Windows 10’s New Build Pushes Password-less Accounts, Mutes Cortana on OOBE – Thurrott.com

Microsoft is today releasing a new build of Windows 10 19H1, build 18309. The latest build of Windows 10 is the first build of the year, and although it is a minor upgrade, it does include a couple of new features.

Microsoft is pushing forward with password-less accounts with build 18309 today. In an older build, Microsoft introduced the ability to login to Windows with their password-less Microsoft accounts, allowing them to login using their phone. The feature essentially sends a one-time code to your phone via SMS, and you can then use that code to login to your Windows 10 device. Microsoft also introduced an improved experience for resetting your PIN on Windows 10, but all of these features were limited to Windows 10 Home. With today’s build, they are now available on all the different editions of Windows 10.

Windows 10 build 18309 includes some minor Narrator improvements as well.

More importantly, however, Microsoft is making a critical change in Windows 10’s setup experience. It is getting rid of the Cortana voice-over in some versions of Windows 10 based on feedback from users. When Microsoft introduced Cortana on the Windows 10 setup experience, no one was really a big fan of it — it was slow, annoying, and kind of useless. Although Microsoft did make it easier to disable the feature later on, it also didn’t really help because the feature was enabled by default.

With build 18309 and Windows 10 19H1, the Cortana voice-over will be disabled by default on Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education. That means if you are an IT Pro setting up a bunch of new Windows 10 laptops, you will no longer have to experience diasters like this:

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Tagged with Cortana, Windows 10, Windows 10 19H1

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