In this article, which is part 2 of our “Top version 2004 features” series, we are talking about top new features that users will receive with Windows 10 20H1 aka version 2004. You can read the first part of this article here.
Windows 10 20H1 update aka Windows 10 Version 2004 is the next Windows 10 version and it will be released sometime in April 2020 to public. The version 2004 update is a major feature update and brings many new features, changes and improvements.
You can read all the changes and new features that Windows 10 Version 20H1 brings with itself by clicking here in our massive categorized changelog.
Search indexer tweaks to handle exccessive disk usage:
Microsoft has rolled out a new algorithm that detects high disk usage and slows down search indexing activity. it better identifies peak usage times and manages the indexer accordingly. Based on these new signals, the indexer will stop or throttle down when:
- Gaming mode is ON
- Power savings mode is ON
- Low power mode is ON (constrained mode or connected standby)
- The device is waking up after being in low power mode or in a logon state
- Device goes from AC->DC
- CPU usage goes above 80%
- Disk usage goes above 70%
- The device’s battery charge is < 50%
- The device’s display state goes to screen off
New throttling options for Windows update downloads:
Version 2004 brings a new option to throttle the bandwidth used by Delivery Optimization as an absolute value. You can set this separately for Foreground downloads (downloads that you initiate from Windows Store for example) or background downloads. You can access this option via Settings > Update & Security > Delivery Optimization > Advanced Options 
New Cortana features & experiences:
Cortana will get more productive and also adds some new features in Version 2004. Here are all Cortana changes in the words of Microsoft.
- To give you an improved companion experience that’s more seamless with your workflows, we’ve undocked the app from the taskbar, so now you can move or re-size Cortana like any other app.
- We’ve made it easy for you to configure your default input to Cortana via Settings > Talk to Cortana, so now you can choose if you prefer typing or speaking.
- The improved email skill lets you use Cortana to create and query emails:
- “Send an email to <name> letting them know I’m running late”
- “Show me emails from <name>”
- The improved calendar skill lets you create and query meetings:
- “Set up a 1:1 with <name> at <time>”
- “What’s my next meeting?”
- “Join my meeting” (Note: This only works for Teams meetings at this time.)
- The improved Windows skill lets you use Cortana to open apps and adjust settings:
- “Open Paint 3D”
- “Change the brightness”
- We’ve made significant accessibility improvements, so Cortana is easier for everyone to use.
- We’ve removed Cortana support for ‘connect accounts,’ so now your work and personal accounts are two separate experiences based on whichever account you sign in with. If you sign in with a Microsoft Account, you’ll interact with your personal information. If you sign in with a work or school account, Cortana will work with that one. Your chat history will be retained on your local device, and if you use a personal Microsoft account your data will still be visible in the Microsoft Privacy Dashboard.
- Also, while we’re honing our productivity skills, we’re temporarily removing a few Cortana skills that were previously released to Windows Insiders. But don’t worry, we’re giving them a fresh coat of paint, and they’ll be coming back soon! These include:
- Bing Instant Answers
- Jokes and other assistant conversations.
- Timers
New Bluetooth pairing experience:
Microsoft intends to revamp the Bluetooth pairing experience on Windows 10 making it easier and faster in version 2004. Here are the changes.
- Pairing is all done in notifications now. You don’t need to go to the Settings app anymore to finish pairing.
- For faster pairing time, we improved the UI by showing one less notification.
- We added a Dismiss button to the first notification to give you more control while using Swift Pair.
- To make the notification more helpful, now we show the device name and category when we can.
Improving the Optional Features page in Settings:
Windows 10 Version 2004 brings a number of usability improvements to the Optional Features page in Settings (Settings > Apps & Features > Optional Features).
- Multi-select: You can now select and install multiple optional features at the same time. Better list management: You can now search through lists of optional features and sort them by Name, Size, and Install date.
- More useful information: You can now see the install date for each optional feature in your ‘Installed features’ list. We’ve also added feature dependencies to the description of each optional feature in the list of features available for install.
- Easier page navigation: View the status of your latest installs/uninstalls/cancels right on the main page in the ‘Latest actions’ section. You can now add optional features and view your history via pop-up dialogues, so you never have to navigate away from the main page
Redesigned Network Status page:
The Network & Internet landing page in Settings has been revamped in Version 2004 to get more information at a glance about your device’s connectivity, combining several pages to give you one clear view of how you are connected to the internet.
- New view of active connections: We now show all available connection interfaces on the Status page, so you can quickly see what is connected and view and change properties as needed. If you have multiple connections, only one will be used for internet connectivity at a time, and that one is still shown in the Status diagram at the top of the page.
- Integrated Data Usage: As you may have noticed in the picture above, you can now see how much data is being used by a network right from the Status page! If it looks like you’re using a lot of data, you can drill into the Data Usage page to create a limit for that network, which will warn you if you get close or go over your limit. You can also see how much data each app is using on that network.
