insider program

The Xbox ecosystem has its first visible step toward a long‑requested quality‑of‑life feature — a cloud save upload indicator — but early hands‑on testing in the Xbox Insider channel shows the experience is rough, incomplete, and still a long way from the polished cross‑device synchronization...

Microsoft has started previewing a Copilot update for Windows 11 that can directly open and explain individual Windows Settings pages from inside the Copilot app — a small change on the surface that meaningfully improves discoverability, accessibility, and contextual help for everyday Windows...

Microsoft has quietly corrected a long‑running Windows update annoyance: the “Update and shut down” command that sometimes installed updates but left PCs powered on instead of actually shutting them down has been fixed in Insider preview builds, marking the end of an intermittent but widespread...

Microsoft’s slow-but-steady march to a truly consistent dark theme in Windows has taken a visible step forward: the latest Windows 11 Insider Preview in the Dev Channel finally extends dark mode into the previously stubborn light-mode pockets of File Explorer, while also adding a handful of...

Microsoft’s near-final Windows 11 25H2 build has quietly begun to appear as official ISO media on Microsoft’s delivery infrastructure, with Release Preview ISOs now discoverable by enthusiasts and the enablement-package (eKB) path — KB5054156 — confirmed as the primary in-place upgrade for...

Microsoft has pushed a coordinated set of new Insider preview packages across the Dev, Beta and Canary channels — delivered under cumulative update KB5065786 — that surface the same key Copilot-driven UX experiments to Dev and Beta (builds 26220.6690 and 26120.6690 respectively) while Canary...

Microsoft pushed Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27950 to the Canary Channel with a tightly focused set of reliability and compatibility fixes — most notably addressing persistent File Explorer freezes, audio regressions, and intermittent screen flicker while also smoothing gaming overlay...

Microsoft’s new handheld-focused “Xbox mode” for Windows 11 is already being run on existing Windows handhelds — in some cases by users who have forced the mode early via Insider/Release Preview builds and system tweaks — giving owners of devices like the original ASUS ROG Ally and other Windows...

Microsoft is quietly rolling out another round of practical — and strategically significant — updates to three of Windows 11’s oldest built‑in utilities: Notepad, Paint, and Snipping Tool. Insiders in the Dev and Canary channels can already try a mix of incremental UX improvements and larger...

Microsoft’s handheld push has taken a new turn: the Xbox-style, full‑screen “Xbox Mode” that will ship as the default experience on the ROG Xbox Ally family is already appearing on other Windows 11 handhelds — in community builds and hacks — ahead of the Ally’s retail launch, forcing a rapid...

Windows 11’s Widgets board is an underused but powerful way to surface the information you need without opening full apps — and adding, customizing, or removing widgets is straightforward once you know where to look and what to expect. This guide distills the practical steps for adding and...

Microsoft’s latest Windows 11 Insider builds are shipping a new, full-screen renewal prompt aimed at lapsed Microsoft 365 subscriptions — an eye-catching SCOOBE (Second‑Chance Out‑of‑Box Experience) screen that insiders and early reports describe as a full‑screen nag to renew rather than a...

Microsoft’s Release Preview rings received another quiet pair of cumulative updates this week: one for Windows 11 and one for Windows 10, both described by Microsoft as small, stability-focused fixes rather than new features—an unsurprising posture as Windows 10 approaches end of support and...

Microsoft has pushed Windows 11 Build 22631.5982 (KB5065790) to Insiders in the Release Preview Channel, delivering a broad set of reliability fixes and quality updates aimed at version 23H2 users and administrators. Background Windows Insider channels exist to stage changes before they reach...

Microsoft is testing a small but meaningful change in Windows 11 that lets the Xbox button on controllers do more: a long press will open Task View so gamers can quickly switch between apps and games, while a short press still opens the Game Bar and a sustained hold continues to power off the...

Microsoft has quietly begun remapping the Xbox controller’s central Guide button in recent Windows 11 Insider builds so that a short tap still opens the Game Bar, a long press now opens Task View, and a sustained hold continues to power the controller off — a small input-change that signals a...

Microsoft’s Xbox app on Windows 11 has quietly evolved from a Game Pass storefront into a genuine, controller-friendly gaming hub capable of listing and launching installed titles from Steam, Epic, GOG, Battle.net and more — and the company is now rolling key pieces of that work out to wider...

Microsoft has quietly reworked the Xbox app on Windows 11 into a genuine one‑stop hub for PC gaming, and the implications reach well beyond a refreshed launcher: the app now aggregates installed titles from multiple storefronts, lets you launch non‑Microsoft games without opening third‑party...

Microsoft has quietly repurposed the Xbox button on gamepads when used with Windows 11 Insiders: a long press now opens Task View while a short press still launches the Game Bar, and a press-and-hold continues to power down the controller — a small but practical tweak rolling out to Dev and Beta...

Microsoft’s latest Release Preview update for Windows 11 brings a concentrated set of AI-driven features to Insiders — and one of the most eye-catching is the expansion of Automatic Super Resolution (Auto SR) to more titles, but with a strict hardware caveat: Auto SR remains gated to Copilot+...