Windows Technical Preview  

1031 members have voted

  1. 1. On a scale of 1-5, 1 being worst, 5 being best. What do you think of Windows 10 from the leaks so far?

    • 5.Great, best OS ever
      156
    • 4. Pretty Good, needs a lot of minor tweaks
      409
    • 3. OK, Needs a few major improvements, some minor ones
      168
    • 2. Fine, Needs a lot of major improvements
      79
    • 1.Poor, Needs too many improvements, all hope is lost, never going to use it
      41
  2. 2. Based on the recent leaks by Neowin and Winfuture.de, my next OS upgrade will be?

    • Windows 10
      720
    • Windows 8
      20
    • Windows 7
      48
    • Sticking with XP
      3
    • OSX Yosemite
      35
    • Linux
      24
    • Sticking with OSX Mavericks
      3
  3. 3. Should Microsoft give away Windows 10 for free?

    • Yes for Windows 8.1 Users
      305
    • Yes for Windows 7 and above users
      227
    • Yes for Vista and above users
      31
    • Yes for XP and above users
      27
    • Yes for all Windows users
      192
    • No
      71


Recommended Posts

They need to change that. Depending on the color scheme, the bar is nearly invisible.

 

Since you're not quoting anyone and just answering something I can't see mentioned in any recent posts above yours, I'm going to assume you're talking about the bar under open windows ? in that case I don't see why they need to change anything. if users want to chose colors that make it impossible to see, then they chose to do that. you can fix that by choosing to use a light theme with dark colors, there's a couple  of other options there as well or will be, but yeah, users can still make it hard to see or even impossible IF they want to. 

I'm going to have to check to see if they are bringing the F8 back Key. Because Windows 8 and having to go into update and recovery and advanced start-up.

 

Had a customer who had a ton of adware where I couldn't get connected, so I was going to have him restart in safe mode with networking but obvious F8 doesn't work so we had to select it from inside Windows. But then the PC wouldn't shut down correctly because of the Adware it just said "Please wait".

 

Just give me F8!!!!!

it's just that with UEFI the timeframe for pressing F8 shinks to almost zero. also as far as I know you could set Windows to load in safe mode, set timers and so on through System configuration

Pinning is done using the tiles.

yes, but I am saying they should let you choose if you want to have it as a tile or just a link.... links on left tiles on right....

On my 3 systems, the CMD prompt retains the same font color and size which i customized. So, it's synced across systems. Any chance that's the cause of what you're seeing?

on a clean install in a VM I have much smaller font and it's font weight is a lot thinner and a different font in command prompt... and it is no longer 80x25 chars in size by default, much taller and wider.

One of the sad things about Windows is that Microsoft has no time to focus on the small things (like Tabs for File Explorer) or small handy features like opening apps straight from Lock because they keep on dramatically overhauling the desktop. Modern UI will be left in the dust with no new features or optimizations. I recently lost files when Files crashed on WP and I cant run a recovery software because it my WP is not recognized as a drive, something that they could add to open up the system more. 

Hey guys new user voice:

Please spread this anywhere possible.

 

https://windows.uservoice.com/forums/265757-windows-feature-suggestions/suggestions/7796958-make-tablet-mode-better

 

 

A couple of things:

*Move all settings (battery, wifi, brightness, volume) into the Action center
*Add Interactive Tiles
*Add Exploded Live Tiles
*Use the advanced grid from WP for Windows 10 tiles (spacing in the Start Screen
*Add vertical tiles
*Bring back the animations from Windows 8.1 or something similar
*Add option to bring back the Charms "Action bar", remove Search and replace it with Cortana, remove settings and replace it with and expand button that will make the Notification Center flyout
 
*Add back the Accent color that was removed from Windows and shown throughout Settings and the Charms bar and flyouts
 
*Add an option to remove the taskbar completely in touch mode, double swipe up to show it again
 
* Put the clock into the Action Bar or Action Center
 
* Swipe from the left should switch between the last used apps a swipe out and back in should show task view
 
*Name and user tile should be in top left corner, not the bottom of the screen
 
*All Apps should have an option to be full screen (I saw someone telling another how to use Windows 8.1 and he, an average customer, knew where to access ALL APPS, do not change the location.
 
