The latest Windows 10 Fast Ring Insiders build is out, bringing us to 18895. This is a small update, bringing just a single fix (the Your Phone app works again). Get in there and grab it. A few caveats for some users, though.

This flight won’t be available for the following editions:

• Windows 10 Home N x64 in HU-HU and PT-PT.
• Windows 10 Home x64 in CS-CZ, ES-ES, and KO-KR.
• Windows 10 Professional x64 in LV-LV and ES-MX.

General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC

• The Your Phone app now works again! We have fixed the issue from Build 18894 causing Your Phone to not work.

The latest build of Windows 10 for the Fast Ring has been released, this time bringing the build number to 18894. Part of the 20H1 update, it has a few improvements and a bit of known issues to check out before updating.

Known Issues

• Due to an OS bug, the Your Phone app will not work on this build (20H1 Build 18894). This issue does not impact the Your Phone app if you are in the Slow and Release Preview rings. We expect to have this issue resolved in the next flight to the Fast ring. Appreciate your patience.

• 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.

• If you use remote desktop to connect to an enhanced session VM, taskbar search results will not be visible (just a dark area) until you restart searchui.exe.

• We’re investigating reports that on certain devices if fast startup is enabled, night light doesn’t turn on until after a restart. (Note: The problem will occur on a “cold” reboot or power off / power on. To work around if night light doesn’t turn on, use Start > Power > Restart.)

• There’s a noticeable lag when dragging the emoji and dictation panels.

• Tamper Protection may be turned off in Windows Security after updating to this build. You can turn it back on.

• Some features on Start Menu and in All apps are not localized in languages such as FR-FR, RU-RU, and ZH-CN.

• In the Ease of Access settings, selecting a color filter may not take effect right away unless color filters option is turned off and back on again.

• The IME candidate window for East Asian IMEs (Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and the Japanese IME) may not open sometimes. We are investigating the issue. In the meantime, going to Task Manager and ending the “WindowsInternal.ComposableShell.Experiences.TextInput.InputApp.exe” task from the from the Details tab should unblock you if you experience this issue.

• We are aware of an issue with the Bopomofo IME where the character width is suddenly changed to Full width from Half width and are investigating.

The Windows Insiders team has released the latest build of Windows 10 to the fast ring, build 18885. For those that had issues updating to 18875 previously, an additional update will be required (details at the blog post linked above). Some cool new features and as always – check the known issues before updating so you don’t hit a major snag that will affect your experience.

Known Issues

• 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.

• If you use remote desktop to connect to an enhanced session VM, taskbar search results will not be visible (just a dark area) until you restart explorer.exe.

• We’re investigating reports that on certain devices if fast startup is enabled night light doesn’t turn on until after a restart. (Note: The problem will occur on a “cold” reboot or power off / power on. To work around if night light doesn’t turn on, use Start > Power > Restart.)

• There’s a noticeable lag when dragging the emoji and dictation panels.

• Tamper Protection may be turned off in Windows Security after updating to this build. You can turn it back on.

• Some features on Start Menu and in All apps are not localized in languages such as FR-FR, RU-RU, and ZH-CN.

A new build has been released to the Fast Ring as well as for Skip Ahead users, as the builds are now merged and will be receiving the same builds going forward. Build 18875 is the latest build with a few new language improvements, some fixes and changes. As always, make sure and read the known issues before updating as they may be a show stopper. The latest being the GSOD with games that use anti-cheat software. Things have been improving on this front, so make sure you update your games (Steam and others can automatically do this for you) before playing as they may have already been fixed.

Known Issues

• 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.

The final Windows XP product that was supported, Windows XP Embedded POSReady 2009, ends it’s support today, marking the final nail in the coffin for the 17 year old operating system, which was released in October of 2001. Some have used registry tweaks to continue to get Windows XP patches, but those are coming to an end as well. The longest running supported operating system from Microsoft is now considered a dead OS. As expected, they are suggesting users to migrate to Windows IoT Enterprise or Windows 10 Professional.

Microsoft would like to remind users that support for Windows Embedded Standard 2009 ended January 10, 2019 and that support for Windows Embedded POSReady 2009 will end on April 9, 2019.

For customers still maintaining these platforms, Microsoft recommends that you consider moving to Windows 10 IoT Enterprise or Windows 10 Pro. If you are an Enterprise Customer and need information on upgrading, please contact your Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) or Microsoft Authorized Distributor. If you are an OEM and need additional information, please contact your Microsoft sales representative or Distributor.

In Windows 10 version 1809 and later, a change in the default behavior for USB storage devices will allow you to remove your device without using the “Safely Remove Hardware” procedure. Yes, you’ll be able to just remove your USB drive without any data corruption. This is due to the change in the default setting for USB storage devices. Rather than using the Better Performance policy, they are now using the Quick Removal. This does lower the performance of the device for the ease of use by turning off the cache disk write setting. This just changes the default setting and it can be changed at any time.

