Microsoft announced that a new build is available for members of the Windows Insiders program. Build 15042 is primarily focused on bug fixes, but it also includes updates to the Microsoft Edge browser, its e-book reading experience, and a couple of new animations for the Cortana virtual assistant.
Perhaps the most important update is one that makes it easier to tell when a website has Flash components. Microsoft said a new puzzle icon in Edge's URL bar will "make it clearer when Flash content has been blocked," which should in turn make it easier for people to leave Flash disabled by default. Given that Microsoft released a patch related to vulnerabilities in the Flash Player, despite pushing off February's security updates, that's a good thing.
Edge has also been updated with a new EPUB reading experience. Microsoft explained in its blog post:
When reading a locally saved EPUB book in Microsoft Edge on PC, a book icon will now be used in the place of the previous generic in the tab bar.If you switch pages while an EPUB book is being read aloud in Microsoft Edge, the reader will now jump to that new location in the book.If you’ve changed the read aloud settings when reading an EPUB in Microsoft Edge, those settings will now be preserved for subsequently opened books.
Build 15042 also includes some new Cortana animations in OOBE. Besides that, the new build has a bunch of bug fixes, many of them related to Edge. Perhaps the most welcome fix for gamers will be the one addressing the issue "where upgrading with an Xbox controller paired over Bluetooth could result in touch input not working and unexpected beeps when using the mouse." The full list of fixes can be found in Microsoft's blog post.
Of course, this wouldn't be an Insider Preview without some known issues. Microsoft said Build 15042 has problems with Windows Hello, and some devices might not update to the new build due to a corrupt registry key, among other things. Gamers will also notice that some titles minimize to the task bar at launch--though clicking them should resolve the problem--and that using the Game Bar to broadcast will result in green flashes on some hardware.
But those are pretty minor issues. These builds offer a glimpse at what Microsoft has planned for the Windows 10 Creators Update slated to launch some time this Spring. Members of the Windows Insiders program can download build 15042 for PC (and build 15043 for mobile devices) from Microsoft.
