With the release of the Fall Creators update for Windows 10, many of the old features and apps which came preloaded with the Windows OS won’t be available to users anymore. Fall Creators update is the next major version of Windows 10 and will be released on all Windows 10 devices between September and November 2018.

While some of them will be completely removed from the new OS, others won’t get support and will be discontinued in the next update cycle. However, the functionalities of these tools will be integrated within a new app or tool so users won’t miss out on any of the useful features.

Paint

One of the oldest image editing tool, Paint will not be available right out of the box with the OS anymore but one can download it from the Windows store until Microsoft completely discontinues it. Released with Windows OS 1.0 in 1985, it had become a go to feature for many users looking for a free image editing tool. Its functionalities will be available in the paint 3D app which means it is actually being replaced with a more advanced version of the paint app. Its successor Paint 3D was added in April 2017 and can handle anything from complex 3D editing to the most basic image editing tasks.

Outlook Express

Formerly known as Microsoft internet and mail, Outlook Express will be completely removed from Windows 10. It is a free and trimmed down version of Microsoft Outlook for individual users looking for a basic email service. It was released with Windows 98 and came pre-loaded on older versions of Windows OS.

Outlook, on the other hand, is more of an enterprise tool which comes with Microsoft Office subscription, supports Microsoft Exchange Server integration, which means email, calendars and contacts will be synced with it.

Reader and Reading List

Two of the popular tools for readers will no longer be available as separate apps on the OS. Reader app which allows users to open PDF, XPS and TIFF files will be removed and will be available in the Edge browser. Reading List was similar to the Pocket app and allowed users to save an actual page so it can be accessed offline any time. It was released first with Windows 8.1. The integration with Edge browser means, users can save access webpages within the browser.

3D builder app

Fall Creators update will mark the end of another editing tool called the 3D Builder app. It was released with Windows 8.1 to design and print objects using a 3D printer. The features of 3D builder will be integrated in the Print 3D and Paint 3D apps which are already available on the Windows 10 and are a lot easier to use. They also allow users to use existing 3D designs made available by the SketchUp, one of the leading 3D printing communities.

Background tools

In addition to these tools, Microsoft is getting rid of a number of background tools such as Syskey.exe (a tool which encrypts users passwords), sync settings (it will be deprecated and in future, cloud storage system will be used for syncing settings), RSA/AES Encryption (this encryption algorithm will be removed and support for CNG encryption provider will be available as an alternative), and Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (a security tool used to provide timely patches to counter certain zero day vulnerabilities. It will be discontinued in July 2018).

Source – livemint.com