feature, we will be looking back at the past week’s most popular and important Windows 10 stories. Last week, Microsoft rolled out KB3081436 and KB3081438 to Windows 10 users — a set of cumulative updates that improve the functionality of Windows 10 and resolve vulnerabilities in the operating system. No details were given as to exactly what new improvements were made. Both updates were made available via Windows Update.
A few weeks ago, Microsoft launched a YouTube series of videos that walked users through 10 upcoming features in Windows 10, alongside a television campaign highlighting Cortana, Windows Hello, and Microsoft Edge. Now the company is featuring an interactive web demo of Windows 10 for Windows users who have yet to upgrade, but are curious about Windows 10.
Microsoft has changed and redone the activation rules with the release of Windows 10. The new rules makes reinstalling Windows significantly easier compared to previous versions of Windows such as 8.1 and 7. Perhaps the biggest change is the fact that your activation status is stored in the cloud, so that way you don’t need your product key when you reinstall Windows 10. Every time you reinstall Windows 10, the device is activated automatically. Previously, every time you needed to install Windows, you needed the product key unless you had an UEFI-based laptop with Windows 8.1 pre-installed.
We learned this past week that even with certain privacy settings disabled, Windows 10 is still communicating with Microsoft. You can read more about that here. Speaking of privacy, you can check out our how-to guide here for adjusting privacy settings in Windows 10.
Nvidia rolled out a new driver package for Windows 10. If you are running an Nvidia graphics card, you can now download the GeForce 355.60 WHQL drivers for Windows 10, supporting the preview of a new game as well as the Beta version of GameWorks VR.
As of August 14th, Windows 10 has been installed on over 50 million devices worldwide, according to an exclusive report by our very own Zac Bowden. Microsoft began pushing Windows 10 out to a whole lot more devices this week, as their method of upgrading in waves is still ongoing.
That’s it for the week. Stay tuned for yet another exciting week of Windows 10 news.

Must Read Stories

• Back to school: Surface Pro 3, Windows 10, and everything else you need
• How to enable the ‘Very High’ Xbox One to Windows 10 streaming quality setting
• Windows 10 How to: Manage storage, all from one place
• How to enable ‘God Mode’ in Windows 10 and get access to hidden settings