A Monday move, to brighten your week ahead! While Microsoft has made it a bit of a habit of releasing new builds on Wednesdays, Windows 10 build 18298 is here as a special surprise.
And to make things even more interesting, this is one of those big bang releases — those select preview versions that Microsoft releases during a development cycle that pack in an awful lot of features. Since the company skipped a build release last week, this one brings it.
Microsoft has the details in the announcement post.
But we start things off with some consolidated sign-in options, with the Windows maker now allowing you to set up a security key straight from Settings.
If you’re not too impressed by that, then the File Explorer improvements are sure to delight. The software titan has updated the icon to make it look better with the new light theme. It’s more shadowy, so to say, but looks good nonetheless.
Oh, and by the same stroke of the brush, Redmond has also updated the default downloads folder sorting, where the most recently downloaded files are now listed at the top. Finally!
Not the one to be left behind, the Start Menu has also picked up the ability to quickly unpin groups and folders, which is, well, nice for the times when you want to start afresh.
On the touch keyboard side of things, we have some improvements that let you type faster, and with more accuracy. Microsoft has also updated the console with some shiny new features, many of which are experimental in nature right now.
If you are the type that uses Notepad, then you will like what’s on offer here.
First up is the modified indicator that shows up a little asterisk when a document has unsaved changes. It is also possible to send feedback directly from the applications, while a bunch of handy new shortcuts are also in the house.
Speaking of in the house, there are a range of Narrator and Ease of Access improvements in this build, including bright and bigger cursors — if that’s your thing.
Windows 10 S users will find an updated setup experience that goes a long way towards simplifying things for this flavor of the operating system.
To round things off, Game Bar now has a gallery for images and videos, along with Twitter uploads.
Build 18298 is from the 19H1 development branch, and almost all these features are expected to make the cut in the next major update to the OS. Download this release and try them out yourself today.
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