Hello Windows Insiders,
Over the past two months, I have had the privilege of leading the Windows Insider Program, and two prominent themes have emerged from my discussions with you. The first is a desire for greater transparency; you want to understand our decisions and witness the progress we make through our releases. The second theme is a shared sense of pride in our work. As Insiders, you take pride in being the first to provide feedback, guiding us toward improvements. When we succeed, we celebrate together, and when we fall short, you motivate us to enhance our offerings.
Our goal is to foster a deeper connection between Insiders and the products we are building. In the coming months, our focus will be on the enhancements we are implementing. I encourage you to explore these experiences, put them to the test, and help us create a product we can all be proud of.
Making the Windows Insider Program easier to navigate, with more control of the features you want
Everything begins with you, the Windows Insiders. Before any feature or improvement reaches the general public, it is delivered to you first. Recently, we initiated changes aimed at simplifying the navigation of the Windows Insider Program, making it easier to understand and giving you more control over the features you wish to explore.
We are transitioning to two primary channels: Experimental and Beta, each with clearer expectations. In the Beta channel, we will no longer implement controlled feature rollouts (CFR), meaning that when we announce a feature, you will receive it upon updating. In the Experimental channel, we are introducing new feature flags, allowing you to select which features you would like to try. Additionally, we are streamlining the process of switching between channels or exiting the program without requiring a clean install.
Alongside these changes, we continue to enhance the Feedback Hub, reducing friction when sharing your insights. Recent updates have focused on consistent window behavior, improved navigation, and enhanced accessibility.
Less disruption from Windows Update
The guiding principle here is straightforward: fewer disruptions, increased clarity, and enhanced control. This update aims to consolidate OS, .NET, and driver updates into a single monthly restart, providing you with more flexibility to schedule updates at your convenience. We have also modified the Power menu to ensure that standard Restart and Shut down options are always visible, eliminating the need to install pending updates first. You are now in charge of when updates occur.
These enhancements are available in the Experimental channel. For further details on unified updates, improved pause controls, and the new Power menu, please refer to our Windows Update blog post.
Simplifying AI experiences across inbox apps
Last month, we committed to reducing the presence of Copilot across Windows, concentrating on integrating AI where it adds the most value. You may have noticed these changes taking effect.
In Snipping Tool and Photos, we have entirely removed the “Ask Copilot” button. In Notepad, we replaced the generic Copilot icon with a more descriptive “Writing Tools” label. This shift is part of a broader initiative to make AI in Windows more intentional, ensuring that we align experiences with user value. Expect to see continued refinement in the placement of Copilot, with a focus on curated experiences.
Delivering improvements to make File Explorer faster and more dependable
File Explorer serves as an essential tool for millions of users across various workflows. It is crucial that this experience is not only functional but also beloved. We are implementing foundational architectural improvements that will be rolled out incrementally to enhance responsiveness, reduce hangs, and consistently boost performance.
In parallel, we are addressing longstanding user feedback with targeted enhancements aimed at stabilizing day-to-day experiences. This includes smoother and more responsive launches, improved navigation, and a more polished Home experience with sharper thumbnails.
More control over widgets and feed experiences
As we design experiences for over a billion users, we are closely examining the concept of “calm.” Our goal is to establish defaults that are easy, simple, and minimize distractions.
One significant area of focus is Widgets and the Discover feed, where we aim to create a quieter experience by default. We are adjusting the default settings for launching and badging, giving you greater control over when these features appear and how they seek your attention. When notifications do arise, we are raising the bar to ensure they are meaningful. Additionally, we are working to separate Widgets and the Discover feed into distinct destinations, allowing for calmer defaults and more control over what you choose to see.
Improving system performance
In our commitment to enhancing Windows’ responsiveness and consistency, we have made strides in system performance across various areas of the operating system.
We are actively pursuing memory savings throughout the system, particularly focusing on Widgets. This includes optimizing memory usage based on device characteristics and user behavior patterns, resulting in a smaller default memory footprint and faster memory recovery when not in use. Several of these changes are beginning to roll out to Windows Insiders today, with more improvements to come in Widgets and other areas.
We are also enhancing responsiveness across key OS and app launch experiences. Since mid-March, we have been rolling out targeted performance and power tuning improvements for frequently used OS and app scenarios. These optimizations aim to accelerate app launches and improve core shell scenarios, such as the Start menu and Search. Notably, recent updates to the Windows scheduler have improved user-perceived responsiveness in everyday use, with these optimizations now becoming available to retail customers.
What’s ahead
Anticipation is building for Taskbar customization, which is on the horizon. We are diligently refining this experience to ensure it meets our quality standards before a broader preview. I look forward to sharing more about our progress later this month, including enhancements to the Taskbar, Start, and Search functionalities.
Since March, our team has been traveling to various cities to engage with Windows Insiders, gather feedback, and discuss the future of the program. We recently visited Seattle and New York, and we are excited to continue these connections at upcoming meetups in Hyderabad, Taipei, San Francisco, and London. If you are interested in attending, please register.
The commitments made in March reflect our dedication to delivering tangible performance, reliability, and craftsmanship improvements to Windows 11 throughout this year. With Microsoft Build approaching next month, we will have more updates on how we are enhancing Windows for developers. We look forward to seeing you there!
For a comprehensive overview of what has been shipped in each build, please check the latest release notes on the new Windows Insider Program Documentation Hub.
Your feedback is invaluable, so please continue to share your thoughts.
Marcus
