Microsoft released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 19025 to Fast ring members of the Windows Insider Program on Friday. The new build's headlining feature: a new-and-improved Windows Search meant to address the Windows community's biggest complaints with what should be a quietly capable part of the operating system (OS).
The new build doesn't appear to address problems with Windows Desktop Search not working for certain users who install recent cumulative updates to Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft said that it's "been continuing to work on improving search results based on your feedback," meaning the changes should be more than just bug fixes.
Microsoft said that some Windows Insider Program members disabled the indexer used by Windows Search because of "excessive disk and CPU usage, general performance issues and low perceived value of the indexer." Preview Build 19025 changes that by "introducing an algorithm that detects high disk usage and activity, so it can better identify peak usage times and manage the indexer accordingly."
The OS maker has also been "making changes for developers to prevent searches of certain repositories and project folders to improve disk usage."
The build also fixes a list of bugs, of course, including some that prevented Windows Defender Application Guard and Windows Sandbox from working. But it also has some known issues that might continue to give enthusiasts pause when it comes to these builds.
One issue involves the BattlEye anti-cheat tool used in many online titles. Microsoft said there are still "incompatibility issues due to changes in the operating system between some Insider Preview builds and certain versions of BattleEye," so Preview Build 19025 was held back from systems running affected versions of the software.
Microsoft said that Preview Build 19025 also leaves the Settings app inaccessible via anything but the URI (ms-settings:) for some Windows Insider Program members, shows already-installed printer drivers available for installation via Optional Updates and has issues with "certain external USB 3.0 drives" becoming unresponsive.
The company has some time to address these problems: Preview Build 19025 is part of the 20H1 branch, which is the version of Windows 10 set to arrive in the first half of 2020. That should give Microsoft a while to solve these problems while the update's still restricted to people willing to use pre-release OSes.
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