Windows 10 Insider build includes Start menu folders and Edge tab overview

Microsoft has released Insider Preview build 15002 for systems in the fast ring ahead of the Windows 10 Creators Update. The test version contains many new functionalities, including for Edge, the Start Menu and the display of windows.

Microsoft itself speaks of a major update and lists the changes. Among other things, the Edge browser has been enhanced with new features, such as an expandable bar that shows preview screenshots of open tabs, which the user can scroll through.

Also, in the test build, Edge offers the option to set aside a series of open tabs, so that the user can continue browsing the web with a clean slate without losing the collection of tabs. In addition, Edge would be more stable and responsive, introducing a new uwp architecture for the browser’s multi-process model. Furthermore, Flash is click-to-run as of this build, meaning elements that use it are blocked by default.

Microsoft continues to work on the Start Menu and with the current release, according to the company in response to feedback, the ability to group Live Tiles into a single tile has been added. By dragging and dropping tiles on another, the ‘folders’ can be created.

Insider Preview build 15002 includes further improvements for display on high-resolution screens. With an update in December, certain Microsoft apps such as Microsoft Management Console were already better displayed, now that is also the case with the Performance Monitor. In addition, it can be forced that with other programs based on the Windows graphics device interface the display becomes sharper at high dpi values. Some of those programs still use bitmap stretching when scaling to high resolution, which causes the display to appear blurry.

Changing the window size of gdi and uwp apps should also be smoother, Microsoft promises, among other things by making the background transparent when adjusting. When users set up their PC for the first time, Cortana now helps them get started with questions and spoken explanations.

Microsoft has made several changes to the Settings menu to make it easier to navigate. For example, the long list of System Settings has been reduced by bringing all app settings into a single App menu item and the Bluetooth and Connected menus have been merged.

Windows 10 can reduce blue light from this release to combat sleep disturbances and build 15002 also marks the arrival of the green screen of death, which will only be seen on Insider builds. The Hyper-V manager has been given a Quick Create option, which allows you to set up a virtual machine within a few clicks.

Users of the Professional, Education and Enterprise updates will have the option to pause updates for a maximum of 35 days, and the option to exclude driver updates from update rounds. Finally, Microsoft is testing ways to improve the battery life of Windows 10 systems. The test concerns a limited number of systems, where Microsoft will throttle the processes of one or more applications. The company promises that users will not notice any change in performance. In addition, some users will see a slider for use with which they can probably set which power mode Windows 10 should run in. Microsoft promises to provide more information about this in mid-February.