What’s new in recent Windows 10 updates

New features in recent Windows updates will help you customize your PC, increase security, and get more creative with Windows 10. With these updates, it’ll also be easier to get things done on your PC and across your other devices, including syncing to Android phones (7.0 or later).

Choose your favorite color mode

Make your apps and app tiles stand out by switching to Light or Dark mode. Select Start > Settings > Personalization > Colors . Under Choose your color, select either Light or Dark mode.

Keep tabs on your website tabs

When you’re on a frequently-used website and have a lot of tabs open, pin that site to your taskbar. Then, just hover over the pin to see a preview of all the open tabs.

To pin website to the taskbar, in Microsoft Edge, go to Settings and more > More tools > Pin to taskbar .

Quickly jump between open webpages with Alt + Tab

Select the Alt key and tap Tab to toggle through all the apps and items you have open, including website tabs in Microsoft Edge.

Go passwordless with Microsoft accounts on your device

Keep your device even more secure by removing passwords when signing in to Windows with Microsoft accounts on your device. Go to Start > Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options , and then turn on Require Windows Hello sign-in for Microsoft accounts.

Have Magnifier read text aloud

Magnifier, the screen-magnifying feature that comes with Windows 10, can also read text aloud. To use it, turn on Magnifier by pressing the Windows logo key‌ + Plus sign (+), select Read from here, then use your mouse pointer to select where you’d like to begin.

Make your text cursor easier to find

The text cursor indicator adds a splash of color to your text cursor, making it easier to find in a sea of text. To turn it on and change its size and color, go to Start > Settings > Ease of Access > Text cursor.

Create events quickly

Add an event or reminder to your calendar right from the taskbar. On the taskbar, select the date and time, then enter your details in the text box that says Add an event or reminder.

Get to notification settings from the taskbar

To choose where notifications show up and how to sort them, select Notifications > Manage notifications on the taskbar.

Add emoji from your keyboard

Express yourself however and wherever you want. Press the Windows logo key + period (.) to open an emoji panel. Use kaomojis to create faces with text, and symbols—like punctuation and currency—to make a statement.

Bring the Microsoft experience to your Android phone

Open the Google Play Store app on your Android phone, type Microsoft Launcher in the search box, and then install it. Once Microsoft Launcher is installed, you can get beautiful Bing wallpapers that refresh daily, sync your Office docs and calendar, and more.

Make your pointer easier to see

If you’re having trouble spotting your pointer on your screen, make it bigger or change the color. Select Start > Settings > Ease of Access > Cursor & pointer.

Make things on your screen larger

To make just the text on your screen bigger, select Start > Settings > Ease of Access > Display , then adjust the slider under Make text bigger. To make everything bigger, choose an option from the drop-down menu under Make everything bigger.

Use Snip & Sketch to capture, mark up, and share images

Screen sketch is now called Snip & Sketch. Open Snip & Sketch to take a snip of what’s on your screen or to mark up and share a previous image. In the search box on the taskbar, type Snip & Sketch, then select Snip & Sketch from the list of results to open the app.

To quickly take a snip, press the Windows logo key + Shift+ S. You’ll see your screen darken and your cursor displayed as a cross. Choose a point at the edge of the area you want to copy and left-click the cursor. Move your cursor to highlight the area you want to capture. The area you capture will appear on your screen.

The image you snipped is saved to your clipboard, ready for pasting into an email or document. If you want to edit the image, select the notification that appears after you’ve made your snip. Snip & Sketch offers options to save, copy, or share and includes a pen, highlighter, and an eraser, all with variable line widths.

Related links

For more info about Windows updates, see Windows Update: FAQ.

For info about activating Windows 10, see Activate Windows 10.

Products Ending Support in 2020

Originally published: October 29, 2018
Updated: March 11, 2021

Please go here to search for your product’s lifecycle.

The following list is a summary of products listed on the Lifecycle site, which are retiring or reaching the end of support in 2020. Upon retirement or end of support, there will be no new security updates, non-security updates, free or paid assisted support options or online technical content updates. Go here to learn about Fixed and Modern Lifecycle policies and service packs.