*Allow the sorting of All Apps 
 
*Add back semantic zoom!!!!!!
  • Like 2

Voted. I really want the full-screen "All Apps" like in Windows 8.1. It would be wonderful.

  • Like 2

Guys, tell me something please.

 

Do you find it annoying or frustrating that windows can steal focus whenever they wish? 

For example, I'm doing something in an app which has an active window and I click outside that app to launch some other app and

I quickly move mouse and click on the first app to continue working on it or to perform an operation BUT that other app jumps out while launching or have been fully loaded and steals the focus from the first app to itself.

I find that annoying. I want active app or window to remain active and undisturbed by other apps until I click on them.

 

Do you guys get the point I'm trying to convey?

If yes, is there an application that prevents such a behavior or can we vote on uservoice for such behavior?

Guys, tell me something please.

 

Do you find it annoying or frustrating that windows can steal focus whenever they wish? 

For example, I'm doing something in an app which has an active window and I click outside that app to launch some other app and

I quickly move mouse and click on the first app to continue working on it or to perform an operation BUT that other app jumps out while launching or have been fully loaded and steals the focus from the first app to itself.

I find that annoying. I want active app or window to remain active and undisturbed by other apps until I click on them.

 

Do you guys get the point I'm trying to convey?

If yes, is there an application that prevents such a behavior or can we vote on uservoice for such behavior?

Yes. Citrix at work does that to me often. I can't flippin' stand it.

Do you find it annoying or frustrating that windows can steal focus whenever they wish?

From the software I personally use, I've only got software from one developer that does it. Typically programs will try and get your attention by flashing the taskbar icon which is the ideal way barring security popups and such, but a program can bring itself to the front if designed to, it's easy to do. I have a couple of JetBrains' IDEs installed that will quite regularly do that, not sure if it's bad design on their part or if it's a "Java thing" in general, but it's pretty annoying when it does. (Love their software otherwise.) The Linux version of their software tends to do it too, depending on the desktop environment. You can mitigate it with third party software, but that should be baked into the OS itself, never mind developers shouldn't be doing that sort of stuff in the first place.

Is it still F8? I though it was holding left shift now?

I don't remember if F8 still works at all in Windows 8 and higher, I'm just pointing out why it became inaccessible. Holding shift and clicking restart in Windows does restart with options. But if system doesn't properly shutdown, then it won't work apparently, but by setting up OS loading parameters in System configuration you could permanently set it to load in safe mode and with additional parameters if needed.

Since you're not quoting anyone and just answering something I can't see mentioned in any recent posts above yours, I'm going to assume you're talking about the bar under open windows ? in that case I don't see why they need to change anything. if users want to chose colors that make it impossible to see, then they chose to do that. you can fix that by choosing to use a light theme with dark colors, there's a couple  of other options there as well or will be, but yeah, users can still make it hard to see or even impossible IF they want to.

Yeah I always quote and meant to, my mistake. I was talking about the bar for open windows and running apps. They do need to change the highlight method. It has always been fine up until this build. Your expectation of people to limit their color schemes is ludicrous. I was using a purplish space type wallpaper and the bar was very dark purple and nearly impossible to see. MS is not stupid enough to expect users to use certain wallpapers to make the underline visible I would hope.

Dilemma; Laptop with Win10 locks up on entering text at the login screens - the normal, the safe mode, even the refresh/reset prompts. It connects the wifi and all that good stuff, mouse works fine, but any text entered is dpc_watchdog_violation after 5 characters.

 

In order to diagnose the bug, I need the minidump file - potentially including activating the dumps from the CPL.

 

So...?

Dilemma; Laptop with Win10 locks up on entering text at the login screens - the normal, the safe mode, even the refresh/reset prompts. It connects the wifi and all that good stuff, mouse works fine, but any text entered is dpc_watchdog_violation after 5 characters.

 

In order to diagnose the bug, I need the minidump file - potentially including activating the dumps from the CPL.

 

So...?

 

Have you tried doing a clean install?

