windows 10 Microsoft releases new Windows 10 preview for PCs with Bash, Cortana cross-device features, universal Skype app

[Reefa]

 

Microsoft today released a new Windows 10 preview for PCs. This is the first build released since Build 2016, where the company announced the Windows 10 Anniversary Update coming this summer.

 

Windows 10 is a service. As we wrote in our deep dive on how Microsoft is still building Windows 10, this means Windows Insiders are getting new builds even though the operating system launched in July 2015.

 

First up, you can now natively run Bash in Windows. To do this, you first need to turn on Developer Mode (Settings => Update & security => For developers), search for “Windows Features,” choose “Turn Windows features on or off,” and enable Windows Subsystem for Linux (Beta). To get Bash installed, open Command Prompt and type in “bash.”

 

 

Next up, Cortana has received new cross-device features for Windows and Android phones (limited to the U.S. and China, requires Cortana version 1.5):

 

• Low Battery Notifications: Cortana will now inform you of low battery power on your mobile devices: A notification will pop up on your PC so you can plug in your phone.
• Find my phone/Ring my phone: Ask Cortana on your PC to find your phone. The feature allows users to locate their phone from their PC through geo-location and by having Cortana ring their phone.
• Share map directions across devices: Tell Cortana “directions to *place*” on your PC and she’ll send those same directions to your phone.

 

 

Cortana is now also easier to set up on your device. Cortana now automatically downloads the necessary speech language in your market and doesn’t require mucking through all the settings to get her going on.

 

Microsoft has added two new Edge extensions to try: Pin It Button and OneNote Clipper. The existing three extensions have also been updated: Reddit Enhancement Suite, Mouse Gestures, and Microsoft Translator. To install an extension, click on “More” at the top right in Microsoft Edge, click “Extensions” to open the Extensions pane, and click “Get extensions.”

 

 

The new universal Skype app is now available. The basic Skype functionality is available, but more features and functionality is coming in the next couple of releases (in addition to availability for mobile).

 

The Action Center has received a few improvements: You can now manage the notification settings for individual apps (Settings => System >= Notifications & actions) by clicking or tapping on a specific app to adjust its notification settings. You can prioritize notifications in Action Center to be one of three levels (Normal, High, or Priority) and also adjust how many notifications are visible per app (default is three). If an app has more than three notifications, just click or tap to expand and see all notifications for that app.

 

 

The entire set of font-based emoji in Windows 10 has been updated to align with the Microsoft Design Language. The company is claiming “a distinct visual style” that features “detailed, expressive, and playful” emoji.

 

 

There are also some personalization improvements. You can now toggle between dark and light modes (Settings > Personalization > Colors). The new dark mode affects apps such as Settings, Store, Alarms & Clock, Calculator, and other universal apps that listen and respond to theme changes in the operating system. A new option also lets you show color only on app title bars in addition to the option to show color on Start, the taskbar, and Action Center.

 

 

The new Connect app lets you use your Windows 10 phone with Continuum without needing a dock or Miracast adapter. You can use Miracast-enabled PCs to project to other PCs without needing a dock or Miracast adapter as well. This is an early preview of this feature, and it’s meant to be wireless-only.

 

 

The virtual desktop feature has also been improved. You can now pin a window so it’s available on every desktop (launch Task View, right-click on the window you, and choose “Show this window on all desktops”).

 

 

The Battery Saver settings page has been renamed as just Battery. On the Detailed Battery Use page, you can now manage the per-app background settings inline without going to a second page. But more interestingly, Managed by Windows is a new option where not only will the app stop running in the background when Battery Saver is enabled, but it will temporarily turn off apps with high battery drain that you haven’t used in a while or pinned to your Start screen till you next launch the application. There’s also a new prompt asking the user if they’d like to turn on Battery Saver when battery is at 20 percent (a feature in Windows Phone 8.1 that many wanted on both Windows 10 for PC and Windows 10 Mobile).

 

This build also includes the following bug fixes:

 

• The issue where on some PCs with TPM chips, such as the ASUS Zenbook UX31, you may have experienced glitchy audio and jumpy movement when using the trackpad due to the “tpm-maintenance” task running constantly in the background instead of once per boot-up like it should.
• The issue where if you use Hyper-V and have a Virtual Switch configured for your network adapter, you might see an error indicator (red-colored X) for your network adapter in the notification area of your taskbar.
• The Wi-Fi flyout UI and fixed an issue where text entry into a Wi-Fi password field was noticeably top-aligned rather than centered.
• An issue when using multiple monitors and full-screen apps like PowerPoint or Remote Desktop would crash Windows Explorer.
• An issue where Cortana wasn’t showing Settings pages in the search results.
• The Windows Update notification for updates being installed now takes you straight to your update history.
• An issue where desktop (Win32) apps pinned to the Start menu would sometimes move after updating to a new build.
• An issue where “Update and Restart” and “Update and Shut Down” wouldn’t start an update.

