Windows 10 April 2018 Update 4 months on: Has it improved?

By Zac Bowden
last updated

Windows 10 Version 1803 was arguably buggier than previous Windows 10 releases. So, four months on, have things improved?

Windows 10 Timeline

Windows 10 Timeline (Image credit: Windows Central)

The Windows 10 April 2018 Update, also known as Version 1803, has been out and available for users for around 4 months now, so it's time to check in and see how things have improved in regards to early bugs and performance issues that were plaguing users when the update was first made available. I was hit pretty hard with several issues surrounding Bluetooth, graphics cards, and lag when the April Update first launched, and I know I wasn't the only one suffering from problems like this.

In fact, for a little while after the update was made available, it was pretty apparent that Version 1803 was one of the buggier Windows 10 releases we've had. After a delay of three weeks due to a blocking bug, Version 1803 was released to the world and was plagued with launch day issues, some of which saw upgrade partitions shout at the user about low-storage, to SSD incompatibility problems, to devices not seeing graphics. It was all going on, and it was bad.

Now, of course, not everyone suffered from these issues. In fact, I'd say most people had very few problems with Version 1803, but there was a larger than usual percentage of people complaining online about bugs with this release. Some of the initial growing pains were ironed out in patches, but it took way longer than it should've for some devices like the Surface Book 2 to get fixed. I had several issues with mine, including lag when closing UWP apps, and my graphics card sometimes not showing up in Device Manager.

Windows 10 1803 common problems and how to fix them

In fact, it got so bad, at one point I had to disable my graphics card in Device Manager just so I could use my Surface Book 2. This issue lasted about two months before Microsoft releases patches and firmware updates to solve the problem. Frankly, I thought this was unacceptable. Smaller issues, such as the Bluetooth disconnect issues I was having on the Surface Studio were ghost fixed without me seemingly needing to install any updates (maybe it did, but I didn't see it.)

There's no hiding it. Version 1803 was definitely buggier than normal at launch. Even today, silly performance issues continue to plague the OS, including dropped frames when opening Timeline to Acrylic affects taking a second to load when opening something like Start. Microsoft needs to fine-tune a lot of these features, which I believe is being done with the next Windows 10 update, known as Version 1809 coming in October.

Unfortunately, for me, that's way too long between releases to fix issues like this. If an animation is not smooth, then that feature should not be shipping until it is. It just looks terrible and makes your PC feel slow. Opening Timeline initiates an animation that plays about three frames total, which is awful.

Things have improved

Overall, the Windows 10 April 2018 Update has improved a lot since it first launched. Most of the initial bugs and issues have been resolved through patches, with the only issues left that I can notice being laggy when it comes to system animations. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there stuff suffering from problems, but for the most part, a lot of the initial issues are fixed.

I just hope that the next Windows 10 update doesn't launch with as many bugs and lack of polish that Version 1803 started with.

Zac Bowden
Zac Bowden
Senior Editor

Zac Bowden is a Senior Editor at Windows Central. Bringing you exclusive coverage into the world of Windows on PCs, tablets, phones, and more. Also an avid collector of rare Microsoft prototype devices! Keep in touch on Twitter: @zacbowden.

