Microsoft has just rolled out Windows 10 Insider Preview for PC build 10122. With this new build comes new improvements! Microsoft has further refined the visual layout of the Start (menu or screen) by moving the File Explorer and Settings button to the bottom left. Context menus in Start have also been improved.
Microsoft has also added the new tab page which we showed off to our readers not too long ago. The new tab page features a revamped layout, including top sites, featured apps, and more. Microsoft has also changed the way default apps are handled within the operating system. The Insider Hub also received a visual makeover, but you already knew that thanks to Zac.
Start and Continuum improvements: We’ve further refined the visual layout of Start by moving File Explorer and Settings to the bottom left of Start next to Power and All Apps for better symmetry. We have also updated the context menu when you right-click on items on Start. In addition, the ability to toggle between Start menu and Start screen has been moved to the new Start settings page under Personalization settings. When you switch to Tablet mode, the left-hand pane is now collapsed and can be brought back out by clicking the icon at the top left. Start also now has larger tiles to better use the available space– similar to what was seen in Windows 8.1.
Microsoft Edge: This build has the New Tab Page for Microsoft Edge that Joe showed off in April at Build. This page features a revamped layout, including top sites, featured apps and content from MSN. It’s designed to get you to your next destination on the web as quickly as possible. The content of the page can be lightly customized in Settings. We’re still testing several different versions of the New Tab Page to learn more about how users interact with Microsoft Edge, and we have set it as the current default homepage to get as much data and feedback as possible – so let us know what you think. We’ve also added a few other things to Microsoft Edge including InPrivate mode, the ability to pin websites to Start, history view, a new animated Reading View icon, and an audio indicator on tabs that have web pages making sounds or playing music. This build also includes the latest enhancements to the Chakra engine in Microsoft Edge, which now leads all 64-bit browsers in both Google’s Octane 2.0 benchmark and Apple’s Jet Stream benchmark, and introduces class-leading ECMAScript 6 implementation.
Changes to how Windows 10 handles default apps: ‘Default apps’ refers to the way that Windows maps file types and protocols (like HTTP) to the Windows applications they open by default. For example, your favorite photo editor may be set as the default app for .JPG files, which means that when you double-click on a .JPG file in File Explorer, it opens in that photo editor. In Windows 8.1, Classic Windows applications (Win32) could invoke the prompt asking you to change your defaults, so you may have seen multiple prompts during install and after they launched. However, Windows Store apps could not invoke this prompt. Instead, a notification banner will appear after your apps are installed telling you that new apps are available and you would click on this banner to change your defaults.
Redesigned Insider Hub: The Insider Hub has gotten an overhaul in this build using a lot of the same design as the other Universal Windows apps included in Windows 10. Check out the clean new homepage where Quests are shown front and center. You can navigate to different content easily through menu and top left, your profile page can be seen at a glance, and announcement and alerts are succinctly organized. You can also easily find known issues, which was a top request from Insiders, and view new badges for achievements that you have earned and can earn.
Windows 10 build 10122 also fixes the following issues:
- We have fixed the visual glitch (“rectangle slivers”) that appears on Live Tiles on the Start menu with the new tile animation. In general, performance of the Start menu should be better in this build.
- We believe we have fixed a lot of the crashes with Microsoft Edge (Project Spartan) reported by Windows Insiders.
- Developers – when you go to Settings > Update & Security > For developers – it no longer crashes the Settings app.
- We fixed the issue some people were seeing where their graphics driver fails to install from Windows Update with error code 80070103. This was happening because WU was trying to re-issue the driver.
- You should now be able to edit the IPv4 properties of an Ethernet adapter on your PC.
- We have fixed issues where fonts would render blurry on High DPI displays. We’re cooking up a blog post we plan to publish shortly that talks a little more in depth about our investment with High DPI in Windows 10 so watch for it.
- We have fixed some keyboard shortcuts in Microsoft Edge. Control + L or Alt + D shortcuts now got to the URL bar more reliably.
