Microsoft Releases the First Windows 11 Insider Builds for 2023

Microsoft has just released the first Windows 11 Insider builds of the new year for the Dev and Beta channels. The build 25272 for Dev Channel testers brings a couple of minor improvements and fixes, but no new features.

First of all, Microsoft has made Quick Assist easier to find in the Start menu’s All apps list by moving it out of the Windows Tools folder. If you sometimes have issues with the printing queue, Microsoft has also added a refresh button to it in this build.

Two previous experiments are also gone in this build: Microsoft has removed the suggested action for searching copied text on Windows 11 in Microsoft Edge, and the Recommended section of the Start menu no longer displays recommend websites.

If you’re a WSL user, Microsoft has removed the inbox version of the Windows Subsystem for Linux with this build. You’ll need to update to the latest WSL version manually for the time being, but the Windows Insider team is working to make this process automatic in future builds.

For Beta channel Insiders, the preview builds 22621.1095 and 22623.1095 introduce rounded corners for the search box on the Start menu. The Windows Insider team said that it made this change to “reflect the design of the search box on the taskbar.”

Starting with these two builds, Microsoft is also making preview .NET Framework updates available to download from Settings > Windows Update > Advanced options > Optional updates. This will allow Insiders to choose which optional .NET Framework updates they want to install going forward.

That’s it for the biggest changes included in today’s builds for Windows Insiders. According to a previous report, Microsoft could be planning to release the next “Moment” update for Windows 11 in February/March 2023, and this update may bring the new tablet-optimized taskbar and other taskbar changes that are still being tested with Insiders.