Microsoft Issues First Windows 11 Build of the New Year

Windows 11 Insider Preview build 22526 is now available to Windows Insiders with PCs enrolled in the Dev channel. This build, the first in over three weeks, provides “a good set of changes and improvements as well as fixes,” Microsoft says.

Those changes and improvements include:

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  • An experiment, available only to “some Insiders” in which the ALT + TAB experience displays as a window instead of full screen.
  • New support for wideband speech when using Apple AirPods, which improves audio quality for voice calls.
  • Credential Guard is now enabled by default on Windows 11 Enterprise (E3 and E5) licensed PCs that are enterprise-joined.
  • An experiment in which Windows 11 indexes more file locations so that using search to find important files in Files Explorer is quicker.

So. Yeah.

There are numerous fixes in this build as well, of course. And even more known issues.

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Conversation 7 comments

  • madthinus

    Premium Member
    06 January, 2022 - 1:18 pm

    <p>But nothing substantial. So what is in this version of Windows. Are they once again going to drop the announcement weeks before launching with almost no feedback and testing. This starting to bother me and it feels like the Panos era is going to be this. </p>

    • codymesh

      07 January, 2022 - 8:38 am

      <p>many new builds of beta (a word no longer used) windows builds had minor additions too.</p>

  • Bart

    Premium Member
    06 January, 2022 - 1:46 pm

    <p>Improved audio quality calls for AirPods; With these headphones being so popular, it is a very useful addition.</p>

  • wpcoe

    Premium Member
    06 January, 2022 - 4:31 pm

    <p>Wow, I really am a luddite. I didn’t know people made voice phone calls with Windows. Is that a tablet thing, or can you do it with a computer with 3G/4G/5G capability?</p>

    • VMax

      Premium Member
      06 January, 2022 - 8:20 pm

      <p>I assume "voice calls" encompasses things like Teams, Zoom etc, which is a use case that’s probably grown more than a little over the past couple of years!</p>

  • ghostrider

    08 January, 2022 - 9:36 am

    <p>I’ve never even seen Windows 11 yet, and have no interest in it. It wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for Microsoft’s marketing people who thought they needed to re-launch and re-invigorate interest in Windows again, and taking away yet more functionality is just the nail in the coffin. Win11 is a lick of paint and not much more.</p>

  • jedi dwight

    21 January, 2022 - 6:09 pm

    <p>I have to wonder how Microsoft, "the productivity company" has released Windows 11 which adds inefficiency. I am suffering under a locked down work machine where I can’t fix "never combine" by installing something like Start11 or StartAllBack.</p><p><br></p><p>The answers I keep coming back to are, "communist infiltrators" which I say half seriously, and "it’s a sign of the times" – the Biblical end times – <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">which I say as a true believer.</span> In the end it comes down to decisions humans have made (and approved).</p><p><br></p><p>SMH.</p>

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