Windows 10 home s mode review free.Windows 10 S Mode release date, news and features

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Windows 11 in S mode is a version of Windows 11 that\’s streamlined for security and performance, while providing a familiar Windows experience. Learn how to switch out of S mode to install apps from outside of the Microsoft Windows 11 in S mode is only available in the Windows 11 Home edition.
 
 

What Is Windows 10 or Windows 11 in S Mode?.Windows 10 in S mode: Pros and cons | TechRepublic

 
If you switch, you won\’t be able to get back into S mode again.

 

Windows 10 home s mode review free

 

Windows 10 S tries to minimize security risks by restricting app installations to the Windows Store. But the lack of app flexibility and available hardware significantly limits its appeal. Windows 10 S, a locked-down version of Windows 10 found on the Surface Laptop and a small group of low-cost, third-party notebooks, keeps students safe and secure by restricting them to the Windows Store. But as our review shows, the lack of freedom chafes. Locking your PC away from the big, bad, outside world makes sense when your children are going off to high school or college, Microsoft thinks.

But otherwise, Windows 10 S can be an exercise in frustration. The resemblance is not an accident: In fact, as we were writing this review, Asus let us know that a version of its Chromebook C would be released in September as the WNA, a Windows 10 S-powered machine.

So far, however, only the Surface Laptop is available. We will note, however, that we upgraded the Laptop to Windows 10 Pro for benchmarking. Microsoft also asked us to make this crystal-clear: If you revert from Windows 10 Pro to Windows 10 S, all apps, data and settings are reverted, and will be erased from your PC. The so-called Out of the Box Experience is identical, with Cortana walking you though setup. Once inside the operating system, nearly all Windows functions like Windows Hello, File Manager, Cortana, Windows Ink, and the various built-in Windows apps all work identically to their equivalents in Windows 10 Home or Pro.

Windows 10 S will allow you to download an executable file from a third-party source, or transfer it onto the PC from a USB stick. When it comes time to launch it, though, Windows 10 S will block it. While the number of available Edge extensions has climbed to 48 at the time of this writing, with excellent choices including Ghostery and LastPass, Opera, Chrome, and Firefox have thousands of plug-ins and extensions from which to choose.

I noticed no differences between Office and the Windows 10 S versions of the apps. A number of Office apps are available under Windows 10 S, which appear to have the same functionality as they do under Office And if a school has a web-based curriculum set up for Chromebooks, a Windows 10 S machine should be able to step in without missing a beat.

But in my mind, the lack of freedom to obtain apps that students may need robs a lot of the value from Windows 10 S, especially as kids move higher in the educational system. Unfortunately, the compatibility issues apply to third-party hardware, too.

To be fair, setting up Google Cloud Print for a Chromebook has its own issues, which is why Google is adding local printing as an experimental feature in Chrome OS. ZDNet almost immediately put that claim to the test , and found that Windows 10 S could be exploited via an old workaround: Word macros. Microsoft claimed that Windows 10 S is faster to boot and resume than Windows 10 Pro.

Originally, we found that Windows 10 S was slower than Windows 10 Pro. Neither difference is especially significant. Now, you can add another to that list: upgrading Windows 10 S to Windows 10 Pro. If your son or daughter wants to really stick it to The Man, they can upgrade to Windows 10 Pro in just minutes. As of Sept. You can upgrade to Windows 10 Pro through one of two ways: either by a link at the bottom of the Windows 10 S popups that appear when you try and run an executable file, or by simply typing Windows 10 S Pro into the search box of the Windows Store.

Either way, clicking the Install button begins the process. Windows recommends that you save and close all your files and apps before you begin the process. Backing up to OneDrive or another location would be a good idea. All told, the process took nine minutes.

As we noted above, the switch from Windows 10 S to Windows 10 Pro is assumed to be a one-way street. Sure, an elementary-school student with a curriculum built around the Web might not care whether they use Edge or Chrome.

A concerned parent trying to minimize distractions for a child away at school might buy a machine running an OS that locked out most games. Part of the issue concerns how Microsoft has attempted to stretch Windows 10 S from elementary schools all the way through college, which have vastly different requirements in terms of hardware and software. Meanwhile, Microsoft seems to think that elementary and middle school administrators will be willing to wait until cheaper Windows 10 S hardware finally rolls out , then shift lesson plans designed for Chromebooks onto Windows machines.

That seems unlikely. Within the K environment, Windows 10 S seems like a play at best. Microsoft needs to do more work touting the education value of the Windows Store, and educational apps. Schools and teachers are always on the lookout for cheap, entertaining ways to supplement their own words and lectures with compelling ways to engage students. Computers, whether Chromebooks or Windows-powered machines, are a naturally enthralling way to do that, and capabilities like Windows Ink offer possibilities Chromebooks do not.

Updated on Sept. Pros If you can use Windows 10, you can use Windows 10 S. Dan Masaoka Our test machine: the Surface Laptop.