 

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/preview-iso-update-1504

 

Maybe there is an old crufty driver causing problems?

I have just tested the latest build available from MS.

Still no support for Romania by the looks of it . Crippled experience, and also, feels strange, it will grow on me i am sure, but for now, it has a strange feeling to it.

Another thing to note (in windows 8.1 i had option to disable automatic updates from the welcome wizard) if i don't disconnect the internet before i install, it will automatically download and install all the nvidia 3d crap with the driver, not even the latest win10 version, some obscure months old driver.

Also it will automatically try and install my razer mouse drivers and other crap i want to install myself and not let the os grab old drivers and mess things up for me right from the box.

Or is this a feature ?  :(

 

Back to Yosemite 10.10.3 and 8.1 for gaming (for now)

 

I will give it another try when i have the time.

 

PS: i just got another samsung 850 SSD just to test windows 10, had OSX on my other one and i would like to avoid the hassle to re-setup all my things back just to test windows :)

Have you tried doing a clean install?

 

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/preview-iso-update-1504

 

Maybe there is an old crufty driver causing problems?

I'm holding off on a clean install because I want to get that dump file to deliver to MS so they can look at it.

 

Man, I miss the days when you could log in to DOS and access the files. I mean, if it would let me enter text, don't know why it would lock up like that.

Some people like to pin this blame on Aero Glass but it was really Luna in Windows XP which . . . ruined the customization brought by classic.

 

Personally I think they should just do what UXStyle has been doing for the last decade... unlock the theme engine so that non Microsoft visual styles can be used without hacks. Perhaps they could even have a digital marketplace for visual styles like they do for themes.

  • Like 2

I honestly think Microsoft should shelve their plans to launch Windows 10 this year. Two months from launch, and even with a clean install build 10074 isn't at all stable, or complete. Edge is going to be a massive failure if it can't ship as a serious competitor to Firefox or Chrome, and Windows 10 still sucks at life as a serious tablet OS.

 

The consumer market is going to tear it to pieces.

  • Like 2

I honestly think Microsoft should shelve their plans to launch Windows 10 this year. Two months from launch, and even with a clean install build 10074 isn't at all stable, or complete. Edge is going to be a massive failure if it can't ship as a serious competitor to Firefox or Chrome, and Windows 10 still sucks at life as a serious tablet OS.

 

The consumer market is going to tear it to pieces.

 

I doubt it will be any worse than Windows 8x.  10074 has been, at least on my end, the most stable yet and everything is coming together.  Just need to add the other features to the start menu (folders, jump lists, etc.) and it'll be golden.  Modern UI applications are growing on me with their current iteration.  

 

Looking good so far.

  • Like 2

Yep after they indicated bringing Aero style transparency back to the titlebars if good feedback was given on the blur Start Menu I am now thinking its ready for a June-July RTM. 

 

The 3D tiles are nice too, hopefully they add some gradients to them. 

