As with other recent Fast ring builds, 16241 brings a wide range of new features to Windows Insiders' PCs. Among the most visible improvements in the new build are those focusing on the Windows Shell:
Recover your pin and password from the lock screen: Self Service solutions empower end users, unburden helpdesk/IT admins, and save organizations money. Cloud Self Service Password Reset (Cloud SSPR) has been a really popular Azure AD Premium (AADP) feature and now we want to take this great capability one step further – Windows Integration. If you’re using an AADP or MSA account and you find yourself stuck at the login screen, you can now reset your password and PIN straight from here. Just click the “Reset password” (for password) / ”I forgot my PIN” (for PIN) link and you’ll be prompted to go through the AAD or MSA flow to reset it. Once reset, you’ll be returned to the login screen where you can login with your newly minted credentials.
Refining Acrylic Material: We’ve heard your feedback, and in response in today’s build you’ll notice we’ve softened the noise layer of Acrylic Material. Below you’ll find a side by side comparison of how it was and how it is now. This will take effect in any XAML based UI and apps where Acrylic Material can be seen which targets Build 16241+.
Microsoft also highlighted a couple of improvements - well, fixes really - for PC gaming:
We fixed an issue preventing profile cards in the Xbox Live in-game experience from working.
We also fixed an issue causing Game bar to crash while broadcasting.
The new build introduces numerous revisions to the venerable Windows Task Manager too, including some much-needed improvements to how Microsoft Edge processes are identified:
We have made some design changes to the GPU section of Performance tab:
The GPU name is now shown on the left-hand side of the Performance tab for each GPU.
We now default to the multi-engine view, which shows performance monitors for the four most active GPU engines. Typically you’ll see charts for the 3D, Copy, Video Encode and Video Decode engines. Right-click on the chart to switch back to the single-engine view.
There is now a total GPU memory text counter next to the dedicated and shared text counters at the bottom of the Performance tab.
The Direct X version now also contains the highest supported DX feature level.
We have improved how Microsoft Edge’s processes are labeled in Task Manager: In Build 16226, we introduced grouping an app’s processes together in Task Manager. For Microsoft Edge, tab processes were labeled in Task Manager with their web page title.
We’ve heard your feedback that other Microsoft Edge processes could use better labels. Starting in Build 16241, additional processes (such as the Chakra JIT Compiler, UI Service, and Manager process) are now labeled in Task Manager. We’ll continue to revise these labels based on feedback.
There's a long list of improvements and fixes for the Windows Mixed Reality experience in the new build:
Added support for Mixed Reality Motion Controllers over USB (Wireless/Bluetooth support to come soon!)
Connection reliability improvements (Code 43 errors in Device Manager).
We’ve updated the Mixed Reality Portal icon.
We’ve updated teleportation experience to make this more intuitive and direct.
We have also improved stability of the headset during your Mixed Reality session.
We have fixed the issue where the Hill on the side of the cliff house flickers.
We have also fixed where the audio of HoloTour can now turn off promptly when switching between apps and cliff house.
we have also fixed speech commands to work during exclusive app sessions.
We have also improved the experience where we can now load the Environment effectively with no black screen during startup.
Mixed Reality Portal now explicitly informs users that headsets require USB 3.0.
Improved support for ASMedia and other 3rd party USB controllers
4K 360 Video streaming has also been improved in this build.
3Glasses improvements: we have fixed various issues with 3Glasses headset and controller to help jumpstart your development.
Preset holograms in the Cliff House now show up in the right order.
We have also fixed the issue where black screen is shown when the environment is loading.
We have fixed the headset’s sleep cycle to correct according to user activities.
We have also fixed the issue to enable users to share the Mixed Reality captures to Facebook.
Ever since Windows 10 launched, Microsoft has been working hard to improve the update process, both for the OS itself and for apps downloaded from the Windows Store. Build 16241 includes more delivery optimization improvements:
Delivery Optimization has been synonymous with “Peer-to-peer” but few people are aware that it is also used as the main downloader for content downloaded from Windows Update and Windows Store. Delivery Optimization, even without P2P, is what makes downloads from Windows Store much faster as well as makes downloads of Quality and Feature updates far more reliable. In line with this, the main settings page – now titled “Delivery Optimization” – indicates that while you can enable or disable the P2P functionality, Delivery Optimization is still used when downloading updates and apps directly from Microsoft’s content servers. You can go to this page via Settings > Update & security > Windows Update under “Advanced options” and then “Delivery Optimization.
You may notice two new links under the Delivery Optimization settings page that provide you with some new features for more control and visibility:
Delivery Optimization Advanced Options: Here you can configure various Download and Upload settings.
Delivery Optimization continuously measures your available bandwidth during a download and dynamically adjusts the amount of bandwidth used in background downloads to ensure these downloads won’t interrupt your use of your device. However, Delivery Optimization may not be aware of download activity that takes place on other devices in your household. If you have limited connectivity and would like to minimize the impact you can now use the Download settings to throttle your download speed for background downloads.
If you own multiple devices we encourage you to allow downloads from other PCs on your local network to reduce the amount of bandwidth used by your devices that are downloading the same updates.
In addition, if you enable the option to download from other PCs on the Internet, you may want to restrict the use of your upload bandwidth by throttling the upload speed or the total amount of bytes sent to other devices by enabling a Monthly upload limit.
Activity Monitor: Here you can see the overall bandwidth used in downloads of OS Updates including Feature and Quality updates as well as Store App downloads and updates on your device. You will also be able to see exactly the amount of data coming from other PCs on your local network or other PC on the Internet based on your settings.
Note that the data reflects the bandwidth used since the first day of the month.
Finally, Microsoft's Dona Sarkar also mentioned - as we reported earlier this week - that Ubuntu is now available to download from the Windows Store, and can be installed on any Windows 10 Insider Preview higher than build 16215.
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