Microsoft is expected to release a major update for Windows 10 in the first half of this year, and it might fix one of our biggest headaches with the operating system.
The rumored May 2020 Windows 10 update will apparently add update notifications to the Action Center -- the right-hand panel that opens when you press the notification icon. When you open the Action Center, a new notification block will inform you of the update then ask if you'd like to restart your laptop immediately, "Restart tonight," or schedule a specific time.
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The feature was discovered by Italian tech site HTNovo, which posted the below clip showing how it works (this is how it will read in Italian).
As you can see, the notification pane instructs you to plug in your laptop before outlining the choices you have for updating to the latest version of Windows 10.
We can't say for sure, but this notification icon might replace those intrusive and aggressive popups we've all been complained about for years. If it does, Windows 10 would adopt the Google Chrome approach of updates wherein users are gently informed of an update and allowed to deal with it on their own time.
If Microsoft replaces pop-up notifications for the Action Center, then it will need to do a better job of alerting users. I can't remember the last time I visited the Action Center on my Dell XPS 15 for anything besides changing obscure settings that weren't already pinned to my Taskbar.
As many problems as they cause, certain Windows 10 updates, especially security patches, are critical, so updating a PC can be mandatory. In that case, I wouldn't mind receiving a pop-up notification. But for less essential updates, the Action Center seems like a good solution.
