Released last night, build 10061 is available for download by Windows Insiders in the fast-ring of updates now. There are several new additions, detailed in a post by Gabe Aul on the Windows blog.
Themes
One of the most noticeable changes is the new enhanced personalisation options. You can now adjust the background colours for the Start menu, Taskbar and Action Center individually. Additionally, the Start menu also has adjustable transparency and the ability to resize the menu has also returned.
The all-new dark system theme that has been shown off in numerous leaked screenshots recently makes its first official appearance in this build. Easier on the eyes and likely to be viewed as more attractive by many, enabling the option switches the entire operating system to dark accents and will be familiar to users of the dark Windows Phone theme.
Image courtesy of Softpedia.
Tablets
Tablet users will be pleased to note that support for touchscreen devices is improved. The Continuum tablet mode now operates in a “simplified” style by default, removing pinned and running apps from the taskbar to create a clutter-free environment.
Image courtesy of Softpedia.
The notification panel gains extra padding and the Start button, Cortana and Task View buttons on the Taskbar also all grow in size when Tablet Mode is enabled, making them more finger-friendly. A new setting makes it possible to boot to Tablet Mode; this will be enabled by default on all tablets under 10 inches in size.
Image courtesy of Softpedia.
Window management
Microsoft has made several changes to the Virtual Desktop and Task View features. Task View and the Alt+Tab switcher have new icons that work better with the rest of the operating system. Power users will be pleased to discover that you can now create an unlimited number of virtual desktops.
Image courtesy of Softpedia.
Mail and Calendar
The stock mail and calendar apps have been updated to the new Windows 10 style. Now utilising the new Office rich text editing features, both apps are much more feature-rich than their preedecesors. Available on Windows 10 for Phones for a couple of weeks, Mail has customisable swipe gestures like iOS and it is now much quicker to switch between mail and calendar.
Known issues
As with all Windows 10 preview releases, there is a substantial list of known issues with this build. Although some issues in previous versions have been fixed in 10061, many new ones have arrived.
The most serious of these for the moment is a major bug involving the Start menu. It is currently impossible to launch ordinary desktop programs from the Start menu. The suggested fix is to use search to find the programs required and to pin them to the Taskbar or create desktop shortcuts.
Other issues involve the possibility of audio from an app ending when it is minimized, broken Xbox Music downloads and a comical issue in the new Mail and Calendar apps in this build which causes every typed letter to appear twice. Microsoft will be issuing a Windows Update for the last two of these soon.
Conclusion
Overall, build 10061 is a substantial step in the right direction for Windows 10. Giving users enhanced customisation abilities will always be popular while small tablet users can only benefit from enlarged icons and a simplified experience. Even the hardcore power-users on desktop machines have been appeased with the possibility of unlimited virtual desktops to enhance productivity and make it easier to organise your Windows workplace.
Microsoft is currently on track to release Windows 10 this summer. As such, it is expected that there may not be many more preview builds as the OS will soon have to be finalized and released to manufacturers. With Microsoft BUILD starting in just a few days, we can expect to learn a lot more about Windows 10 and its launch very soon.
