Windows 10
Sometimes abbreviated as Win10, Microsoft Windows 10 is the latest version of Microsoft Windows and was released on July 29, 2015. Windows 10 is an upgrade to Windows 8.1.
New Windows 10 features
Windows 10 shares many of the features introduced with Windows 8, in addition to the major features mentioned below.
- Start menu - Brought back the Windows Start menu, with the tiles introduced in Windows 8 still available.
- Microsoft Edge - Microsoft has kept Internet Explorer, but also introduced and included the new Microsoft Edge browser for Windows 10 users, and recommends using it as the default browser.
- Cortana - The new voice assistant Cortana is now part of Windows and the Windows search bar.
- Action Center - A pop-out window with notifications for Windows and software on the computer and quick access to several features, like Bluetooth, or tablet mode and battery saver options if using a laptop. Action Center replaces the Charms feature available in Windows 8.
As of May 2020, the latest version of Windows 10 is version 1909, released on November 12, 2019, and available as a free upgrade through Windows Update.
One of the largest updates to Windows 10 was the Fall Creators Update, released on October 17, 2017.
Windows 10 system requirements
1 GHz processor or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64).
1 GB of RAM for 32-bit or 2 GB of RAM for 64-bit.
16 GB of hard drive space for 32-bit or 20 GB for 64-bit.
DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher.
What Windows version came before Windows 10?
For the end user, Windows 8 came before Windows 10.
Microsoft skipped from Windows 8 (Windows 8.1) to Windows 10, and there was never a version of Microsoft Windows called "Windows 9."
What version of Windows comes after Windows 10?
A Microsoft employee did state that Windows 10 is the last "version" of Windows. In a 2015 blog post, Terry Myerson of Microsoft explained that Windows is transitioning to a service model. Rather than moving towards "Windows 11," Microsoft is focusing on updating Windows 10 on the second Tuesday of every month, with major updates planned for release around April and October of each year. For instance, in 2017, Microsoft released the Creators Update in April, and the Fall Creators Update in October.
On June 24, 2021, Microsoft announced Windows 11.
When is the end of support for Windows 10?
Microsoft has posted that they would end Windows 10 support on October 14, 2025.