insider program

Microsoft’s latest Canary‑channel flight makes one thing painfully clear: the long, awkward coexistence between the old Control Panel and the modern Settings app is finally being resolved in Microsoft’s favor — and the pace has picked up. Build 27928, released to Insiders on August 20, 2025...

Microsoft’s recent clarification of what lands on Windows Insider PCs finally turns the opaque mess of KB numbers and build strings into a readable taxonomy — but the reality behind those labels still matters for anyone who tests, manages, or depends on preview builds. The company’s guidance...

Microsoft’s quiet theming work in recent Insider previews finally moves one of Windows’ most visible UX complaints from “annoying” to “fix-in-progress,” as file‑operation dialogs — the copy/move progress windows, delete confirmations, access‑denied prompts and similar surfaces — are now...

Microsoft appears to be closing one of Windows’ longest-running cosmetic grievances: preview builds released in August 2025 show legacy file‑operation dialogs and several system prompts finally obeying the system Dark theme, reducing the jarring white “flash” that has plagued Dark Mode since the...

Windows 11’s dark mode has taken a meaningful step out of “half-finished” status: recent Insider and Release Preview builds now render several long‑neglected file‑operation dialogs in dark palettes, reducing the jarring white popups that have plagued dark‑theme users for years while signaling a...

Microsoft’s Snipping Tool appears poised to flip the traditional screenshot workflow by letting you draw and highlight on the live screen before you capture it — a change that promises faster annotation, tighter AI integrations, and a more pen‑friendly experience across Windows devices...

Microsoft’s latest Copilot update pulls the assistant out of the right-hand rail and drops a compact, quick-view Copilot interface down at the bottom center of the screen — directly over the taskbar and in line with the Windows 11 Start area — while introducing an Alt+Space press-to-talk...

Microsoft has quietly unlocked one of the most consequential features Windows on Arm owners have been waiting for: the Xbox PC app can now — in preview — download and run compatible games locally on Arm-based Windows 11 devices. Background Windows on Arm has long been pitched as the...

Microsoft’s Snipping Tool is being readied to let you draw directly on the live screen before you capture it — a change that would flip the traditional screenshot workflow and bring the app closer to dedicated third‑party capture utilities and inking-first workflows already familiar to tablet...

Microsoft’s messaging around the Windows 10 Creators Update has been clearer than some secondary reports suggest: the update (version 1703, build 15063) was scheduled for a phased public rollout beginning April 11, 2017, with manual install options opening a few days earlier — and not on April 4...

Microsoft’s Snipping Tool for Windows 11 has taken another small step toward being a genuine, all‑in‑one capture utility: a test build of the app now lets you pick a program window when starting a video recording, rather than forcing a free‑draw rectangle. That improvement — arriving in Snipping...

Microsoft’s latest Windows 11 Release Preview build packs another wave of AI features — but the single addition many users want most is still gated behind Copilot+ hardware, and that restriction exposes the wider tensions in Microsoft’s AI-first roadmap for the OS. Background Windows Insider...

Microsoft has quietly begun planting tiny, purpose-built Microsoft 365 “companion” apps directly into the Windows 11 taskbar — compact People, File Search, and Calendar helpers that promise to shave dozens of small context switches out of the modern knowledge worker’s day. These mini‑apps are...

Microsoft has pushed Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5742 to the Dev Channel, a focused update that reshuffles several legacy Control Panel options into Settings, tightens up File Explorer performance and visuals, and rolls out a redesigned mobile device companion inside the Start menu —...

Microsoft has released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27919 to the Canary Channel, introducing a consolidated Windows Search settings page and addressing several issues. Unified Windows Search Settings In this build, Microsoft has streamlined the Windows Search settings by merging the "Search...

Windows 11 just picked up a file‑automation superpower: AI‑driven “actions” built directly into File Explorer that let you right‑click any supported file and instantly summarize documents, remove image backgrounds, erase objects, or launch a Bing Visual Search—no manual app juggling required...

Facing intensifying scrutiny from its global user base, Microsoft has openly acknowledged concerns over Windows 11’s “slow or sluggish” performance and is inviting users to help solve these persistent problems. The company’s renewed effort to crowdsource diagnostics—including via a freshly...

A short-lived blast from the past recently reverberated through the Windows community. Earlier this summer, a peculiar bug caused certain Windows 11 Insider builds to greet users not with the modern, subdued chime of Windows 11, but with the rich, unmistakable startup melody of Windows Vista—a...

Microsoft’s rapid response to a quirky Windows 11 bug has not only put an end to a fleeting moment of nostalgia but also refocused attention on the enduring significance of startup sounds in the operating system’s history. Earlier this summer, members of the Windows Insider Program were briefly...

Microsoft Excel users are entering a new era of productivity this August, as fresh features arrive across Windows, Mac, and the web—moving the world’s leading spreadsheet platform ever closer to a seamless, modern, and highly collaborative experience. These updates, mainly available to Microsoft...