insider builds

Windows power users have long known that Microsoft builds more into Windows than it ships to everyone on day one — and ViVeTool is the small, community-built key that flips those hidden switches. In practical terms ViVeTool lets you interact with Windows’ internal feature flags and enable UI...

Microsoft has shipped Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7070 (packaged as KB5070300) to the Dev and Beta channels, an incremental but meaningful update that tightens recovery workflows, refines the Widgets user interface, and removes a handful of practical friction points for testers and IT...

Microsoft’s incremental Windows 11 25H2 update arrives as more than just a cosmetic refresh — it’s a strategic enablement package that flips long‑staged feature flags, formalizes months of Insider previews, and tightens the platform around AI‑first productivity, accessibility, and security...

Microsoft’s latest Insider preview builds extend the system-wide Dark theme into long-neglected corners of File Explorer and several legacy dialogs, eliminating many of the jarring white “flash” moments that have plagued Dark mode users and delivering a tangible quality‑of‑life polish ahead of...

Microsoft has started rolling the redesigned Start menu and a built-in command-line text editor to Windows Insiders in the Canary Channel with Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27965, bringing a scrollable, responsive Start that groups apps by category (or grid) and introducing Edit, a...

Signing out of a school or work account on Windows 11 is deceptively simple, but the choice between “signing out,” “removing,” or “switching to a local account” has real consequences for synced settings, OneDrive files, BitLocker recovery, and corporate device management — this guide explains...

Microsoft’s latest Insider update tightens the screws on Windows 11 setup by removing the easiest ways to create a local account during OOBE (Out‑Of‑Box Experience), but the story is more complicated than a single patch: determined users and imaging tools still have options, and the move exposes...

Microsoft’s latest Insider flight makes it unmistakably clear: the era of effortless, in‑OOBE local accounts on Windows 11 is ending — Microsoft is explicitly removing the known shortcuts that let users bypass Microsoft account (MSA) sign‑in during the Out‑Of‑Box Experience (OOBE), and the...

Zorin OS 18 Beta arrives as a clear, user-focused attempt to make switching from Windows to Linux less painful — and after a thorough hands‑on with the beta, it’s easy to see why this release may be the project’s most convincing offering yet. The desktop looks and behaves more polished, cloud...

Microsoft’s latest Insider flight tightens the screws on the last easy ways to finish Windows 11 setup without signing into a Microsoft Account, while quietly adding a tool for one of the most-complained-about quirks of OOBE: the auto-generated user folder name. The company told Insiders it is...

When Windows stops copying files halfway, the momentary freeze can feel like a small disaster — progress sits at 47% (or 1%), the cancel button is unresponsive, and you worry that interrupting the PC will corrupt the transfer or your drive. This guide distills the practical fixes and technical...

A buried option in a Windows 11 Insider preview suggests Microsoft is quietly restoring the ability to use ordinary video files — MP4, MKV and friends — as looping desktop wallpapers, a modern resurrection of Vista’s long‑forgotten DreamScene that’s already stirring enthusiasts, IT managers, and...

Microsoft is quietly testing native animated video wallpapers in Windows 11 Insider builds, a modern revival of the Vista-era DreamScene that lets users set common video files (MP4, MKV, MOV and more) as looping desktop backgrounds — but the capability is experimental, hidden behind an Insider...

Microsoft’s personalization team appears to be answering a long-standing user request: native video wallpapers — a modern take on the old DreamScene feature from the Windows Vista era — are now visible in recent Windows 11 Insider preview builds, but they remain experimental, hidden behind...

Microsoft has quietly begun testing a native video‑wallpaper feature in Windows 11 Insider preview builds, a modern revival of Vista’s DreamScene that — according to multiple independent community reports — will let users set ordinary video files such as MP4 and MKV as looping desktop...

Microsoft appears to be quietly restoring a long‑requested personalization capability to Windows 11: native video wallpapers that let ordinary video files play as looping desktop backgrounds, a DreamScene‑style feature now visible in recent Insider preview builds and gated behind a hidden...

Microsoft has quietly begun building native support for video wallpapers into Windows 11 — a full-circle moment that revives a DreamScene-era idea while exposing difficult trade-offs around battery life, compatibility, and the long shadow of third‑party wallpaper engines. The capability...

Windows Weekly’s latest episode arrives like a two‑ton reminder that tech transitions rarely happen on a polite schedule: “Coding Makes Me Cry” (Episode 950) drills into the real-world fallout of Windows 10’s imminent end-of‑support, Microsoft’s evolving recovery and Copilot features, and the...

Microsoft is rolling AI into the smallest, most ubiquitous text editor on Windows — Notepad — by adding on‑device generative features for Copilot+ PCs, and the changes signal a meaningful shift in how Microsoft blends local and cloud AI across Windows inbox apps. Overview Notepad’s September...

Microsoft's new handheld-focused, full‑screen Xbox interface for Windows 11 can already be unlocked on many in‑market Windows handhelds thanks to a Release Preview of the Windows 11 25H2 update and a handful of community-discovered switches — meaning you don't have to wait for the ROG Xbox...