Microsoft has once again graced us with a fresh update, rolling out the Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.3930 (KB5040550) to the Beta Channel.

As always, these updates are pivotal in shaping the final versions that reach your devices, offering a glimpse into the future of Windows.

Let’s dive deep into what this build brings and how it can enhance your computing experience.

The Evolution of Windows 11: Beta Channel Updates

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Microsoft continues to refine and enhance the Windows 11 experience for those in the Beta Channel.

The latest update follows the trend of version 23H2, introduced via an enablement package (Build 22635. xx). Insiders can toggle settings to receive features as soon as they are available. This progressive rollout ensures that early adopters can test and provide feedback while others receive these enhancements gradually.

New Features Gradually Rolling Out

Shared Content in File Explorer Home

File Explorer is evolving to become more intuitive and connected. The new feature allows users to access files shared with them quickly. Whether you’re signed in with a personal Microsoft account or a Microsoft Entra ID for commercial users, you can now see shared files directly from the File Explorer Home under the ‘Shared’ tab. This includes files from email, Teams chats, and other Microsoft services, making collaboration seamless.

Additionally, File Explorer now supports various file types in the Recent, Favorites, and Shared sections. This means that files from Designer, Loop, Power BI, and Forms, among others, will be more accessible, enhancing productivity.

Taskbar & System Tray Enhancements

The taskbar and system tray receive a notable upgrade with a simplified system tray highlighting the date/time in a shortened form and showcasing the notification bell icon based on your Do Not Disturb (DND) status. This minimalist approach reduces clutter, though you can revert to the traditional view through settings if preferred.

Moreover, Microsoft has refined the previews that appear when you hover over taskbar apps, enhancing the animations based on user feedback. First-letter navigation on the taskbar is another nifty feature, allowing users to quickly jump to apps by pressing the corresponding letter key. This is especially useful for power users who rely heavily on keyboard shortcuts.

Windows Studio Effects

Windows Studio Effects is pushing the boundaries of what AI can do for your camera and audio. Available on devices with a Neural Processing Unit (NPU), these effects can now be accessed more conveniently via a new icon in the system tray.

Clicking this icon launches the Studio Effects page in Quick Settings, streamlining access and usability. This enhancement ensures that users can quickly adjust settings during video calls or recordings, improving overall user experience.

Windows Share

Sharing content with Android devices has never been easier. The Windows share window’s UI has been updated, moving the option to share with Android devices under “Nearby Share.” This feature requires pairing your Android device with your Windows PC using the Link to Windows app, facilitating seamless content transfer between your devices.

Narrator Performance Improvements

For users relying on Narrator, Microsoft has significantly improved scan mode, particularly enhancing its performance in Microsoft Edge and large documents. These changes ensure that the Narrator is more responsive, making it a valuable tool for users who depend on it for navigation and reading.

System Info (msinfo32) Update

To make Windows more accessible, System Info (msinfo32) now adheres to your text size preferences set under Settings > Accessibility > Text Size. This change ensures that vital system information is easier to read for users with visual impairments.

Fixes Gradually Rolling Out

Start Menu Fixes

The start menu sees improvements, particularly addressing issues where screen readers didn’t read the All apps list correctly and some apps were not sorted properly under certain display languages.

Taskbar & System Tray Fixes

Issues where keyboard focus might get lost while navigating the taskbar with Shift + Tab have been resolved. This fix enhances the overall usability for keyboard-centric users.

Fixes for Everyone in the Beta Channel

A critical fix addresses an issue where users couldn’t view or interact with the taskbar after installing KB5039302 on Windows N editions. This problem, specific to editions lacking most media-related tools, has been rectified, ensuring smoother operations post-update.

Known Issues to Be Aware Of

As with any new build, some known issues persist. For the simplified system tray, if the “Show notification icon” setting is greyed out, toggling “Notifications” off and on again should resolve it.

Certain issues with shared file visibility, keyboard focus, and Narrator functionality have been identified in File Explorer. The team is actively working on fixes for these areas.

Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel

It’s crucial to remember that updates in the Beta Channel are experimental. Features and experiences may change, evolve, or be removed based on feedback and testing outcomes. This iterative process helps Microsoft fine-tune the user experience before a broader release.

Additionally, many features start in the Beta Channel but may not be fully localized initially. Localization issues can be reported via Feedback Hub, contributing to a more polished final product.

