Ring the bells! The Windows 10 May 2019 Update is ready

Microsoft's spring update to Windows 10 is ready and is expected to release on time in May.

The Windows 10 May 2019 Update, as Microsoft has decided to call it, will be released to 'testing communities' over the next week ahead of a full roll-out in mid-May.

This will be especially welcome after the debacle of the October 2018 Update, which had to be pulled after it left a trail of borkage behind it. The re-released October Update, which took months to roll-out, also caused a multiplicity of problems with users' PCs.

The biggest change in the update is how Windows-as-a-Service (WaaS) will be handled with, surprisingly, more control handed to the end-user. For the first time, users will be able to decide when the Windows 10 bi-annual updates are installed and, if users want, they can simply stay on the existing build and just receive security updates.

For those who still want to update, they will be able to defer updates for up to 35 days, and the PC will not nag users quite as much to complete an install.

Windows 10 users will also also be able to view a dashboard that shows any problems with updates, enabling them to check whether any Windows 10-related borkage they are experiencing is a known issue with the operating system or not.

That apart, there's not much more to write about with this latest Windows 10 update. The Cortana/Windows conscious uncoupling will be implemented, the Sandbox will become active, and there will be a new desktop theme introduced, as well as support for Kaomoji - Japanese-style emoticons.

We'll also start to see the migration of Microsoft's unloved Edge browser to Chromium in this build, though it's not clear if there will be a Preview available at launch.

And, finally, while the Update was expected sooner, its slippage reflects the huge number of problems caused by the disaster of Build 1809 (the October 2018 Update), leading to a slippage in Microsoft's bi-annual Windows 10 update schedule.

Delta is a new market intelligence service from Computing to help CIOs and other IT decision makers make smarter purchasing decisions - decisions informed by the knowledge and experience of other CIOs and IT decision makers.

Delta is free from vendor sponsorship or influence of any kind, and is guided by a steering committee of well-known CIOs, such as Charles Ewen, Christina Scott, Steve Capper and Laura Meyer.

Ten crucial technology areas are already covered at launch, with more data appearing and more areas being covered every week. Sign-up here for your free trial of the Computing Delta website.