If you have any questions regarding support for a product, please contact your Microsoft Account Representative. If you need technical support, visit theВ Microsoft SupportВ website.

Products governed by the Modern Policy

The following products and releases, governed by the Modern Policy, will retire in 2020.

Products (Modern Policy)	Retirement
System Center Data Protection Manager Semi Annual Channel, version 1807 System Center Operations Manager Semi Annual Channel, version 1807 System Center Orchestrator Semi Annual Channel, version 1807 System Center Service Manager Semi Annual Channel, version 1807 System Center Virtual Machine Manager Semi Annual Channel, version 1807	January 24, 2020
Azure Container Service Windows Analytics Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager, version 1806	January 31, 2020
Microsoft .NET Core 3.0	March 3, 2020
PowerShell 6.x PowerShell Core 6.2	September 4, 2020
Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager, version 1902	September 27, 2020
Windows 10, version 1709 (Enterprise, Education, IoT Enterprise)	October 13, 2020
Windows 10, version 1809 (Home, Pro, Pro Education, Pro for Workstations, IoT Core) Windows Server version 1809 (Datacenter Core, Standard Core)	November 10, 2020
Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager, version 1810	December 1, 2020
Windows 10, version 1903 (Enterprise, Education, Home, Pro, Pro Education, Pro for Workstations, IoT Enterprise) Windows Server, version 1903 (Datacenter, Standard)	December 8, 2020
InMage Scout in Azure Site Recovery	December 31, 2020

Products governed by the Fixed Policy

The following products and releases, governed by the Fixed Policy, will end support in 2020.

Product (Fixed Policy)	End of Support
Dynamics NAV 2009 Dynamics NAV 2009 R2 Expression 3 (Design, Encoder, Studio, Web) Hyper-V Server 2008 Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 SQL Server 2014, service pack 2 (all editions) Visual Studio 2017, version 15.0 (all editions) Windows 7 Windows Embedded Handheld 6.5 Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Windows HPC Server 2008 (all editions) Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 Windows 10 Mobile Enterprise, released in October 2017 Windows Server 2008 (all editions) Windows Server 2008 R2 (all editions) Windows Server 2008 for Windows Essential Server Solutions (all editions) Windows Server Update Services 3.0 Windows Small Business Server 2008 Windows Storage Server 2008 (all editions) Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 (all editions) Windows Web Server 2008	January 14, 2020
Internet Explorer 10	January 31, 2020
Microsoft Forefront Unified Access Gateway 2010 Microsoft Forefront Threat Management Gateway 2010 (all editions) Microsoft HPC Pack 2008 (all editions) Windows Identity Foundation Dynamics 365 Business Central on-premises, Fall 2018 Update, version 13.x	April 14, 2020
Wunderlist	May 6, 2020
Expression 4 (Encoder, Studio, Studio Ultimate, Web) Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.6 (all editions) Microsoft Application Virtualization Hosting 4.6 for Windows Desktops Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010 (all editions) Visual Studio 2010 (all editions) Windows MultiPoint Server 2010 (all editions)	July 14, 2020
Internet Information Services Smooth Streaming Client 1.0 Microsoft Report Viewer Redistributable 2010 Windows Communication Foundation RIA Services	September 8, 2020
Access 2010 Dynamics GP 2010 Dynamics GP 2010 R2 Excel 2010 Exchange Server 2010 (all editions) FAST Search Server 2010 (all editions) Groove Server 2010 Infopath 2010 Office 2010 (all editions) OneNote 2010 PowerPoint 2010 Project 2010 Publisher 2010 Search Server 2010 SharePoint 2010 (Workspace, Designer) System Center Data Protection Manager 2010 System Center Essentials 2010 System Center Service Manager 2010 Visio 2010 (all editions) Word 2010 Windows Embedded Standard 7 Office 2016 for Mac (all editions) Excel 2016 for Mac Outlook 2016 for Mac PowerPoint 2016 for Mac Word 2016 for Mac	October 13, 2020
Microsoft Identity Manger 2016, service pack 1	November 4, 2020

Products moving to Extended Support

The following products will be moving from Mainstream to Extended Support in 2020. Extended Support includes security updates at no cost, and paid non-security updates and support. Additionally, Microsoft will not accept requests for design changes or new features during the Extended Support phase.

