Following a short break for the festive season - and a brief delay after a planned release last week was pushed back - the wheels of the Windows Insider Program began to turn again today with the rollout of Insider Preview build 15002 to PCs in the Fast ring.
The new build brings a huge range of new features to the OS, and also includes improvements to the Edge browser, which now blocks some Flash content by default, as well as adding the first elements of support for Web Payments.
Along with the many other new additions and enhancements to Windows 10, Microsoft also detailed a range of changes in its Settings app, introducing some welcome new features and customization options, as it explained today:
Helping you find the setting you need in Settings: One of our ongoing goals has been to make Settings easier and faster to navigate. Previous updates towards this have included improved Settings search, and adding icons uniquely associated with each Settings category. Based on feedback, we’ve made a few more design tweaks with this build:
Settings pages now contain additional information on the right or bottom (depending on the window size) providing links to support, feedback, and any other related settings if available.
Since our System Settings list was getting quite long, we’ve moved app related settings out of System into a new category called Apps.
You will notice that the header on the landing page of each Settings category will now stay in place as you pan the page.
Updated device settings: The new device settings experience combines the Bluetooth and Connected devices pages to offer a single place to manage your devices/peripherals. Bluetooth accessories, wireless docks, Xbox Wireless controllers, and media devices can all now be discovered and managed from the same place using the same familiar UI on both the desktop and mobile. We’ve also listened to your feedback and added the ability to disconnect and reconnect your Bluetooth audio devices directly from this Settings page. Try out the new page and let us know what you think through the Feedback Hub!
New Display Settings options: Based on feedback of the most commonly used settings, we have updated the Display Settings. In the refreshed display page, numerous changes have been made to make the page clearer and easier to use, including now being able to change resolution straight from the main Display Settings page.
Lower Blue Light: Windows can now automatically lower the amount of blue light emitted from your PC at night. Settings to turn this functionality on or off and use a local sunset and sunrise or custom schedule are in Settings -> System -> Display. If you need to quickly override the schedule or always want manual control, you can enable this quick action in Settings->Notifications & actions. Use this capability for a couple nights and send us feedback through the Feedback Hub, we’d love to know what you think!
New per app Surface Dial settings: App developers have the option of providing custom tools for the Surface Dial when using it within their app. In addition to this, Windows Insiders with Surface Dials will now be able to customize the default tool set for individual apps starting with this build. Setup the keyboard shortcuts most meaningful for specific apps – like Ctrl + Delete in Word 2016, or CTRL + Tab in Sticky Notes. Head to Settings > Devices > Wheel today to try it out and share your thoughts! We’ve also updated the custom tool creator to now enable you to set keyboard shortcuts that include a number of common symbols.
Windows Personalization now supports recent colors: We understand how important colors are for personalizing your Windows experience, and that sometimes it takes a few tries to find the perfect one to match your background. Sometimes you pick a new color, close Settings, only to discover that the color you picked wasn’t quite what you were looking for. We have a solution! With Build 15002, we’ve added a new “recent colors” section to Settings > Personalization > Colors, so you can easily pick between the colors you’ve decided on in the past.
Windows Theme Management in Settings: As we’ve mentioned in the past, one of our ongoing efforts is to consolidate Settings and Control panel, and we use your feedback to prioritize the convergence into Settings. We’re happy to unveil the next piece of this project: Management of themes has now moved out of Control panel and in to the Settings app. It can be found, along with all your other familiar personalization options, under Settings > Personalization. Pick one of your recent themes, or create and save custom new ones. How would you like to see Settings evolve next? Let us know in the Feedback Hub!
Improved Cross-Device Experiences Settings: With the Anniversary Update, we added the ability for app developers to create cross device experiences. Users could enable or disable this feature for their account via Settings > Privacy > General “Let apps on my other devices open apps and continue experiences on this device”. With Build 15002, we’ve moved this setting to its own page – a new entry under Settings > System, called “Cross-device experiences”, and we’ve added a new dropdown to allow you to switch between My Devices or Everyone. If you’re interested in learning more about experiences an example experience that app developers can create with this, check out this blog post.
Metered Ethernet Connection Support: Based on your feedback, we’ve added the “Set as metered connection” option to the Ethernet (LAN) connections in Settings > Network & Internet > Ethernet. Just like mobile broadband and Wi-Fi connections, this option helps you to restrict background data usage from some applications and gives you more control over how data is used over the Ethernet connection.