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Posts

    • Gotenks98 is right... Outlook (new) is absolute trash. Doesn't Mozilla have an Enterprise Version of Firebird?
    • Microsoft Weekly: Surface Laptop Ultra, Windows 11 context menus, Build 2026 recap, and more by Taras Buria This week's news recap is here, with Microsoft announcing the new Surface Laptop Ultra, fresh chips from NVIDIA for Windows on ARM, a no-build week, fixes for Windows 11's context menus, gaming news, reviews, and more. Quick links: Windows 10 and 11 Windows Insider Program Updates are available Reviews are in Gaming news Great deals to check Windows 11 and Windows 10 Here, we talk about everything happening around Microsoft's latest operating system in the Stable channel and preview builds: new features, removed features, controversies, bugs, interesting findings, and more. And, of course, you may find a word or two about older versions. At Computex 2026, together with NVIDIA, Microsoft announced the Surface Laptop Ultra, its most powerful laptop to date, powered by NVIDIA's RTX Spark processor. Details about this computer are currently scarce, as Microsoft has only revealed certain parts of its specs. So far, we know that the computer has a 15-inch mini-LED display, a rich set of ports, a powerful processor, and all-day battery life. It also comes with a new wallpaper, which you can already download here in full resolution. The Surface Laptop Studio is not the only NVIDIA-powered Surface, which Microsoft unveiled this week. At Build 2026, the company also debuted the Surface RTX Spark Dev Box, an odd-shaped desktop with a 20-core NVIDIA Grace CPU and an NVIDIA Blackwell RTX GPU with 6,144 CUDA cores and fifth-generation Tensor Cores with FP4 precision, connected via the NVIDIA NVLink-C2C chip-to-chip interconnect for high performance. According to Microsoft, it can run models with up to 120 billion parameters locally without relying on cloud GPU infrastructure. These two new Surface devices are likely to cost quite a lot, and for those who need a more affordable device, Microsoft is preparing the next-gen Qualcomm-powered Surface Pro and Surface Laptop. This week, details about these two devices leaked in plenty of detail. Other announcements at Build 2026 include the following: Microsoft unveils new security tools for IT admins and developers building AI products Microsoft announces Scout, an OpenClaw-powered personal agent for enterprise customers Microsoft unveils MAI-Thinking-1 reasoning and MAI-Code-1 coding models Microsoft announced a new Windows 11 native command-line utility Microsoft unveils Majorana 2 quantum chip, accelerating commercial timeline to 2029 Microsoft believes that AI agents will eventually replace apps through Project Solara Microsoft introduces Web IQ, a Bing-powered search system built for AI agents Last week, Microsoft released a new Experimental build, which introduced a major Start menu upgrade. It now lets you toggle off specific parts of the menu without affecting other features, resize the menu, and hide additional UI elements. We published a closer look here, so if you want to know what Microsoft is cooking without enrolling in the Insider program and installing unstable builds, check it out. Speaking of new features, many users are very annoyed about the way Microsoft delivers them. Recently, a frustrated user shared their experience with gradual rollouts, and even Microsoft engineers admitted there is a flaw in the system that prevents new features from applying properly. One of those new features includes the ability to uninstall AI models in Windows 11 with a single click. Windows 11 is finally getting fixes for its slow context menus. Marcus Ash from Microsoft confirmed that the company is working on fixing Windows 11's context menus. Reworked context menus are going to be faster, simpler by default, and "configurable to what you use most." According to Marcus, Microsoft will share more details soon. Windows Insider Program Windows 11 preview builds, released last week, are now available for download as standalone ISO files. These days, Microsoft regularly pushes new images, allowing users to clean-install its recent Windows 11 preview builds faster and easier. If you want to try the latest Windows 11 features without jumping through the Windows Update hoops, get those new images here. Sadly, Microsoft did not release new Windows 11 preview builds this week. Come back next time. Updates are available This section covers software, firmware, and other notable updates (released and coming soon) delivering new features, security fixes, improvements, patches, and more from Microsoft and third parties. Microsoft is preparing new features for Teams. Later this month, the messenger will receive a new download manager with auto-dismissing notifications, reducing clutter and making the overall experience less annoying when dealing with downloads. Mozilla released Firefox 151.0.3, a new bug-fixing update for the browser. It is a small release, which fixes problems with pasting into text fields and the oversized VPN button on the toolbar. The update is now available for all users in the Release channel. Here are other updates and releases you may find interesting: VS Code 1.123 introduces massive upgrades for persistent AI developer workflows Microsoft OneDrive is getting a simple yet much-needed feature Microsoft faces heat after quietly blocking promised Office features on Apple systems Microsoft resumes forced Copilot app installation on some Windows PCs Browser vendors pen an open