Microsoft has released a rather large cumulative update for Windows 8, ahead of the operating system’s official launch on October 26th. On top of that, this update improves performance in many areas of the operating system and Microsoft decided to release it now, rather than wait for Service Pack 1.
“We are pleased to be releasing a set of improvements to Windows 8 in broad areas of performance, power management and battery efficiency, media playback, and compatibility. These improvements are available starting today via Windows Update. We wanted to briefly talk about our improvements to the engineering system and in particular the speed at which we were able to deliver these updates to you,” Microsoft stated in an official blog post. The update, which has a set of performance and reliability improvements for Windows 8, comes in at nearly 170MB and will be delivered via Windows Update. Microsoft has developed a better test automation and test coverage tools to allow for these updates to be released before Service Pack 1. See below for a description of the update.
Improvements:
- Increased power efficiency to extend battery life
- Performance improvements in Windows 8 applications and Start screen
- Improved audio and video playback in many scenarios
- Improved application and driver compatibility with Windows 8
Known issues:
- When you turn a Windows feature on or off, the computer may require a restart. For example, this action may be necessary when you turn Remote Access on or off.
