by PortableOne | Friday, October 30, 2015 | 0 comment(s)

What's new in Microsoft Windows 10 Preview Build 10576

Yesterday, Microsoft corporate VP and top announcer of all things Windows, Gabe Aul, posted about the latest Windows 10 Preview Build 10576, with a focus on some of the things that we’ll likely see in future official releases.

Microsoft Windows 10, Preview Build, 10576,

Miracast and DLNA support in Microsoft Edge

Microsoft is definitely moving full steam ahead with Miracast and DLNA, starting from its flagship Edge browser, which is now finally capable of casting on devices that support the standards.

For those unfamiliar with the concept of DLNA, the acronym spells Digital Living Network Alliance, and it’s an open standard developed to enable smartphones, tablets and all sorts of portable devices, including laptop and desktop PCs, to use external screens, via a wireless connection. For instance, a smart TV that supports Miracast/DLNA will be able to display the content of other devices that connect to it, as it it were a secondary display.

The same concept has been made popular on a proprietary basis, by Apple AirPlay (through Apple TV), and Google Chromecast. With that said, Miracast/DLNA is an open standard that can be replicated on any device supportive of the technology.

So far, Microsoft Edge doesn’t have as comprehensive a support as Google Chrome does with its own proprietary dongle, which means that only a handful of web content, like pictures, YouTube videos, and music, can be cast onto external screens, on the additional condition that such content may not be copy protected.

Cortana inside PDFs

Cortana integration has made it into PDF documents, with support for highlighted search. When opening a PDF document in Microsoft Edge, selecting a line of text and right-clicking on it will enable an “Ask Cortana” option,just as it happens when selecting text on a regular web page.

Xbox App update

Good news about build 10576 is that the Xbox app no longer causes the issue of consuming massive amount of memory during gameplay.

Xbox users who are on Facebook will now be able to search and add Facebook contacts who are using the Xbox app.

A nice addition is also the ability to add voiceover recording, during gameplay, when using Game DVR. Search and purchase of games through Xbox One is also easier, with support for Gold and Deals, with Gold Promotions 25-digit redeemable codes.

Nested Virtualization

When using Hyper-V Containers, support for virtual machines working from within Hyper-V has been improved, with better performance.

Fixed Cortana Access

Windows 10 users in locations where Cortana is not available, will still have access to the Search Box.

Issues with this build

Compared to previous builds, the list of issues is quite small, and it pertains primarily to brand new features recently implemented. These include sound volume dropping to 75% when Action Center notifications popup during playback.

Skype messages will disappear in the Messaging app, which requires a workaround as described by Aul:

C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Local\Packages\
Microsoft.Messaging_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache
Delete or rename the “PrivateTransportId” file.
Then restart the Messaging app.

Small devices BSOD

When upgrading devices with a screen size that is set larger than the physical screen size, will experience a BSOD and roll back to the previous build.

Surface Pro 3 power button

As of this build, the sleep function will no longer be triggered by pressing the power button on the Surface Pro 3, which will instead result in the device shutting down.