Microsoft Issues Five New Insider Builds

If you have a PC enrolled in the Windows Insider Program, it’s highly likely that you have a new download today: Microsoft just issued five new pre-release builds of Windows 11 across multiple channels. And this time, there are some notable new features. Sort of.

“We have new releases today with builds across Beta and Experimental, including refreshed security certificates across all new builds,” Microsoft’s Stephen Lines writes in the announcement post. “All builds this week contain renewed Windows Insider flight certificates.”

The new builds are:

• Beta: Build 26220.9022
• Experimental: Build 26300.9032
• Beta (26H1): Build 28020.2623
• Experimental (26H1): Build 28120.2630
• Experimental (Future Platforms): Build 29639.1000

Notable new features include:

• New Taskbar. The new Taskbar with its alternate positions, support for touch gestures, and a smaller visual size moves from Experimental into Beta. This makes me wonder if this will be a 26H2 deliverable, but I guess we’ll see (and it will be added to 25H2 too, of course.)
• Adaptive Hibernate Policy. New to the Experimental channel, the adaptive hibernate policy is being updated to increase instances of instant-on resumes from Modern Standby and improve battery preservation at the low end of the battery, Microsoft says. Basically, the PC should go into hibernation less often when the battery is above 80 percent and do so sooner when the battery is below 10 percent.