Functionality Removed in Microsoft Windows 10

Windows

Microsoft lists the functions for which it no longer operates in Windows 10 and those which it excludes in version 2004.

Microsoft has outlined the Windows 10 features it is no longer implementing and features it is removing with the Windows 10 May 2020 Update, version 2004 released now.

Apps which are no longer under active development are those which may be disabled by Microsoft in a future update. With each new release of Windows 10, Microsoft is outlining the operating system features it avoids improving and eliminating.

In Windows 10 2004, the three technologies that Microsoft is no longer implementing include the Companion User Platform, the legacy Microsoft Edge browser and Dynamic Disks.

The Companion Device Platform was restricted to authorized developers and was designed to allow IoT devices to be used as an external Windows Hello authentication tool on Windows 10 PCs which, for example, lacked an infrared facial authentication camera.

Obviously, the old EdgeHTML Microsoft Edge has been replaced by the new Chromium-based Edge browser from Microsoft, which is not shipped with Windows but is immediately available via Windows Update.

For a future update, Microsoft has discontinued Dynamic Disks and claims this functionality will be replaced entirely by the RAID-like Storage Spaces program. The functionality helps protect the data from errors in the drive.

Apps missing from the 2004 edition of Windows 10 include Cortana, Windows To Go and Mobile Planning and Messaging applications.

Microsoft agreed to release the Cortana assistant as a standalone app, with the new update of Windows 10. This version of the Cortana software for systems running Windows 10 version 2004 was made available this week.

Microsoft plans to update and improve the app over the coming months via Microsoft Store updates. This will finally combine Cortana with Teams so that people can use mobile customer voice commands on the Teams.

Past Microsoft announcements on deprecating features in Windows didn’t always go well with consumers.

The company announced in 2017 that it had agreed to delete the Paint feature from Windows 10. Microsoft released a statement after a public uproar clarifying that the app would live on in Microsoft’s “free” app store.

Then in 2019, after all, Microsoft chose not to delete the built-in Paint program from Windows 10.

Mark Funk
Mark Funk is an experienced information security specialist who works with enterprises to mature and improve their enterprise security programs. Previously, he worked as a security news reporter.