Today in Microsoft news: What patches you need, what Flow looks like and how to hop off and on the Windows 10 Insider Preview fast track.
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WINDOWS INSIDER PREVIEW BUILD 10122 DEBUTS
The latest Insider build of Windows 10 for PC dropped today, with Gabe Aul writing, "From here on out you’ll see fewer big feature changes from build to build, and more tuning, tweaking, stabilizing, and polishing."
Among the changes he called out in the new build: changes to the Start menu, the New Tab page in the Microsoft Edge browser and a more streamlined process for users to change the way that Windows maps file types and protocols (like HTTP) to the Windows applications they open by default.
Note that Build 10122 has some serious bugs for users who happen to have AMD GPUs, so fast-track users might want to move back to the slow track for now.
Related news: According to Tim Rains, chief security advisor for Microsoft Worldwide Cybersecurity & Data Protection, the newer the Windows version, the lower the odds it's infected with malware. That may make a compelling reason to upgrade.
ALL ABOUT THE FLOW
Tuesday's daily digest mentioned the existence of Flow, the app meant to work in tandem to extend or augment Outlook correspondence with chat-like conversations. Today, we've got screenshots — blurry ones, sure — but screenshots nonetheless. And there are reports that texts from Flow chats are sent to an email program, which allows them to be searchable.
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PATCH IT UP
Yesterday, Microsoft pushed 13 patches through Automatic Update. They include an update to remove duplicate descriptions for Office 365 integration in Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials, fix the log-on process in Windows Server 2012 R2, and manage the old files that accumulate after migration of virtual machine storage in Windows 8.1 or Windows Server 2012 R2.
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POWER BI: CALL ME, MAYBE
Microsoft's business intelligence gathering service recently bought Datazen Software for its suite of native mobile apps. Datazen had been stressing mobile-first dashboards and data visualizations, so its acquisition helps Microsoft build out its own analytics-based offerings while maintaining focus on the Satya Nadella-articulated "mobile first, cloud first" environment. Power BI also added the ability for people to monitor and analyze the metrics of their phone calls and text messages for the past 30 days, courtesy of its Twilio content pack for Power BI.
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FROM US/FROM OUR SISTER SITES
Q. How do I add more disks to a Storage Pool?
Q. What is the default OS template size in Azure?
IT Innovators: Securing an IT Solution That Slashed Hosting and Infrastructure Cost by 50 Percent
Windows 10 build 10122 available for Fast Ring Insiders
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FUN STUFF
If you were ever concerned that users' love for Windows XP might falter in the face of this brave new mobile-first world, lay those fears to rest: YouTuber Dave Bennett just managed to boot up Windows XP on his Android Wear smart watch.
