Windows 10 Insider Preview build 14342 for PCs is now available - here's what's new

Earlier today, Microsoft released its latest cumulative update for Windows 10 PCs and phones, bumping them both up to build 10586.318. But Microsoft also has an unexpected treat for Windows Insiders on the Fast ring today.

Some #WindowsInsiders have reported getting PC build 14342. We were staging this for tomorrow and looks like it published too far.
— Gabriel Aul (@GabeAul) May 11, 2016

The company was preparing its latest Insider Preview build to be released tomorrow, but unintentionally began pushing the build out to some users today. With the rollout already underway, Microsoft decided to keep going, and has now officially announced availability of Windows 10 Insider Preview build 14342 for PCs.

While the build itself is available now, Language Packs will follow tomorrow.

Build 14342 brings some rather nice additions to Windows 10. In Edge, Microsoft has improved extensions support and added real-time web notifications, and - as we reported back in March - it has now restored a popular feature from the 'Modern' version of Internet Explorer in Windows 8.x: the ability to swipe left and right to navigate backwards and forwards through your browsing history.

There are other additions and improvements too; all the details are below:

Updates for Extensions in Microsoft Edge: Instead of extracting and loading extensions from a local folder, all available extensions can now be downloaded directly from the Windows Store. This change means that your currently installed extensions will be removed, and you’ll have to reinstall the ones you want from the Store. Then in future updates, your extensions will be automatically re-downloaded and installed.

We also have some new extensions available for you to try out. We are excited to announce that starting with this build, both AdBlock and Adblock Plus are now available for download in the Windows Store in addition to Pin It Button, Mouse Gestures, Reddit Enhancement Suite, Microsoft Translator, and OneNote Web Clipper. It is recommended that you only install one of either AdBlock or Adblock Plus as having them both running at the same time can cause issues with viewing websites in Microsoft Edge.

Important note: There is a bug in this build that occurs if you turn off all extensions without uninstalling them, you may not be able to close the browser or get context menus to work. To avoid this issue, uninstall any extensions you no longer want to use instead of turning them off. If you do hit this issue, to get out of this state you will need to turn on one or more extensions or uninstall all extensions, kill any Microsoft Edge processes running in Task Manager, and restart Microsoft Edge.

Real-time web notifications in Microsoft Edge: Microsoft Edge now supports real-time web notifications, which allow participating websites to send notifications to you via Action Center, with your permission. For example, when your friend sends you a message on Skype for Web while you’re busy in the Xbox app, you won’t miss a thing. A notification from the website will appear in Windows, just like an app might send. Click on the notification and you’ll be right back in Microsoft Edge at the site that sent it!

Swipe navigation in Microsoft Edge: Since the release of Windows 10 Mobile, our top feedback request for Microsoft Edge has been asking for the return of the swipe gesture to navigate back and forward. It’s also been one of our top 10 requests on PC. With this build, you can now swipe from anywhere on the page to get back to your previous page. This will be coming in the next Mobile build as well!

Bash on Ubuntu on Windows Improvements:

Symlinks within the Windows Subsystem for Linux are now functional on the mounted Windows directories. This fix helps support many scenarios including the npm installer.

Users with non-Latin Windows usernames are now able to install Bash on Ubuntu on Windows.

Many more improvements can be found in the WSL release notes here!

Skype UWP Preview Update: The Skype UWP Preview app has been response to your feedback. In this release, you have the ability to set a dark theme and can switch between different Skype accounts. You can expect mobile release in the next few weeks.

Updated Windows Ink Workspace icon: We have updated the Windows Ink Workspace icon on the taskbar. The new icon shows a more expressive ink stroke and is more consistent with other icons in the notification area. The new icon also looks better at wider range of sizes.

Updated visuals for User Account Control dialog: The UAC dialog now supports dark mode! As part of this work, we’ve updated also the header color from yellow to blue.

Middle-click for dismiss in Action Center: Action Center now supports the popular dismiss model of middle-clicking on a notification via the middle button scroll wheel on your mouse to a single notification. Middle-clicking on an app’s name will dismiss all the notifications listed for that app.

Apps for websites: As we discussed at Build 2016, you will soon be able to redirect certain websites to open with an app instead. While there are currently no apps that support this, in preparation for their availability we have added a new page at Settings > System > Apps for websites where you will be able to manage them. Please stay tuned!

Feedback Hub improvements: We’ve heard from you that it can sometimes be hard to find which category your feedback belongs in. Now when you create new feedback, the Feedback Hub will suggest categories and subcategories based on the title and description you entered. If you see a suggestion that looks right, just click it to fill in the menus and get your feedback to the right engineers quickly.