In the Windows world, a lot of attention has been focused on the upcoming Windows 10 May 2019 Update, which was released to the Release Preview ring earlier this week, where it will be for a whole month before the general release - a very good choice, in our opinion. Meanwhile, it's been a couple of weeks since we got a new build in the Skip Ahead ring, but that changes today, as Microsoft has released build 18875 to Insiders in both Fast and Skip Ahead
In addition to some improvements to the East Asian IME, the build has a few bug fixes over the previous release, which was build 18865. Here's what's been improved:
- We fixed an issue that could result in a freeze on the lock screen if you interacted with the touch keyboard and then switched keyboard layouts.
- We fixed an issue resulting in Settings sporadically crashing in the last few builds.
- We fixed an issue resulting in some Insiders being prompted to setup their device after every reboot.
- We fixed an issue resulting in some of the text under Settings > System > Storage > Temporary Files being unexpectedly garbled in Chinese and Japanese.
- We’ve made a change in Timeline for keyboard-only users, so if you’re doing a search and haven’t opted in, you’ll no longer have to tab past the opt-in text before you can get to the search results.
- We fixed an issue that could cause certain applications to flicker if they were maximized and you launched the touch keyboard.
- We fixed an issue where, if the Photos tile was pinned to Start, it could potentially result in unexpected battery drain as the tile animation would trigger even if Start wasn’t open.
Despite fixing a number of problems, the build isn't without know issues, most of which have actually been around for some time now, such as problems with Creative X-Fi sound cards, and games that use anti-cheat software, though, as Microsoft states, the latter is up to game developers to fix. Here's the full list:
- There has been an issue with older versions of anti-cheat software used with games where after updating to the latest 19H1 Insider Preview builds may cause PCs to experience crashes. We are working with partners on getting their software updated with a fix, and most games have released patches to prevent PCs from experiencing this issue. To minimize the chance of running into this issue, please make sure you are running the latest version of your games before attempting to update the operating system. We are also working with anti-cheat and game developers to resolve similar issues that may arise with the 20H1 Insider Preview builds, and will work to minimize the likelihood of these issues in the future.
- Some Realtek SD card readers are not functioning properly. We are investigating the issue.
- Creative X-Fi sound cards are not functioning properly. Creative has released updated drivers for some affected X-Fi sound cards. Please refer to Creative’s website for details on your particular hardware and any available updates.
If you're a developer, you need to know that you won't be able to activate features such as developer mode if you install this build and then move down to the Slow ring. This is because these features target specific builds in specific rings.
As folks are used to by now in the Skip Ahead ring, this build is part of the 20H1 development branch. This means it's for testing the feature update coming in the first half of 2020.
With all the above in mind, it's the first time that a 20H1 build makes it to the Fast ring, something which Microsoft had previously announced. It remains to be seen exactly how testing will be done for this year's second big update, known as 19H2, but it seems like the Slow ring is the only likely option.
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