Windows defines two main policies, Quick removal and Better performance, that control how the system interacts with external storage devices such as USB thumb drives or Thunderbolt-enabled external drives. Beginning in Windows 10 version 1809, the default policy is Quick removal.

In earlier versions of Windows the default policy was Better performance.

You can change the policy setting for each external device, and the policy that you set remains in effect if you disconnect the device and then connect it again to the same computer port.

The Microsoft Edge Insider program has started. These builds are the Chromium versions of Edge, which bring the Chrome engine to the Microsoft browser. So far, I have been extremely happy with Edge with the new engine. You do have a few options for signing up with the new Edge insider channels.

Beta Channel – Updated every 6 weeks. This is currently not an option as they need to work on the other two channels until a viable build is ready for this channel.

Dev Channel – Updated weekly. This has been tested more thorough and is more stable than the last channel, Canary Channel.

Canary Channel – This is updated daily. Being so up to date can bring some bugs and stability issues, but you will be on the most recent builds and is updated automatically almost every night. You’re seeing the changes that were committed yesterday.

As always, these are pre-release builds and will have some bugs, stability issues, and other anomalies from time to time. They should not be used in a production environment or some place where you need full stability and performance. They are used for testing the new Chrome engine, compatibility, development, or for fun to see the new changes in Edge.

Today is the 44th birthday of the founding of Microsoft (then, Micro-Soft) by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Founded April 4th, 1975, it started small ($16,000 in revenue by the end of 1976) but has grown into a massive international corporation worth billions. Hit the Wikipedia page for some good information on the history of this very influential company.

The Windows team has a new blog post detailing some of the things they are doing to improve the Windows 10 Update experience. I know that it has been and still is a big issue with a lot of people, both in person and on the forums. Enough to where it’s getting people very upset and ready to throw their PC in the river.

A lot of great new things coming from Microsoft when it comes to updates, from having more control of updates, when the updates happen, and no surprise reboots to more transparency for what exactly the updates are bringing to Windows.

In previous Windows 10 feature update rollouts, the update installation was automatically initiated on a device once our data gave us confidence that device would have a great update experience.  Beginning with the Windows 10 May 2019 Update, users will be more in control of initiating the feature OS update.  We will provide notification that an update is available and recommended based on our data, but it will be largely up to the user to initiate when the update occurs.  When Windows 10 devices are at, or will soon reach, end of service, Windows update will continue to automatically initiate a feature update; keeping machines supported and receiving monthly updates is critical to device security and ecosystem health.  We are adding new features that will empower users with control and transparency around when updates are installed. In fact, all customers will now have the ability to explicitly choose if they want to update their device when they “check for updates” or to pause updates for up to 35 days.

The latest build of Windows 10 19H1 for the fast ring has been released, build 18334. A lot of new features, some fixes, and more known issues that might be a show stopper. Grab it while it’s hot!

Known issues:

• BattleEye software (used by Fortnite, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and other popular games) does not work correctly with builds flighted to the Windows Insider Fast ring since December. If you have a PC that is not already enrolled in Windows Insider Fast, and you play games that use BattleEye software, we recommend you don’t join Windows Insider Fast on that PC.
• If you don’t have access to the State of Decay test game, be sure to use the same Microsoft Account (MSA) and Gamertag for the Xbox Insider hub and the Microsoft Store app.
• If you experience an error related to DirectX, please first file a Feedback Hub bug following the instructions above, and then try the following:
  • Launch the game again. This should trigger the DirectX installer to run which should fix any issues caused by previous install failures.
  • If the above doesn’t work, uninstall State of Decay by right-clicking Start, selecting Apps and Features, and then selecting Uninstall for the State of Decay entry. Then try the download and install again.
  • If you continue to see the same error even after the steps above, you can also try downloading and installing DirectX manually: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8109
• If the Install button in the Store doesn’t work, please first file a Feedback Hub bug following the instructions above, and then try the following:
  • Restart your PC and try the install again.
  • If the above, doesn’t work, click Start, search for ‘wsreset’ and run that command, then try the install again.
• There is an intro video that plays at the start of the State of Decay test game which is squeezed into a thin line on left side of screen. Please ignore this issue; the game works fine once the title screen appears.
• If you have a Microsoft Account on your machine which is a Child account and have Parental Controls turned on for that account, the State of Decay test game won’t install. We are investigating a fix for this in a forthcoming Windows flight.
• You can install and run the State of Decay test game in a Virtual Machine (VM) if you aren’t able to test on real hardware; the download and install will work fine, but you will experience slow performance when running the game itself. Note: downloading and installing is still very helpful to find issues!