Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14926 for PC and Mobile arrives on the Fast ring, introduces experimental features

It’s been two weeks since Microsoft rolled out a new Windows 10 build to Insiders on the Fast ring. In that time the company has been busy upgrading its build monitoring services.

Today, it's business as usual once more, as the company releases Build 14926 for PC and Mobile. The latest build is well worth the wait as this not only fixes the issue that was killing Wi-Fi for some users, and the problem causing bluescreen crashes for Kindle owners, but introduces several notable new features.

First up is the ability to "snooze" a tab in Microsoft Edge. This experimental feature lets you put a site into Cortana as a reminder that will appear both as a notification and in Action Center. I usually have a ton of sites open in my browser that I intend to get around to eventually, and this works as a useful prompt.

The Wi-Fi settings page on Windows 10 Mobile has been updated to make it more in keeping with the PC version. It’s a bit of a work in progress, but it definitely looks much better, as you can see below. There’s the option to connect to WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) networks on your phone now too.

The upgrade experience has been improved as well. One of the complaints about the Anniversary Update was it reinstalled bundled apps you’d previously chosen to remove. Starting with this build, that will no longer happen.

Finally, if you choose to log in with a PIN, Windows 10 will ensure only numbers are entered, regardless of whether Num Lock is on or off.

Other changes in this build for PC include:

• Fixed the issue causing Adobe Acrobat Reader to crash when you try to launch it.
• Fixed the issue causing the Settings app to crash when navigating to Settings > Personalization.
• Fixed an issue where Windows icons and text are not rendered correctly on some devices with Intel Atom (Clovertrail) processors.
• Improved scaling for full screen games where the aspect ratio doesn’t match the native display resolution, for example, when playing Counter Strike: Global Offensive using a 4:3 stretched resolution.
• Fixed the issue where some people would experience a bugcheck (bluescreen) after plugging/unplugging certain types of Kindles such as the Paperwhite and Voyage.
• This build improves the performance on sites with changes to large numbers of HTML Elements containing text by improving spellchecker efficiency. This results in substantially improved performance on sites like TweetDeck.
• Addressed the largest cause of reliability issues in Microsoft Edge running on Insider Preview builds. This should improve reliability on major sites such as Facebook and Outlook.com.
• Fixed an issue resulting in certain links (for example, Facebook) displaying a default favicon in the Microsoft Edge Tab, rather than the logo intended by the site.
• Fixed an issue where the Wi-Fi icon in the taskbar might show full bars when connected to a Wi-Fi network with low signal.
• Fixed the issue which prevented the wireless network adapter in Surface Pro 1 and Surface Pro 2 devices from working. This also fixes the issue with the Xbox Wireless Adapter for Windows not working. and other wireless network adapters from third-parties such as D-Link.
• Fixed an issue where File Explorer’s "Open Command window here" context menu option was opening set to the C:\Windows\System32 path, rather than the desired directory.
• Fixed an issue potentially resulting in the taskbar no longer auto-hiding when a full screen window has focus (for example, when watching videos, gaming, or when using Remote Desktop). Note: If there’s an app that is asking for attention, it’s by design that the taskbar won’t hide (so you can see that there’s something trying to notify you).

Known issues for PC include:

• While using Narrator and Groove Music, if you navigate to the progress bar while a song is playing then Narrator will continually speak the progress of the song e.g. update with the current time of the progress bar every second. The result is you will be unable to listen to the song or hear any other control you navigate to.
• You may experience a black screen when signing out and switching to another user account and will be unable to log in to that account. A reboot of your PC should allow you to log in to that account.
• Oracle VM VirtualBox will crash on launch after upgrading to this build.
• Optional components may not work after upgrading to this build. To get it working again, go to "Turn Windows features on or off", scroll down and check the right optional component and click ok.  After a reboot, the optional component will be enabled again.
• After updating to this build, Windows Calculator may not work. To get Calculator working again, go to the Store and re-download/install Calculator.
• For keyboard users, using tab to navigate the Settings app will not work in this build. The arrow keys should work as a temporary workaround.

Other changes in this build for Mobile  include:

• Fixed a scaling issue on devices such as the Lumia 635, 636, or 638 where the bottom of certain apps, like Messaging and Maps, would get cut off and rendered off screen.
• Addressed the largest cause of reliability issues in Microsoft Edge running on Insider Preview builds. This should improve reliability on major websites such as Facebook and Outlook.com.
• Fixed an issue resulting in the sound of key presses and lock/unlock being barely audible when the phone was using a moderate volume.
• Fixed an issue where, if Quiet Hours had been turned on, banner notifications might not start appearing again until Action Center was opened or an interactive notification popped up and was dismissed.
• Fixed an issue where Cortana would crash when trying to open Reminders page.
• Improved the reliability of VPN Settings page via Settings > Network & wireless > VPN.
• Fixed an issue resulting in the thumbnail for portrait videos displaying with an incorrect aspect ratio in the Photos app when panning through the Camera Roll.

Known issues for Mobile include

• Some devices such as the Lumia 650 will fail to install this build with Error 0x80188308. Microsoft is currently investigating this issue.
• Action Center no longer closes if you swipe up on the empty space (area of Action Center that doesn’t show any notifications).
• Using your phone as a mobile hotspot will work the first time but subsequent attempts to use the feature will result in the inability to enable the hotspot until the phone is rebooted.

Photo credit: charnsitr / Shutterstock