New version of Windows 10 now up for grabs for everyone

Oct 3, 2018 04:29 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft has recently announced that its new version of Windows 10, which is officially called October 2018 Update, is available for manual download from Windows Update.

The news is surprising, to say the least, as this time the company has skipped the Release Preview ring of the Windows Insider program and rolled out the new OS version to production devices directly.

Typically, new OS feature updates are first shipped to all rings of the Windows Insider program (Fast, Slow, Release Preview) and once the internal testing is complete, to all users worldwide.

However, this time Microsoft goes straight to public availability of the October 2018 Update, suggesting that the release is smooth and no further testing was necessary.

Manual downloads available

Just like in the past feature updates, Microsoft is rolling out the October 2018 Update in stages, so not everyone will be served with the new bits in Windows Update. However, users can manually get the update by simply checking for updates on their own.

“While we encourage you to wait until the update is offered to your device, if you’re an advanced user on an actively serviced version of Windows 10 and would like to install the Windows 10 October 2018 Update now, you can do so by manually checking for updates,” Microsoft explains.

“In the Search box in the taskbar, type “Check for updates.” Once there, simply click “Check for updates” to begin the download and installation process.”

Windows 10 October 2018 Update rollout is projected to complete in just a few months, as Microsoft uses the same machine learning system as in the case of the April 2018 Update to detect bugs and suspend the release for specific sets of computers.

Obviously, a target for completing the rollout isn’t available just yet, but judging from how well everything went in the case of the previous version, broad availability should be announced by year-end.

UPDATE: Learn here how to download Windows 10 October 2018 Update right now.