The pace of updates from Microsoft is picking up as they close in on the final weeks leading to the expected RTM of Windows 10 in July.
Windows 10 build 10130 has been released to Insiders participating in the Fast Ring distribution channel just nine days after they received build 10122.
Members of the Windows Insider program should be very happy with this pace and, although it is not a firm indicator of a pattern for future releases, it is nice to see the new iterations and tweaks that are happening in each subsequent build.
The most impressive aspect of build 10130 as you read over Gabe Aul’s post about the new build is that there are more improvements and fixes in this build than known issues.
So let’s start with the problem areas:
- Mail app may crash due to a memory error, and may not synch mail when in the background. We plan to service this issue with an update via Windows Update.
- In some cases, flyouts from the Taskbar (including Start, Cortana, Network, Battery, and Action Center) fail to fly out. This is a transient issue, and after retrying a few times it will succeed. We are also working to service this issue with an update.
- Wi-Fi connectivity may fail at times due to a known issue. A system reboot is required to recover from this state.
The list of fixes and enhancements include the new icons that everyone has been talking about and several other items:
- Start can now be customized under Settings>Personalization>Start including pinning different system locations such as Documents, Pictures, Videos, etc. This was first seen in leaked build 10125. Gabe points out that there is a bug when upgrading from build 10122 which results in File Explorer and Settings being removed from that part of the Start Menu. Just add them back on this new settings page and they will reappear after you sign out and back in again.
- Updated icons as I mentioned above but Gabe hints to the fact that the icons will continue to evolve to obtain more consistency and improved functionality.
- The Taskbar now has Jump Lists that match the design of the Start and Taskbar UI.
- In Tablet Mode you can now swipe down from the top of the screen to pull at the app command toolbar if that app has one. Of course as app developers opt to remove that bar then this will slowly fade away from use however, for now the store is full of apps with that bar so this is very useful.
- Microsoft Edge, still known as Project Spartan in this build, includes an option to pin Cortana, Favorites, Reading List, History and Download panes open. They have also enhanced the Print options, address bar badges, Reading View and videos now go full screen.
- Taskbar settings for Virtual Desktops now has the filtered view (shows open windows on the current desktop). This new default setting is a result of Insider feedback and telemetry that shows how users set their own systems up.
- Cortana now has a keyboard shortcut Windows Key + C to bring up her voice recognition mode.
- You can now Print to PDF files from within Windows 10.
- Movie and TV app can now play videos in full screen mode.
One final note for those of you in the Slow Ring, build 10122 the last Fast Ring release, will not be pushed out to that ring because of bugs related to upgrading from Windows 7 and 8.1.
That means no new ISO’s for download and clean installs.
While they hope 10130 is stable enough to give to the Slow Ring soon that means the latest ISO based version of Windows 10 is still 10074 and that build was released back on 29 April 2015 and is now three public builds past.
So for those of you who like clean installs don’t forget an option is to use Reset in Settings>Update & Security>Recovery. Do this after you upgrade to build 10130 from Windows Update so that it resets to the new build.
Also, be sure to checkout the changes that have been made to the Windows Reset process in this latest build of Windows 10. It can now clear off all drives as an option and not just your Windows drive.
