Microsoft Drops New Canary, Dev, and Beta Insider Builds

This is Friday, and Microsoft has just released another trio of Windows 11 preview builds for Insiders on the Canary, Dev, and Beta Channels. The changes are pretty minor across the board, with most of the updates shipping to Dev and Beta testers.

For starters, the Canary build 28020.1685 improves the reliability of removing Windows Update files via Settings > System > Storage. It also adds the ability to use voice typing (Windows key plus H) when renaming files in File Explorer. There are no other documented changes in this update.

The Dev build 26300.7965 and Beta build 26220.7961 once again include the same set of changes. First, Microsoft is bringing back Administrator protection, which aims to prevent free-floating admin rights for administrator users. This feature is disabled by default and needs to be enabled by Intune or via group policy.

The Drag Tray feature that displays a selection of apps to use to share content when dragging a local file to the top of the screen is also being refined. It will now use a smaller peek view to make it more difficult to invoke and easier to dismiss.

In File Explorer, Insiders on these two Channels will also be able to use voice typing to rename files. Microsoft also fixed the white flashes that could appear when launching new windows or tabs or resizing elements in the app.

Earlier this week, Microsoft also started testing a new web integration in its Copilot for Windows app. A new Insider update for the Copilot brings the ability to access a web tab inside the Copilot app directly, and it also adds the Podcasts and Study and Learn mode from Copilot.com features to the app.