letter to Microsoft, saying "enough is enough" Here are the latest drivers and firmware updates released this week: AMD Radeon Software 26.6.1 with optimizations for F1 25: 2026 Season, World of Tanks: HEAT, and various bug fixes. Reviews are in Here is the hardware and software we reviewed this week Steven Parker dropped more mini PC reviews this week. GEEKOM Air12 2026 Edition is a low-power, affordable computer with an Intel Tiger Lake Pentium Gold processor, up to 16GB of memory, and 512GB of storage, costing just $349. It is light, quiet, energy efficient, and has modern ports on the front. However, the front-facing USB Type-C is data-only, and there are some quirks with the computer's memory, so check out the full review. The AMD RX 9070 GRE has been released worldwide, and we published a benchmark review comparing this powerful graphics card to the RX 9070 XT, 7800 XT, the NVIDIA RTX 5070, and RTX 4070. It has solid, balanced performance, plenty of RAM, and low temperatures, but watch out for mediocre ray tracing performance and not the best efficiency. Also, we reviewed the Cuktech 10 Ultra, a compact, high-power charger with four ports and a big display full of various stats. This tiny charger can pull nearly 120W and spread that power according to each connected device's needs. It also comes with a high-quality 240W cable, three power modes, and retractable prongs. The best part? It is quite affordable, just make sure you have an outlet placed in the right spot to benefit from the built-in display. On the gaming side Learn about upcoming game releases, Xbox rumors, new hardware, software updates, freebies, deals, discounts, and more. Do you remember the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally, Microsoft's first handheld console designed in partnership with ASUS? This week, ASUS revealed a new version of the device to celebrate twenty years of its Republic of Gamers brand. The new ROG Xbox Ally X20 features an OLED display, a transforming D-Pad, TMR sticks, and other changes. However, the chip inside the console is still the same. Forza Horizon 6 launched last month to critical acclaim, but the game will soon have a new rival made by those who used to work on Forza Horizon titles. Mike Brown from Maverick Games announced Clutch, an upcoming racing game with a story-driven campaign, deep car customization, and rich multiplayer. The game is coming to PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5 in Spring 2027. The next update for Minecraft now has a release date. This week, Mojang announced that Chaos Cubed will be available on June 16, 2026. In addition, Mojang published a teaser of the next Minecraft movie. A Minecraft Movie Squared has now been confirmed for a release somewhere in 2027. NVIDIA GeForce Now is getting 18 new games in June. Those include Jurassic World Evolution 3, Fatekeeper, GOALS, Gothic 1 Remake, NTE: Neverness to Everness, and more. If you are a Game Pass subscriber, you can also get new games soon: Persona 5 Royal, Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions, and more are coming to the service this month. Sumer Game Fest 2026 happened this week, where we saw plenty of new games, including Alien Isolation 2, Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 3, Gen Atlas from the Shadow of the Colossus creator, a new Cuphead game in 8-bit style, a new expansion for Mafia: The Old Country, and more. Finally, here are this week's Weekend PC Game Deals, full of discounts and the latest freebies from the Epic Games Store. Other gaming news includes the following: God of War Laufey announced, introducing Kratos' wife as the new protagonist Ori studio's No Rest for the Wicked 1.0 release and console plans announced Microsoft launches Godot Sample to streamline Xbox PC game development on the engine Great deals to check Every week, we cover many deals on different hardware and software. The following discounts are still available, so check them out. You might find something you want or need. Samsung 990 PRO SSD 2TB NVMe - $389.99 | 39% off Sonos Sub 4 - Wireless Subwoofer - $759 | 16% off Logitech MX Creative Console - $159.99 | 20% off This link will take you to other issues of the Microsoft Weekly series. You can also support Neowin by registering for a free member account or subscribing for extra member benefits, along with an ad-free tier option.
    • Let's goooooooo! I've been loving the entries so far! I still have to finish Rebirth (things have been busy!)! Excited for this next installment.
    • "Revelation?" I was hoping for this episode to be called "Reunion". Oh, well... In a related note, the Final Fantasy VII compilation has received an EC entry, short for Ever Crisis. For those who don't know, it already had AC, BC, CC, and DC entries, short for Advent Children, Before Crisis, Crisis Core, and Dirge of Cerberus. I hope it doesn't get an FC entry becaude that would be a freakin' crisis.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      pestcontrol46 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      pestcontrol46 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      JKR earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Rookie
      moog19 went up a rank
      Rookie
    • Mentor
      grik went up a rank
      Mentor
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      515
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      277
    3. 3
      Skyfrog
      76
    4. 4
      +Edouard
      71
    5. 5
      FloatingFatMan
      68
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!