Articles about Windows Insider Preview

Microsoft has introduced a change to Windows 11 that makes it much harder to use brute force attacks to crack passwords. Starting with the latest Insider builds, there is a new account lockout policy in place by default.

The policy means that should an incorrect password be entered 10 times, the account will be locked for 10 minutes. While this does not make brute forcing impossible, by any means, it makes it much harder and more time consuming, boosting security in an important area.

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Microsoft frequently runs bug bashes to help weed out problems with Windows 11. These often focus on particular areas of the operating system and the company has just announced a "a special Bug Bash" to coincide with the release of the latest beta build.

Just a couple of days ago, Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22622.436 (KB5015888) to the Beta Channel. Now the Bug Bash is underway, running until July 25, with beta testers being asked to complete various quests and provide feedback.

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Happy Wednesday. It’s that day of the week when Microsoft typically rolls out a new Windows 11 build for Insiders in the Dev Channel. Sometimes these builds are interesting, with new features and the like, and other times they only contain a bunch of fixes.

The latest flight, Build 25163, falls into the former category, with some new additions which include a taskbar overflow experience and some improvements to file sharing.

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Wednesday is the day of the week when Microsoft typically releases new Windows 11 builds for Insiders on the Dev Channel, but Build 25158 with notification badging for Widgets isn’t the only new release from the software giant today.

Microsoft has another treat for Windows Insiders on the Dev Channel to play with -- a Camera app refresh and a Media Player update.

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There was no new Windows 11 build for Insiders on the Dev Channel last week, but it’s business as usual again from today.  

The latest flight, Build 25158, comes with notification badges for Widgets, as well as a load of fixes and improvements.

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Microsoft has made the decision to split the Windows 11 Beta Channel into two. To go with the move, the company has rolled out two new Windows 11 flights -- Build 22621.290 and Build 22622.290.

As you would expect, both builds share fixes and known issues, but one build also includes new features.

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Microsoft has announced two Windows 11 builds for the Beta Channel -- Build 22621.290 and Build 22622.290. Why two builds? It’s because the software giant is putting Insiders into one of two groups. This is similar to what the company did back in 2019.

But why, and what’s different about the two builds?

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Many of the changes introduced in Windows 11 have divided opinion, from the central Start button to the non-moveable taskbar. An upcoming change that is sure to go down well, however, is Microsoft decision to give the Open With dialog a much-needed overhaul.

As you know, when you double click a file in Windows, it opens in whatever the default app it is associated with is. The Open With dialog can be used to select an alternative app, and with the redesign, Microsoft is not only introducing a new look that is more in keeping with the Windows 11 aesthetic, is also making the dialog more useful.

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Last week's new Windows 11 flight for Insiders in the Dev Channel -- Build 25145 -- introduced a number of new features, including a OneDrive storage alert, subscription management in Settings, and a Local Administrator Password Solution ("LAPS").

Build 25151, released today, is much less exciting but does offer a set of fixes designed to improve the overall experience for users.

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Sometimes new Windows 11 builds released to the Dev Channel introduce new features, and other times the focus is just on fixing problems. Today’s new Insider release, Build 25145, comes with both a selection of new features and also some important fixes.

In particular, this release comes with a fix for an annoying problem that caused Surface Pro X devices to hit a black screen when attempting to resume from hibernation.

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Wednesday isn't typically the most exciting day of the week, unless you happen to be a Windows Insider in the Dev Channel, as that’s when -- provided everything goes according to plan -- Microsoft rolls out a new Windows 11 build.

Today’s release, Build 25140, comes with another good set of fixes designed to improve the overall Windows 11 experience. There are also ISOs available for this flight, which can downloaded here, that can be used for a clean install.

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Earlier today, Microsoft launched new updates for two Windows 11 apps -- Notepad and Media Centre -- for Insiders in the Dev Channel.

Following that, the company announces a new Windows 11 Insider build which, along with the usual raft of fixes, brings tabs to File Explorer and updates to the Widgets feature.

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Microsoft has been steadily updating its apps for Windows 11, and today the software giant announces major updates for both Notepad and Windows Media Player.

Both updated apps benefit from improved performance, but there’s more to the new releases than just that.

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Microsoft is due to release a big update for Windows 11 later this year, known variously as the 22H2 update and Sun Valley 2. While an official release date is yet to be announced, we already know that the feature update is complete and was made available to developers some weeks ago.

We are expecting the official launch to come in the next few months, but you can grab it right now if you're keen to try out new options such as Start menu folders and regain drag-and-drop in the taskbar. The good news is that getting hold of this important build of Windows 11 is incredibly simple -- and there's no need to be a developer.

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Not every Windows 11 Dev Channel build has new features for Insiders to try out. With some releases the focus is more on fixing problems, to make the test version of the OS more stable.

That’s the case with today’s new flight, Build 25131, which fixes quite a few problems, and also highlights two new known issues.

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