Conclusion

The Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.3930 represents Microsoft’s commitment to continuous improvement and user-centric design. By gradually rolling out new features and improvements, Microsoft ensures that Insiders can test and provide valuable feedback, shaping the future of Windows 11.

As always, your feedback is invaluable. Whether through the Feedback Hub or community forums, every piece of input helps refine and perfect the Windows experience.

Stay tuned for more updates and happy testing, Insiders!

The Quick Search experience now reaches to users in Australia, China, France, Canada, India, Germany, Mexico, Japan, Spain, Italy, and many more.

All pre-release and preview builds have some bugs in them but they also feature something unique. Before now, web searches were somewhat limited, with just four categories available:

• Weather – pulled in information about current weather and forecast
• Top News – provides the latest headline news from the most popular news sources
• Today in History – provides a quick look at historical events for a particular day
• New Movies – allows you to find what movies were showing in theaters near to you

Now a new category has been added  – a seasonal topic or a quiz, just to boost the current utility of the Search feature.

Windows 10 Search may look quite a simple tool but you can customize it so it finds the results and answers you want.  Brandon LeBlanc, the Senior Program Manager for the Windows Insider Program, recently wrote on his blog, “thank you, everyone, who has shared feedback so far, we really appreciate it and will continue working on addressing your comments.”

Previewing your web answers and the results is simple – open the Search box to Search Home and chose a Quick Search button. If you want a quick answer to another query, type it into the search box, hit the enter key and the results will load instantly.

Microsoft does say that the current change rolling out is a server-side change and users on builds from version 1809 to 20H1 will see them. And, right now, Quick Search is only available in the USA but will shortly be rolled out internationally.

Do you use the Quick Search feature? Does this latest update benefit you in any way?

The scam comes via a popup on your Windows 10 computer or phone, catching many users unaware. The most important thing to keep in mind is that neither OEM licenses or Windows 10 retail licenses ever expire and the reason for the popup could be one of two reasons – you’ve been hit by the scam or your computer has a volume license belonging to an organization. You may also have an Insider review of Windows 10.

Here’s what you need to know.

Identifying a Scam Popup

These are usually pretty simple to identify because they will have a toll-free phone number and ask you to call to obtain your new license. Also, look carefully at the spelling in the message – scams often misspell words, using ‘licence’ instead of ‘license’.

Microsoft does NOT provide phone numbers and they wouldn’t misspell the words either so if you get one of these, it’s a dead-cert it’s a scam. Do NOT call the number. Instead, run a malware scan on your computer immediately.

What About Volume Licenses?

Unless your computer is part of an organization, you shouldn’t have one of these licenses. If you purchased a computer with one installed, you must contact the company that sold it to you to get the license removed.

To find out if you have a volume license, open your Start menu and type cmd in the Run box. Right-click cmd and choose ‘Run as Administrator” and the command prompt will load. Type slmgr -dli at the prompt and press Enter.

You will now see the Windows Script Host dialog, containing your license information. Look in the Description line – if you see the word ‘VOLUME,” you have a volume license. It will also tell you when the license expires.

And the Insider Preview Version?

Again, unless you are a Windows pre-release tester, you shouldn’t have this. If you get a popup referring to a new Windows build, it should ring alarm bells about who sold you the computer. These Windows versions expire and you cannot reboot your computer until you update it.

Windows Phone Expiration Scam

Many Windows Phone users are also getting an expiration message and it looks like the scammers are making the most of Microsoft’s decision to end support for Windows 10 Mobile. Some users are actually being called by a person purporting to be from Microsoft Support. If you get a call like this, hang up immediately or, if you are feeling a little mischievous, have some fun and waste their time. Whatever you do, do NOT give them any personal information.

Have you had any of these scam popups?

Based on Insider builds and information from Microsoft, these are the features we may see. Please note that this may not be the final rundown – as with anything Microsoft-related, things are subject to change anytime between now and release date.

