insider preview

Microsoft has pushed Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27959 to the Canary Channel, delivering a small but user-focused wave of changes — most notably a new setting to reposition on-screen hardware indicators, a system-wide keyboard shortcut for inserting en and em dashes, and the ability to pin...

Microsoft has quietly tightened the screws on Windows 11’s Out‑Of‑Box Experience (OOBE): Insider Preview updates issued October 6 remove the remaining local-only setup shortcuts and now require an internet connection and a Microsoft account to complete consumer OOBE flows, even on editions that...

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...

Microsoft has quietly started closing the last low‑friction loopholes that let people finish Windows 11’s Out‑Of‑Box Experience (OOBE) without an internet connection or a Microsoft Account (MSA), forcing an account‑first setup path in recent Windows Insider preview builds and signalling a...

Windows 11 is quietly closing one of its most visible design gaps: legacy file‑operation dialogs and Explorer pop‑ups are finally gaining a proper dark theme in Insider builds, and the small but important visual refinements landing in recent flights hint at a broader, long‑overdue push to make...

Microsoft has quietly closed the last commonly used loopholes that let people install Windows 11 with a purely local account, and the change — now rolling out in the Windows Insider Dev Channel — means the Out‑Of‑Box Experience (OOBE) will increasingly require an internet connection and a...

Microsoft has closed the most widely used shortcuts that let hobbyists, refurbishers, and privacy‑minded users set up Windows 11 with a local account, making an internet connection and a Microsoft account the default, consumer‑facing path during Out‑Of‑Box Experience (OOBE). Background Windows...

Microsoft’s latest Insider preview builds close the last widely used shortcuts that let people finish Windows 11 setup without a Microsoft account, forcing the Out‑Of‑Box Experience (OOBE) down an account‑first, online‑connected path and introducing a modest concession for personalization — a...

Microsoft’s latest Insider flights close another chapter in the long cat‑and‑mouse game between power users and the Windows setup experience: recent Beta and Dev previews explicitly remove or neutralize the last easy methods for creating a local account during OOBE, forcing the default consumer...

Microsoft has quietly moved another step toward an account-first Out‑of‑Box Experience (OOBE) for Windows 11 by removing several low-friction workarounds that let people create a local account during setup, effectively forcing an internet connection and a Microsoft Account (MSA) on the default...

Microsoft’s latest Insider flight quietly concedes one of the most persistent first‑run annoyances — the opaque, email‑derived C:\Users\<name> folder — but the fix is buried behind a command‑line detour in OOBE that will please enthusiasts while frustrating the average consumer. Background...

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 has begun shipping a targeted fix in Insider preview builds that finally addresses a long‑running annoyance: the “Update and shut down” option in Windows 11 that often installed updates only to leave the PC powered on (at the lock screen or desktop) instead of switching the machine...

Microsoft is rolling out Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.6772 to the Dev Channel, bringing incremental but meaningful updates across AI-driven utilities, sign-in security, OOBE (out-of-box experience), and File Explorer while addressing a raft of stability and compatibility issues...

Microsoft’s 2025 Windows 11 feature update — version 25H2 — arrives as a careful, operationally minded release rather than a headline-grabbing rework: it’s an enablement package that flips on features already staged in the 24H2 servicing stream, removes a few long‑deprecated tools, and resets...

Microsoft’s surprisingly small but meaningful reversal — bringing a familiar Windows 10-style feature back into Windows 11 — is quietly rolling out to Insiders and it matters more than its nostalgia alone suggests. What began as a community leak has become a verified Insider experiment: Windows...

Microsoft has quietly started testing a native “video wallpaper” feature in Windows 11 Insider preview builds — a modern revival of Vista’s DreamScene that lets you set common video files (MP4, MKV, MOV and others) as looping desktop backgrounds directly from Settings or File Explorer...

Microsoft is quietly rolling a tiny but practical convenience into Windows 11 Insiders’ taskbar: a one‑click shortcut for an internet speed test that launches Bing’s built‑in speed‑test widget, and it arrives alongside additional Copilot hooks and search tweaks in recent 24H2 preview builds...

Microsoft’s latest Insider cumulative quietly stitches a few practical conveniences and developer hooks into Windows 11 while continuing the steady rollout of Copilot-era features — headlined by a taskbar-accessible network speed test, a targeted Microsoft 365 Copilot tile in Get Started...

Microsoft’s latest Dev Channel cumulative — identified in the community announcement as Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.6760 (KB5065793) — continues the program’s steady cadence of incremental AI, accessibility, and File Explorer work while shipping a small but useful set of quality fixes...