The return of the Windows 8 Start Screen? Something like that! Microsoft has released Windows 11 build 25201 in the Dev channel, and this new preview version offers some serious improvements.
At least as far as widgets are concerned.
If anything, this is the prime focus of this new build, as Redmond is trying out some new changes that amp up the widget experience on Windows 11. We now have an expanded view in Widgets—perfect for those who spend their whole day looking at these marvelous creations.
If you are one such user and need more space in your widgets board because you can’t quite see everything at a glance, then this expanded view should be right up your alley.
This is how it looks:
The expand and collapse buttons are up there in the top right corner of the board, next to the add widgets button. This can help you expand or collapse the size of your widgets board, which is thankfully remembered.
Meaning, if you prefer your widgets board to always show more content, you can leave it expanded, and it will open like so the next time.
On the topic of widget improvements, we also have some for the newly released Game Pass widget, which introduces the ability to sign in with your Xbox profile.
If you are already signed in to the Xbox app on PC, the Game Pass widget will be signed in with your Xbox account. And once signed in, the widget will show the full range of Game Pass games available to you and the most recent set of PC Game Pass titles you have played.
This provides a way for gamers to quickly get right back into the action, so welcome improvements all around for this neat little widget.
Moving on, we have several other small changes and improvements in build 25201, including some related to File Explorer, where search will now show results as you type. The full search results page will update live without needing to press enter.
Microsoft is also experimenting with adding more cloud files to search results from Home.
This build also has a long list of bug fixes and known issues, somewhat longer than other builds, so you might want to take a look before you deploy this fresh new release on your test system.
Happy downloading!