• Use the cloud to reset your PC – until now, Microsoft has provided a reset option using local data to reset your PC. Now you can use cloud data instead – you get all the latest updates and don’t have to spend hours installing them.
• A brand-new Microsoft Edge – Microsoft is planning to release the first stable version of Microsoft Edge based on Chromium in 2020; January 15^th to be precise. It may be part of the 2004 release, it may not – we are still awaiting confirmation on that point

Those are the two big changes but there are others:

• Windows Hello must be deactivated for Automatic Sign In to work
• New Restart Apps option manages whether apps not closed at shutdown time are automatically reopened at next Start
• Improvements to Windows Search means less CPU and disk usage and improves performance issues
• New Quick Searches when you open Search
• Task Manager shows GPU temperature for compatible video cards
• Rename virtual desktops
• Change mouse cursor speed
• Better Network Settings information shows data usage and provides the ability to toggle between public and private networks
• Windows Update now shows optional updates highlighted, plus you get the option to set a fixed bandwidth limit rather than a percentage for updates
• Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 has plenty of improvements and a ‘real’ Linux kernel
• Improvements to Accessibility – highlight cursor better, Quick Summary feature for Narrator, and a better sound scheme
• Improvements to Bluetooth pairing
• New 2-1 tablet experience
• Xbox Game Bar may show FPS
• Network cameras get better support
• Windows PowerShell ISE becomes an on-demand feature
• Improvements to DirectX and Raytracing
• Cortana is evolving from a general assistant to a PPA – Personal Productivity Assistant
• Troubleshoot login issues with a new Windows+SHIFT+L shortcut
• Password-less sign-in option
• And much more

Features that are Canceled or Removed

• The Downloads Folder Clearing option has been removed from Disk Cleanup
• Notepad is now not going to the Microsoft app store.

What about you? What do you want to see in the next version of Windows 10?

New, straight from the top.

Dona Sarkar, the Windows Insider Program lead, confirmed earlier today that there will not be any Fast ring builds — until next week at the earliest. The reason for this delay is a blocking bug that the company found in internal testing, which prevented the launch for Insiders.

#WindowsInsiders: we found a blocking bug in our internal testing and won't be flighting a Fast Ring build this week. Have a great week.

— Dona Sarkar (@donasarkar) August 9, 2017

Jason Howard of Microsoft also weighed in on this, revealing that the bug had a big impact.

Serious reply: Found bug in internal testing that was bad. More testing showed big impact. Alas… build candidate not going external

— Jason Howard (@NorthFaceHiker) August 9, 2017

Bugs like this can cause serious issues when upgrading to new build, and often prevent users from successfully upgrading to future builds. And even if they are able to pull an upgrade, the experience is not without its own set of issues.

Evidently, Microsoft needs more time to iron out this bug, and prepare a release.

So, no shiny new build this week, but there is always hope that we will get a good one next week.

The last Fast ring release Insiders currently have access to is build 16257, which made its way out last week. The software titan also released build 1621 to the Slow ring, and followed that up with ISOs for that version, too.

Redmond has amped up the preview releases lately, at least on the PC side of things, as it moves in to finish up development work on the Fall Creators Update.

This next big refresh of Windows 10 is on track for launch in late September.

This is the same build that was released to PCs enrolled in the Fast ring at the end of July.

And were let loose on the Slow ring last week.

Five ISO variants are now up for grabs, along with a selection of five additional Insider Preview downloads to complete the deal. The details of the ISOs, first:

• Windows 10 Insider Preview – Build 16251
• Windows 10 Insider Preview Enterprise – Build 16251
• Windows 10 Insider Preview Education – Build 16251
• Windows 10 Insider Preview Home Single Language – Build 16251
• Windows 10 Insider Preview Home China – Build 16251

And here are the additional downloads that you may be interested in:

• Symbols MSI Insider Preview – Build 16251 32-bit / 64-bit
• Features on Demand Pack Insider Preview (part 1) – Build 16251 32-bit / 64-bit
• Features on Demand Pack Insider Preview (part 2) – Build 16251 32-bit / 64-bit
• Language Pack Bundle Insider Preview – Build 16251
• Inbox Apps Bundle Insider Preview – Build 16251

The software titan is now in the final stages of the development of Redstone 3, better known as the Fall Creators Update.

Most estimates peg the release of this new version of the OS sometimes in September. But some voices also claim an early October launch, which is not outside the realm of possibility. We’re sure to find more about this as we move forward.

For the time being, you can download these latest ISOs from the dedicated Windows Insider Preview Downloads website that the company has set up.

Download: Windows 10 build 16251 ISO