Microsoft announced the first new build to the Windows 10 Technical Preview that Windows Insiders have access to. This update will bring the operating system under development to build 9860. To clarify expectations, the Windows blog stated that builds could come frequently or with large gaps between them.
The build will come automatically via Windows Update. Alternatively, you can trigger the update manually by going to PC Settings, Update and recovery, Preview builds. Then click the Check now button. A number of comments on the announcement indicate problems with the Check now process where it will seemingly reset and not begin the download.
The article was also conservative to temper that the Technical Preview was still a work in progress with its rough edges. There are a number of known issues, including some steps backwards temporarily as the company works on the issues.
- In some places the UI design has gone “backwards” temporarily while we’re working on the final experiences. For example in this build we know that it’s harder to join a Wi-Fi network. We’ll make changes to fix that later.
- Another example of some UI “roughness” is sometimes Internet Explorer glyphs look garbled and items on the Start menu might disappear. Not everyone will see this, it depends on your display driver. We have a fix for this one coming soon.
- Some machines may wake up and not go back to sleep properly.
- Microsoft Solitaire and Mahjong games are broken in some cases and won’t launch.
- When using 2 external monitors over Display Link, you may get a blue screen when you undock. This does not appear to be an issue when using just 1 external monitor. A fix for this one is in the works too.
For the more positive changes, the new build introduces:
- Move apps easily from one monitor to another. When you’re working on multiple monitors, use WIN+SHIFT+<arrow> to move the active app to another monitor. You can find a list of new keyboard shortcuts for navigating and managing your multiple desktops here in this blog post.
- Animation for switching desktops. One of the pieces of feedback that you gave us was that it was hard to know when you were switching desktops. We addressed your feedback by adding an animation to make it clear that you are switching. Check it out by creating some new desktops and moving between them.
- Action Center for Windows PCs. As we shared when we announced Windows 10 in September, we aren’t limiting our view to one specific device type. We are looking across our entire product family to look at ways to bring great experiences to our customers across different devices. So with this build, we’re bringing “Action Center” from Windows Phone over to the PC as the place where you can see and follow up on all actionable items. This build is focused ONLY on enabling basic notifications – quick actions and cleaner UI will come later. You’ll see notifications from the system and apps – from new emails and invites to IMs, Facebook posts and more – all in one place, so you don’t miss a thing. Click on the new Action Center icon in the notification area of your taskbar to check it out.
With the build release, Microsoft also announced their development rings with the introduction of a new one, splitting Windows Insiders into Fast and Slow preferences. You can now choose to be in the Fast or Slow groups under PC Settings, Update and recovery, Preview builds, and choose from the drop-down. The further away from the Daily builds you are, the more validated the product has been. If you want to try out the new features sooner, you can choose the Windows Insiders Fast group.
Canary (daily) -> Operating Systems Group -> Microsoft -> Windows Insiders Fast -> Windows Insiders Slow
The article also went into detail that over 250,000 pieces of feedback have been provided along with over 25,000 community forum posts, and 641 suggestions in the Windows Suggestion Box.