While the April 2018 update barely made it out before May, Microsoft has published the Windows 10 October 2018 update on just October 2nd. From an aesthetics standpoint, this release looks quite like the last one, although Dark Mode has expanded a little further and now overtakes the file explorer. That’s one of the last places that I can think of.

In terms of actual features, however, the big one will probably be improved support for NVIDIA RTX and DirectX 12 Raytracing. It’s not clear to me what exactly the new OS brings to the table in that regard. I know that it was hidden behind an experimental flag in the April 2018 update, but the actual difference is a bit muddled. I heard one developer claim that NVIDIA RTX could not be toggled on and off until the October 2018 update, but I’ve also heard people claim to do that on the April 2018 update. So… I dunno.

Regardless, it’s here now, and that’s probably sooner than your 2080 Ti.

One area that Microsoft is focusing on is their new Game Bar update. Apparently, at least if you use the Game Bar, Windows Update will delay updating and rebooting during your play sessions. It would be nice to have more direct control, rather than giving us an app that can indirectly influence how our PC receives updates, but it’s still a good tip none-the-less. I can also see where they are coming from, regarding how infrequently people updated previous versions of Windows.

Another benefit of the Game Bar update is that the audio controls can now be accessed in game. This was one area that kind-of annoyed me in the past, which is finally being addressed. There has been a few times (not many but a few) that I wanted to change output cards but I physically couldn’t reach the control because a game is fullscreen atop it. It’s extra annoying if that game is one of those games that hates to be minimized under the penalty of crash-to-desktop. I’ve needed to shutdown and restart games before just to change the sound device. Now? It’s in the Game Bar, as well as per-application volume controls and so forth.

So if you want the Windows 10 October 2018 update, and you’re on Windows 10 of course, then you can go to Windows Update and check for updates. If not? Well, it’ll come to you soon enough anyway.