Product	End of Mainstream Support
Dynamics C5 2015 Dynamics CRM 2015 Dynamics SL 2015 Dynamics NAV 2015	January 14, 2020
Cloud Platform System Dynamics GP 2015 Dynamics GP 2015 R2 Microsoft User Experience Virtualization 2.1 Service Pack 1	April 14, 2020
Azure StorSimple 8000 Series Azure StorSimple 1200 Series StorSimple Data Manager	July 1, 2020
Access 2016 Excel 2016 Exchange Server 2016 (Enterprise, Standard) Office Home and Business 2016 Office Home and Student 2016 Office Professional 2016 Office Professional Plus 2016 Office Standard 2016 Project Professional 2016 Project Standard 2016 Microsoft Publisher 2016 Outlook 2016 PowerPoint 2016 Skype for Business 2016 Skype for Business Server 2015 Visio Professional 2016 Visio Standard 2016 Visual Studio 2015 (all editions) Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2015 (all editions) Windows 10 2015 LTSB (Enterprise, IoT Enterprise) Windows Defender Exploit Guard Word 2016	October 13, 2020

Change Log

September 2019 edits
ADDED: Windows Analytics, Windows Storage Server 2008 (all editions), Internet Explorer 10, StorSimple Data Manager, Visio Services in SharePoint Online
ADDED: Windows 10, version 1903 (Enterprise, Home, Pro, Pro for Workstations, IoT Enterprise) and Windows Server, version 1903 (Datacenter, Standard, IoT Enterprise)
EDITED: Exchange Server 2010 (all editions) support extended from January 14, 2020 to October 13, 2020

January 2020 edits
ADDED: Exchange Server 2010, Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.6 for Remote Desktop Services, Expression Studio 4, Windows 10 Pro Education,
EDITED: Visual Basic 2010 Express, Visual Basic C# 2010 Express, Visual Basic C++ 2010 Express, Visual Web Developer 2010 Express, Expression Encoder 4, Expression Web 4 date updated to July 14, 2020
EDITED: OneNote 2016 Mainstream Support extended from October 13, 2020 to October 10, 2023
EDITED: specific editions removed, «all editions» added to parent listing

February 2020 edits
ADDED: Dynamics 365 Business Central on-premises, Microsoft Identity Manager 2016 Service Pack 1

April 2020 edits
EDITED: Windows 10, version 1709 (Enterprise, Education, IoT Enterprise) extended to October 13, 2020
EDITED: Windows 10, version 1809 (Home, Pro, Pro Education, Pro for Workstation, IoT Core), Windows Server version 1809 (Datacenter Core, Standard Core) extended to November 10, 2020
REMOVED: PerformancePoint Services in SharePoint Server 2010, Project Server 2010, SharePoint Server 2010 (support extended from October 13, 2020 to April 13, 2021)

June 2020 edits
REMOVED: Windows Defender Antivirus for Windows 10

July 2020 edits
ADDED: Expression Studio Ultimate 4
EDITED: Visual Basic 2010 Express, Visual C# 2010 Express, and Visual C++ 2010 Express corrections

March 2021 edits
REMOVED: Service Pack section. These will be tracked under Fixed Policy EOS
REMOVED: Visio Services in SharePoint Online extended from September 30, 2020 to September 30, 2021
REMOVED: Windows 10, version 1803 (Enterprise, Education, IoT Enterprise); support extended from November 10, 2020 to May 11, 2021
ADDED: Windows 10 Mobile Enterprise, released in October 2017
ADDED: Products that have announced EOS dates since publishing