Microsoft's latest Windows 10 Fall Creators Update test build adds DPI improvements
The Windows 10 Insider Preview Build for PC Fast Ringers which the company rolled out July 7 adds a bunch of polish, plus a few new features.
That latest Windows 10 test build, No. 16237, includes some changes to the Windows Shell that are meant to fix at least some issues encountered by those using their devices with high dots-per-inch (DPI) displays. As those who dock their Surface devices know well, users often have to log out and back into Windows to fix the blurry desktop apps they see after docking and remoting.
With the changes in this Insider release, users now can relaunch these apps in order for them to render correctly, according to Micorsoft's blog post detailing what's in today's release. Windows Insider chief Dona Sarkar explained, this update won't work for all desktop apps and it does not apply to Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps.
Some more qualifiers in today's post:
"Also, this only helps apps that become blurry after a change to the display scale factor of the main/primary display. This change, unfortunately, doesn't improve apps that are blurry on secondary displays when in 'extend' display mode."
(This isn't the first time Microsoft has tried to fix the DPI issues around Windows 10. And it probably won't be the last, but at least the team hasn't given up so far.)
Microsoft is adding a new virtual machine gallery to Hyper-V in the Fall Creators Update. In today's build, that gallery is visible, but there isn't anything in it yet. For more on what's happening with that new gallery, see this article.
Microsoft made some fixes and updates to its Edge browser, Notification and Action Centers and My People feature. Some improvements to the touch keyboard built into the release are also in this build. Performance updates to the GPU support that was added to Task Manager in the last Windows 10 Insider build are in today's new test build, too.
Microsoft is cutting the Camera Roll Insights, Cortana Lasso and cross-device Map Handoff feature -- which allowed users to see directions shared with their mobile device after searching for a location on a PC -- from the Fall Creators Update. These features were in previous Insider builds but have been removed from them. There's no information in today's post on if/when these features will return.
Earlier this week, Microsoft officials also noted that the Timeline, Pick Up Where You Left Off and the related cloud clipboard, all features that were expected to be in the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, won't make it into that release, which should begin rolling out to mainstream users around September this year.
There are other known issues and an itemized list of the tweaks and updates in Windows 10 Insider Preview 16237 in today's blog post.
In other Windows 10 test build news, Microsoft also released a Cumulative Update (Build 16232.1004) to Insiders running Build 16232 on July 6. The main purpose of that update was to test out the differential updating capability that mainstream users will see this Fall. There also is some kind of update to Notepad as part of that release, though it's not clear from Microsoft's post what's actually new in my favorite Windows program of all time.