 

Microsoft is aware of five issues in this build on PC:

 

• The Visual Studio emulator for Windows 10 Mobile and HoloLens will fail with “An authentication error has occurred. The Local Security Authority cannot be contacted.”
• Issues with Narrator and other screen reader apps that make them unable to read selected text in the Feedback Hub, Cortana, and other apps.
• In Microsoft Edge, some large downloads may appear to get stuck at 99 percent completion. You can work around this issue by renaming the file in your downloads after closing Microsoft Edge.
• In some cases, attempting to turn on Developer Mode on may crash the Settings app. If this happens, the workaround is to use these steps here to enable Developer Mode.
• Some apps notifications may only show the icon — however, the full text of the notification will be visible within Action Center.

 

Today’s update bumps the Windows 10 build number from 14295 for PC (made available to testers on March 25) to build 14316.

 

As you can see, it’s a large update, especially for PC users.

 

SourcE

[Sylence]

The dark theme gives an awesome look to the Windows and I like how they chose the emojis to cover all skin colors and races, good job 

[xyzdev]

A lot of good features and improvements in this build.

[dMog]

but yet still a preview build...i was on fast ring but found i had to end up doing clean installs after updating to 3 or 4 fast ring installs,,, thinking about going for this one though

[lethang136]

Installing

[haxzion]

improvements in windows 10 >>> linux

oh and Cortana Low Battery Notifications, a so much needed feature since win 10 runs tons of crap in the background.

i just can't stop laughing 

[Karlston]

Digging deeper into Windows 10 Insider beta build 14316

The latest beta has nooks and crannies well worth prodding, including apparently limited control over updates

Yesterday, Microsoft released beta build 14316 of the Windows 10 Anniversary Edition, formerly known as Redstone R1. After setting the stage with a bunch of "nothing new" builds over the past several months, spiked only by the addition of Edge extensions, this one comes loaded with new features.

 

Remarkably, the build as a whole is stable -- I had no problems at all with hours of testing -- and many of the new features are interesting, some even surprising.

 

Among the most surprising is new Group Policy options for controlling how and when certain kinds of updates are applied. Microsoft seems to be addressing one of the most contentious "features" in Windows 10: forced updates.

 

There are also rough edges, a number of reported bugs in third-party application programs, at least one major feature (Cortana on the lock screen) that's accessible but blocked, and official teases of more to come.

 

You can find an extensive overview in Gabe Aul's Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14316 blog post. Aul talks about running Bash on Ubuntu on Windows, which is an arcane topic for most Windows users, but a sea change in developer support. He also steps through the ways Cortana will bridge the gap between PCs and phones, providing you install Cortana on your Android phone and with the proviso that Cortana on Windows 10 Mobile build 14295 has problems working with the new features. (Several of those features have been available for years with Google Chrome extensions like Pushbullet and MightyText.)

 

There are a couple of new, worthwhile extensions for Edge (Pin It Button and OneNote Clipper, which still require the old side-loading trick), the new Universal Windows Platform/Metro Skype app which ships in build 14316, and new emojis, including caricatures with modifiable skin tones. Be still my beating heart.

 

The Notification -- er, Action Center is getting some much-needed new smarts. You can give individual apps priorities (top, high, normal), so their notifications appear higher on the list, and you can limit the number of notifications that an individual app can post. There are no hints yet about the ability to sync your Action Center across PCs and phones, as demonstrated at Build 2016.

 

Aul also talks about the new dark mode (Start > Settings > Personalization > colours), which adds a blinding pop to Windows Explorer because Explorer doesn't yet inherit the dark mode settings. There's a new Connect app that, among other things, lets you use Miracast technology to cast to other PCs without a dock or Miracast adapter -- particularly useful if you want to see your phone's screen on your PC. You can pin a specific window to all of your virtual desktops simultaneously. And there are improvements to battery settings and to the Feedback app. You can read about all of those in the official announcement.

 

There's much more that didn't make it into Aul's blog, though.

 

Microsoft Edge, for example, now supports drag-and-drop folders -- drop a folder into Dropbox, for example -- better handling of favorites, and changes to the default Save location. The Back button finally works. Edge is slowly turning into a usable browser.

 

Installing the Bash command line is rather convoluted, but once it's there, you can run any of these commands (and probably others): apt, ssh, rsync, find, grep, awk, sed, sort, xargs, md5sum, gpg, curl, wget, apache, mysql, python, perl, ruby, php, gcc, tar, vim, emacs, diff, and patch, according to Canonical's Dustin Kirkland. (Canonical is the Ubuntu company largely responsible for the "Windows Subsystem for Linux" that implements the API necessary to get Bash working.) I played with vim for a while, and it works exactly like the original. It's very cool, and I expect developers will be all over it shortly. Note that Bash for Windows only works on 64-bit build 14316.

