1. Windows 10 2004 Edge
2. Windows 10 2004 Release

The Internet may have fun trying to guess the next natural feature of California or animal alliteration name for the other major operating systems, but Windows build naming conventions can be downright hard to parse. The latest officially released build was originally known as 20H1—meaning the first half of 2020. As it got closer to release status, it received its official build number: 2004, meaning April 2020. However, it didn't actually hit release status for another month, on May 27.

1. Sep 14, 2020 The Windows 10 '2020-08 Microsoft Edge Update for Windows 10 version 2004 ' update is targeting Windows 10 versions 1809, 1903, 1909, and 2004. Windows 10 KB4576754 Edge update.
2. The previous version of Microsoft Edge is still included with Windows 10 2004, but the group policies that govern it have been removed. The browser will ask if you want to download Edge Chromium the first time you start it. The administrative templates of the new version are therefore not included in the latest release of Windows 10.

Maybe that's all indicative of what awaits users when they finally upgrade to Windows 10 2004; this is not Microsoft pumping out major changes like its debut of Windows 2000 roughly two decades ago. Still, a new Windows release is a new Windows release. So we recently spun up a fresh VM with a clean install of Build 2004 to take a look at its new features.

The new Edge update for Windows 10 appears to be rolling out in phases and it’ll first show up on Windows 10 version 1803 and 1809 before heading to Windows 10 version 2004, version 1909 or 1903.

Edge, Installation size, Search, and Kaomoji

The very first thing we noticed after a fresh install of Build 2004 was Edge. To be specific, Legacy Edge. You'll still need to go out of your way to install the new and improved Chromium-based Edge, which we're going to keep calling 'Edgium' until the legacy version finishes going away.

Using Windirstat to pull a directory treemap on the brand-new Windows 10 2004 installation, we see 14GiB used. It's worth noting that this 14GiB is before either installing any applications, or—and this is important—hitting Windows Update.

Windows Update will still tend to bloat up the operating system pretty rapidly, and the SxS directory in particular still balloons with legacy versions of code that has been replaced in security upgrades. Unfortunately, you cannot remove any of that without damaging your OS. There are methods to reduce the size of SxS (pronounced Side by Side) somewhat, but they're limited and kind of a pain in the butt. Even the optimized results still get inexorably larger over time.

Although there's no Edgium, 2004's Internet access did get modernized in one unexpected place—the Start menu. We're not really big fans of searching the Internet directly from a Start menu—we prefer a little more logical separation between what's local and what's remote. If you're into that, though, you can do things like type 'weather' into the Start bar and get attractively formatted Internet results directly in the menu itself without ever opening a real browser.

Speaking of search, Microsoft says it noticed how commonly people were turning its Search Indexer service off, so the company took several steps to try to convince users to turn this back on. Microsoft's search indexer now recognizes many new signals of high disk activity—or potential high disk activity—that trigger it to either slow down or entirely pause its disk activity:

• 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 log-on state
• Device goes from AC > DC
• CPU usage goes above 80 percent
• Disk usage goes above 70 percent
• The device’s battery charge is less than 50 percent
• The device’s display state goes to screen off

Microsoft pretty aggressively polls its Windows Insiders running preview builds, and it says that the results of pop-up dialogs asking Insiders why they'd disabled Search Index showed significant improvement after the new signals were in place.

Beyond Internet and search, what else is new? Emoji and kaomoji. If you've been using the smileyface button in social media sites to get access to emoji from your Windows PC or laptop, you're doing it wrong. Any standard graphical text interface on Windows—including Notepad—provides direct access to emoji by using the keyboard shortcut [Windows key] + [.].

The [Windows key] + [.] shortcut to bring up an emoji selection panel is pretty old news—it has been in Windows since Build 1803. And in Build 1903, the emoji panel added kaomoji support. Kaomoji are traditional, generally elaborate text-mode constructions such as the ¯_(ツ)_/¯ shruggie. Build 2004 adds significantly to the kaomoji section of the emoji panel, adding classics like ヾ(⌐■_■)ノ♪ and (∩^o^)⊃━☆ to its repertoire.

Microsoft has recently re-released Windows update KB4576754 to offer support for Windows 10 version 2004, or May 2020 Update, essentially forcing the new Edge browser on its latest desktop operating system release.

Windows 10 version 2004 was officially launched in late May, and since then, devices across the world have been receiving it in stages. The rollout still continues today, as general availability is yet to be reached, despite the fact that Microsoft is expected to complete another feature update as soon as this month.

Windows 10 version 20H2 should be completed in September, while the rollout for production devices should kick off in October or November.

If you think you’ve heard of update KB4576754 before, you’re not wrong. This is a rather infamous update that pushes the new Chromium-powered Microsoft Edge on Windows 10 devices, replacing the legacy version of the browser, as well as its files and browsing data.

Borncity first report about KB4576754 being re-released earlier this month when the update landed on the first devices running Windows 10 version 2004. The rollout most likely happens gradually, as I still haven’t received the update on my laptop running the May update.

According to the official KB page, the latest revision to this update was released on August 31, and now KB4576754 is aimed at Windows 10 version 1809 and newer, with version 2004 included too.

“Microsoft has released a new Chromium-based version of Microsoft Edge. This new version provides best in class compatibility with extensions and websites. Additionally, this new version provides great support for the latest rendering capabilities, modern web applications, and powerful developer tools across all supported OS platforms,” Microsoft explains.

Windows 10 2004 Edge

Once the update is installed and Microsoft Edge legacy is replaced with its Chromium-based sibling, you should see the new browser launching after a system reboot to provide you with the first-run welcome screen.

“The First Run Experience (FRE) will auto-launch the first time that a device restarts after the new Microsoft Edge is installed. This does not occur on devices joined to a Domain, Active Directory, Azure AD or on Windows 10 Enterprise and Surface Hub Editions,” Microsoft explains.

What you need to know is that the Chromium version of Edge replaces pretty much everything that is linked with the legacy browser, thus making the transition as smooth as it can be. The browsing history, the bookmarks, the shortcuts, and the desktop icons, everything is moved to the new browser, so there’s a chance that many might not even notice that a new browser was installed on the devices.

Needless to say, many have complained that Microsoft is forcing the new browser on their devices. The company, however, provides users with a blocker toolkit that can be installed to prevent this update from being offered on Windows Update.

Leaving aside all the criticism that Microsoft has been forced to deal with lately due to this update, the new Microsoft Edge browser is actually worth a try.

Windows 10 2004 Release

The application comes with a feature lineup that’s obviously similar to the one of Google Chrome, but at the same time, it also bundles additional tools that remind of the legacy version of Edge. Needless to say, it also comes with support for Microsoft accounts, and you can configure sync features to have data like the passwords and the bookmarks roaming across devices, with Android support also offered.

Going forward, it’s pretty clear that this Chromium version of Edge is the chosen one for Windows 10, so sooner or later, the legacy version of the browser should just get the ax and go away from Windows. No ETA has been provided, however, as to when the switch is supposed to happen.