Windows 10

In Windows 10, Microsoft has built a complete and secure operating system. Users can do about anything they’d like inside of Windows 10. The platform was initially built to support three levels of devices, from smartphones to other mobile productivity machines, to your traditional productivity machines, your PCs. After Microsoft pulled the plug on their smartphone division, the subsequent changes they’ve made to the OS have been with the PC user in mind. 

The future of your business depends on how you respond to these End of Support dates. In fact, along with Windows 7, solutions like Windows Server 2008 R2 will also lose support, putting businesses that haven’t updated their infrastructure in a while in a precarious place. Believe us when we say that you are potentially underestimating the process of implementing new software solutions for your business in the face of these End of Support dates.

What Does End of Support Mean?

You may receive messages on your device asking you to install updates. While it might almost always be an inconvenient time to make sure this happens, the fact that they won’t be there in the future should scare you. These updates are meant to help you dodge issues that could become larger problems in the future, meaning that if an End of Support event is upcoming, you’ll want to prioritize upgrading away from unsupported software.

Why is this an Issue?

Security updates are important, but so are the patches that resolve everything from minor operational issues to major security flaws and vulnerabilities. Hackers take advantage of everything they can find to create trouble for your business, and it’s likely that after the End of Support date, the number of threats will only multiply. It’s best to prevent these security issues from becoming major disasters by ensuring your updates are applied as they are released.

By taking preventative action now, you can save your business countless amounts of time and resources. Furthermore, wouldn’t it be nice if you had technology from this decade? We assure you that the update to a more recent operating system will be much welcomed after the fact, no matter how difficult the implementation process winds up being.

Coleman Technologies can help your business ensure that it upgrades away from outdated software in a timely manner. To learn more about this process and your options, reach out to us at (604) 513-9428.

New Gestures
The latest version of Android OS contains a built-in new gesture navigation system, but it might not be turned on automatically. To turn this on, go to Settings > System > Gestures. Then you must tap on Swipe on Home Button and press the on-screen toggle switch. You will see the change propagate almost immediately--the three-icon setup will change to a singular pill-shaped icon.

Navigation isn’t much different from the other builds, either. Tap the pill icon to bring back the homescreen and long press it to bring up your Google Assistant. You can then swipe up twice or long-swipe from the home icon to bring up your app drawer.

Another change that needed to occur is that Android 9.0 Pie removes the dedicated button for recent applications. Users now need to singular short swipe up from the bottom of the screen to open up a carousel gallery that shows all recently opened apps. You can then navigate by swiping between apps or using the home icon to swipe fast-left or right to move through the apps more quickly. To clear the apps, swipe up on the specific app window. To clear all of the apps, just scroll all the way to the left and tap the Clear All button to exit out of all running applications.

Android 9.0 Pie actually tries to predict what you’re likely to need next. These commands are within the apps. If you find it useful, you can drag these suggestions, found at the top of your app drawer, onto the screen. You can then find the shortcuts offered by each app by long-pressing the specific application’s icon. This includes opening an application in split-screen mode, a considerable improvement from Android 8.0 Oreo.

Device Notes
One extremely useful feature for smartphone users is the ability to open your device using a fingerprint scanner, but an even better one is when you can use the scanner on devices that don’t feature an in-display fingerprint reader to keep your screen from turning off.

The alarm clock in Android 9.0 provides some additional functionality. When your notification panel is open (swipe down from the top), you only need to tap on the clock in the system tray to open your clock app and manage the alarms.

What do you think about Android 9.0? What are your favorite features? Let us know in the comments.