 

"Show file name extensions" and "Show hidden and system files" -- two key settings I believe every Windows user should enable -- have moved from Control Panel to Start > Settings > Update & Security > For Developers > Windows Explorer Settings.

 

Windows Update gets a tiny nudge. You can set Active Hours (Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Change active hours) to a maximum of 10 hours, during which Windows won't restart your computer to install updates. In the same dialog, you can choose Restart options to override the Active Hours setting.

 

Cortana can be coerced into working on the lock screen. "Hey, Cortana" doesn't work all the time, and it's very slow, but if you want to try, look at the Registry hacks listed in Lucas M's blog in MSPoweruser.

 

Early this morning, Windows guru @teroalhonen uncovered what may well be the most important changes in build 14316. They aren't documented, aren't understood, and haven't even been tested, but there appear to be settings in the Group Policy editor that may tame Win10's brutal forced updating. Alhonen found three settings that may prove crucial:

• Do not include drivers with Windows Updates
• Select when Quality Updates are received ("After a Quality Update is released, defer receiving it for the following duration (days)")
• Select when Feature Updates are received ("After a Feature Update is released, defer receiving it for the following duration (days)")

To see the first setting, in Win10 Pro build 14316, fire up gpedit.msc, and look under Computer Configuration > Windows Components > Windows Update. To see the other two, navigate to the Defer Windows Updates folder. There's another setting called "Receive Feature updates when they are declared Business Ready," also undocumented. Heaven only knows what that means.

 

It'll be interesting to see what those settings do (if anything), and whether Microsoft will ever document them. Alhonen has isolated the Registry keys associated with the entries, so changes may also be possible with Win10 Home.

 

Those are the big items I've found. I've seen complaints that Tweetium and Classic Shell aren't working properly -- typical beta blues. According to @peterskillman, general manager of Core UX for Windows, the new Start menu didn't make it into this build. It's generally expected that the new Start will appear shortly. Microsoft has released a Sway with some details, including an offer to provide feedback. Personally, I won't be overly impressed until we can create our own fly-out menus, a la Win7, Classic Shell, and Start10.

 

It remains to be seen if other rumored features make it into the Anniversary Update: Various features of live tiles, hot notifications, Apple-style handoffs with Project Rome (see Mary Jo Foley's description in ZDNet). Many of the features shown in the Build 2016 presentations aren't quite there.

 

Finally, we have reason to hope that the old Tin Lizzie still has some life. Microsoft's slowly knocking down many of the 10 hurdles to Windows 10 adoption that I kvetched about earlier this year. If the features keep pouring in at this rate and the whole contraption keeps hanging together, we may finally have a worthy successor to Windows 7 on our hands.

 

Source: Digging deeper into Windows 10 Insider beta build 14316 (InfoWorld - Woody Leonhard)

[steven36]

12 hours ago, haxzion said:

improvements in windows 10 >>> linux

oh and Cortana Low Battery Notifications, a so much needed feature since win 10 runs tons of crap in the background.

i just can't stop laughing 

Microsoft only is nice too Linux if its something Linux will give them benefits . Just because Ubuntu helped  Microsoft  put bash on Windows 10 so what  they have  wine on Linux and now they have beer on Windows . Anything Microsoft made for Linux  has been a crippled version like Skype Microsoft  has not updated in Linux forever and only works for voice chat and   Visual Studio suite is crippleware too on Linux  ..so they not changed a bit  and you will never be able to enjoy Linux programs on windows with full benefits under the windows kernel no ways,  it was just a ploy to get developers back on windows but since most  developers are on MAC OSX  and not Linux i smell failure. 

 

Once reports  come out  in 2017  about  witch units  or out  selling witch we will see the big picture. But I dont know how Microsoft plains to sell anything as long as they give it away free and  the way things are shaping up there working  on stable build of redstone so they can sell it once July 29th comes  It may become a force to reckon with by 2018 if people will ever buy it but thats yet too be seen and no one has a real crystal ball  because Gartner  have been off for years with any of there predictions .   

 

You can read more about it here and this article  is written by a windows 10 user Gregg Keizer  he covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld.

 

Microsoft's focus on Windows 10 upgrades is a mistake

http://www.computerworld.com/article/3053524/windows-pcs/microsofts-focus-on-windows-10-upgrades-is-a-mistake.html

 

It dont sound like there going be able to focus buyers into buying new units  by focusing on upgrades . It's sort of like Ubuntu in the Linux  world  they always be focusing on upgrades  but Mint  and Debian     the more stable distros  stay in 1st and 2nd place at Distro watch. People want a stable O/S  not upgrades  that cause regression with there old hardware . And people have not bought PCs good since 2013  they spend there money on smart phones and other things  because unless you are a gamer PCs have not changed very much since XP  and even if you watch Videos on PC its not changed very much since Windows 7 . There not making  anything new buyers  want  to buy and even if they do upgrade to windows 10  Microsoft  never sold  anything  it was a free upgrade.