Microsoft today released a new Windows 10 preview for PCs. This is the second build of the upcoming Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, which is slated to arrive later this year (likely in September). New features include more My People additions.
Windows 10 is a service, meaning it was built in a very different way from its predecessors so it can be regularly updated with not just fixes but new features, too. Microsoft has released many such updates, including three major ones: November Update, Anniversary Update, and Creators Update.
Microsoft originally unveiled My People in October 2016, when the Creators Update was announced, but the release has been delayed until later this year. The company is still working on the feature, adding animated emojis above the taskbar (shown above), a counter for unseen messages, and the ability to share files with people via drag-and-drop or via the share picker by choosing from a list of people recommended to email.
Next, the Game Settings menu has been improved. You can now broadcast only the game’s audio (Settings => Gaming => Broadcasting => choose “Per-app audio”) via Beam, as opposed to the audio for your entire PC. Audio settings has been renamed to Game DVR in Game bar, with per-app audio settings also included. There’s also a new Game Monitor page, but it’s for a future feature and doesn’t do anything right now.
Speaking of settings, the About Settings page has been integrated with System Health. A health section has been added that pulls in information from the Windows Defender Security Center so you can see your system health at a glance.
Tips and videos are being added to Settings. Depending on the size of the Settings window, you will find tips either at the bottom or on the side of the page.
Storage Sense automatically frees up space on your computer. The feature now lets you choose to automatically clean up files that have been unchanged in your Downloads folder for 30 days. Just go to Settings => System => Storage and click on “Change how we free up space.” I will personally find this super useful if I ever remember to turn it on.
If you have Cortana for Android, incoming call notifications are now available. Go to Settings => Sync notifications and turn on all the Cortana cross-device features. The next time you receive a call, a notification will appear on your Windows 10 PC telling you who it is and giving you the option to text back a reply or decline the call.
The desktop build includes the following bug fixes and improvements:
- Windows Defender Application Guard (WDAG) will now work as expected on touch-enabled PCs.
- The XAML designer in Visual Studio 2017 hits an error causing a squiggle error under ThemeResource references to XAML’s generic.xaml resources. Update to the latest version of Visual Studio 2017 Preview (Version 15.3 – 26510.00) or later. If it’s already installed, update by starting the Visual Studio Installer and clicking the Update button.
- Fixed an issue resulting in many Win32 apps not launching if certain third-party antivirus programs were active prior to upgrading.
- Updated Windows Defender Security Center so as to no longer flag disabled drivers as issues and adjusted the health scan logic so that using maximum brightness when connected to AC power will not flag a warning.
- As a result of low usage, the Note quick action has been removed.
- Updated migration logic so that going forward from this build, the state of rotation lock will be preserved across upgrades.
- Fixed an issue resulting in color profiles being ignored after launching certain fullscreen games.
- Updated the context menus for apps and tiles in Start to now include icons for more actions, including Share, Uninstall, and Rate.
Today’s update bumps the Windows 10 build number for PCs from 16193 (made available to testers on May 11) to build 16199.
This build has nine known issues:
- Some Insiders have reported seeing this error: “Some updates were cancelled. We’ll keep trying in case new updates become available” in Windows Update.
- Surface 3 devices fail to update to new builds if an SD memory card is inserted. The updated drivers for the Surface 3 that fix this issue have not yet been published to Windows Update.
- Outlook 2016 may hang on launch due to an issue where the spam filter gets stuck reading the Outlook Data File and the UI waits indefinitely for it to return.
- Edge fails to open PDFs with “Couldn’t open PDF. Something is keeping this PDF from opening” error.
- You will be unable to type in your password to log into any UWP apps, such as Netflix, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or Messenger apps. If you are already logged into your apps, you should be okay updating to this build, but don’t log out.
- Games such as Civilization VI may fail to launch on this build.
- Windows Mixed Reality won’t work on this build. If you are developing testing and developing for Windows Mixed Reality, you will want to avoid this build. If you update this build and need Windows Mixed Reality, you will need to roll back to Build 16193.
- VIM is broken for Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) users.
- The choice command fails when run in a Command Prompt script.
If you’re okay with the above and want to get build 16199 now, head to PC Settings, select “Update and recovery,” then “Preview builds,” and then click the “Check Now” button.
Microsoft also released a new Windows 10 Mobile build today. Given that the OS didn’t even get a mention at Build last week, we’re not sure why Microsoft is still bothering.