24 Comments
  • IT has improved but its still the most messy update they done the last 3 years No doubt. I rather wait abit longer for updates so i can get a stable Windows the next time 1-2 more months is fine with me
  • No it hasn't. Its worse. Now there's a new irritation of tiles on top of one another and blanked out tiles. Not to mention a broken store app
  • Indeed, it is very bad. I am planning to clean install the Surface image, i think it's AU and I'll try to pause the updates on it, cause basically everything that came after that is a complete garbage. Sure, edge was polished a bit, but comparing all to pros and cons, i suppose AU is the lesser of two evils.
  • Anniversary Update? No no no. 1709 is absolutely rock solid nowadays. No need to go to an unsupported W10 build.
  • Zac, you say "Microsoft needs to fine-tune a lot of these features, which I believe is being done with the next Windows 10 update, known as Version 1809 coming in October." Have you heard specifically that MS is focusing on fine tuning for the Oct release or you're guessing they would be due to the large problems with April release? Thanks
  • I don't understand why you all have problems. I've had none.
  • Me too. I didn't have any problems they mentioned. Everything is working fine since the update. I noticed a trend of bugs when you update a version which has been installed in your machine for a long time or you just have too many heavy legacy apps installed like photoshop, lightroom, premiere pro etc. 1. Generally, you will find your experience less than pleasant after the update especially if you have updated using inbuilt windows update.
    2. Workaround is to install update by downloading iso image instead of installing from windows update. Juste right click and mount the image. This will mount your image as virtual dvd drive. Just install it from there. Generally, when installed using this method, less problems are there.
    3. Well everybody knows the best way is clean install.
  • It's fine today, but animations are still choppy and Fluent Design still pops in existence AFTER you have already opened Action Center for example.
  • My IBM T61 is still not qualified for the automatic update to 1803 nd I suspect it may be 1809 before it qualifies as there is a know issue with the graphics driver.
  • They still haven't fixed the broken window previews when hovering over thumbnails in the taskbar that was introduced with 1803. Have they still not realized or do they just not care?
  • "I'm sure there are plenty of people out there stuff suffering from problems,"... People might still be suffering. Not sure about them being stuffed though. ☺ I've seen situations when using the Microsoft email app...email messages remain up on the screen even after being deleted or moved to a folder. Also, when opening Edge, I'm often being taken to a page other than the one that I've selected as the home page. This despite having cleared history and cache files before closing Edge.
  • I've noticed that I always return to the previously open page when I open Edge
  • Have to say things were about normal for me which meant everything just worked. Well except timeline which didn’t show anything on first open but after a day or two magically just started working ok and still works fine today. I guess it depends on the hardware, but all our home and office PCs just worked about the same before and after update. There’s kind of an irony that Microsoft’s own hardware had issues. One would expect that to be tested to perfection.
  • I will say that to this day, since the update, my Surface products still have a horrible lag issue. Directly related to Adobe Creative Cloud. For the first 20 minutes of my day, or after a reasonable amount of sleep, Both Windows Explorer and Create Cloud Sync take up a staggering amount of CPU leaving my computer crippled. I can, at best, skim e-mails. The problem was enough to make me uninstall Creative Cloud completely from my Pro 4 which solved the issue. I've since switched to Affinity for my personal creative needs and the Pro 4 runs flawlessly. My Book is work issued and requires CC for my job so I'm stuck with this laggy, sluggish start to my day. Every day. In the morning and after lunch. Not sure if I should blame Adobe or Microsoft for the problem. It certainly wasn't ONLY Adobe eating up those CPU cycles. And the problem landed with 100% certainty AFTER the April update.
  • I help support a product that relies on TCP name resolution. On various customer system this has failed with the arrival of 1803. on others it still functions. There are tons of reported issues but no fix or configuration guidance from MS. We are reduced to recommending use of a hosts file.
  • I'm surprised. In my experience this was THE FIRST and ONLY update that actually didn't cause any major issues. Up until now every single update rendered my Surface Pro 4 (and my other devices) virtually unusable for a month or two.
  • Still inconsistent full of 30y+ old lecacy UI and looks like sh*t.
  • Too funny, the same can be said, and is true describing macOS. Looks like OS X 1, and is about as functional as ms-dos.
  • Can you please tell me what job cannot be done on macOS because its functional as ms-dos? Also MacOS looks consistent and beautiful. Anyone?
  • For some reason my xps 15 9550 keep freezing.
  • Well, fix it then? Find out why. Not that difficult. or...give some more information on what you are doing on the xps when it freezes, etc. Usually that is a hardware issue, not a windows issue.
  • After months of experiencing the blue screen of death & 1803 compromising my 6 month old hard drive, I fixed the issue by upgrading to an m.2 & installing Linix Kubuntu. Bye bye Windows.
  • Well, good for you. I switched to linux too. Problem is that W10 is neither a horse nor a mule. It's baked for touch and nontouch screen devices. Some kind of mixture between 8.1 and 7. What's the reason to have tiles when you have a nontouch screen? I think an option for disabling the tiles UI would be a good one. Just my 2 cents.
  • Windows 10 version 1703 has been running stable for me, but version 1709 still crashes, even during the past month. I have never dared try to upgrade to 1803 yet, but I may do so this Fall. I'm stuck on 1703, but when support for it expires in October, then I'll have no choice but to go back to Windows 8.1. Upgrading to 1709 is absolutely out of the question and there is a mere 1% chance that version 1803 will last a week, let alone a single day. If I can find open-source Debian-compatible programs to replace all of my Windows programs, then I'm switching all my devices to Linux Mint.