The first major Windows 10 update, “Threshold 2”, has landed, bringing with it a range of tweaks, performance improvements and new features. It’s free to download for any Windows 10 users and features the following:

Cortana’s new tricks

If you have a tablet or touch-enabled computer, Cortana’s new features will be greatly appreciated. The digital assistant will now recognise and understand your handwriting, so you can scribble down an email address or phone number on your screen and rely on Cortana to store it for you. She’s also been given the power to keep track of events and movie tickets and can now remind you to arrive on time and book an Uber to get you around. Better still, if you’re using Edge browser, Cortana will keep track of valid coupons for the sites you visit.

Easy Activation with your Windows 7 and 8 keys

With the latest update you can now activate Windows 10 with your Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 product key. You no longer need to go through the pain of updating and re-installing from scratch when you want to bump your Windows 7- or 8-running machine up to Microsoft’s latest OS.

The Start Menu’s Changed (Again)

The start menu has increased in size where users can now stretch columns to squeeze in up to four tiles side-by-side. The Start Menu as a whole can hold an impressive 2,048 tiles.

With the new upgrade Windows will now recommend apps for you. While this could come in handy occasionally, it is likely to become annoying. Fortunately, it’s easy to turn this feature off.

Colourful title bars

From the start, Windows 10 has given users the option to choose the colour of their Start Menu and taskbar, but the title bars of windows stayed white no matter what. Thanks to the latest update, the title bars can now be customised through the Colours section of the Settings menu.

‘Find My Device’ is Here

If you’re ever unfortunate enough to lose you laptop or have it stolen, Windows 10 will help you track it down. A new ‘Find My Device’ feature has been added to the software, which should help you out in your darkest hour.

Please note that while Threshold 2 has some fantastic new features, it is a major update and has been known to break some software and cause freezing if an SD card is inserted into the PC.

Hayden McMaster