Microsoft has released Windows 10 Build 10565 to Fast Ring Insiders, bringing a couple of major new features to the new build as Microsoft begins work on Windows Redstone.
Gabriel Aul, Microsoft vice president of its Windows Devices Group engineering systems announced Threshold 2 build in a blog post, detailing what new features, bug fixes and issues Insiders can expect when they download the new build.
Most prominent among these is the full integration of Skype Universal apps into a Windows 10, a feature that many users have been waiting for. This will allow users to respond to Skype calls and messages via Windows 10's Messaging, Phone and Skype video apps without having to open up the Skype app itself. In future builds of Windows 10 Mobile, users can expect to see the same integration as well.
Microsoft also introduced a smarter Cortana that can now track users' leisure time activities and send users an email notification two hours before the scheduled activity. More importantly, Cortana can now "read" scribbled notes using Microsoft's Surface Pen, a feature that users of touchscreen-enabled devices will definitely find very useful, since they no longer have to type in their notes for Cortana to be able to read them.
Microsoft's Edge browser also gets a minor upgrade with Edge tab previews. This feature can save users some time by letting them peek into tabs to see what's going on instead of opening entire tabs altogether.
Microsoft will also now let users activate Windows 10 by using their existing product keys for Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. Aul says this activation method also works for users who want to do a clean install of Windows 10 instead of upgrading from older Windows editions. To do this, users can simply go to Settings > Update & security > Activation and then choose Change Product Key.
Along with the new features, Microsoft also included fixes for known problems in previous builds, including issues with changed ring settings, background audio playback in Groove and inappropriately sized context menus. Build 10565 also addresses a major Windows Store problem that prevents app from updating automatically.
As expected, the new build also comes with a number of known-and possibly still unknown-issues. One of these is the search box refusing to appear in locales where Cortana is not available. Aul says his team has a workaround for this problem, although a more permanent solution should be in the pipeline soon.
We have a workaround for the Search issue on the 10565 build: If Search isn't working for you, download *any* lang pack and it should work.
— Gabriel Aul (@GabeAul) October 12, 2015
Also, for players who are planning on adding Win32 games to Xbox app, they might be surprised to find out that Windows 10 will eat up a huge chunk of memory when they run this games. Aul says the solution to this for now is to close the Xbox app.
Lastly, users who are looking to upgrade their small form-factor devices with rotation or virtual mode screen will be unable to do so and will simply encounter the blue screen of death upon upgrade before rolling back to the previous build.
Build 10565 is expected to be the last Windows 10 build before Microsoft rolls out Windows Redstone, believed to be the first major update to Windows 10 since its release last July.
