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Round-up: What's new in this week's updates to Windows 10

Microsoft has released cumulative updates, previews of cumulative updates and Insider previews for various flavors of Windows 10 this week. Here's what's new.
Written by Mary Jo Foley, Senior Contributing Editor

For those looking to keep up with the latest on Microsoft's varied updates to its different flavors of Windows 10, here's a round-up of what Microsoft delivered this week.

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On February 29, Microsoft rolled out a new version of its Windows 10 IoT Core Insider Preview. This preview -- known as the February 2016 Insider Preview --supports the just-announced Raspberry Pi 3 board.

According to the release notes for the new IoT Core Insider preview, this is the first Windows 10 IoT "Redstone" preview release. Besides offering Raspberry Pi 3 support, this release includes bug fixes to the core OS and driver packages, as well as a number of other fixes. (Thanks to Thurrott.com for the link to the Release Notes.)

On March 1, Microsoft released a Cumulative Update to Windows 10 1511, a k a, the November update. This update, also known as version 10586.122 (as well as KB3140743), is not an Insider preview; it's a set of fixes for the shipping version of Windows 10 for PCs and tablets.

Among the changes in 10586.122 for Windows 10 PCs are improved reliability across the board; improved device support; improvements in Cortana voice quality and translation and more. The change list as to what's new is available from Microsoft on its Windows 10 Update History page.

On March 2, Microsoft released Windows 10 Mobile preview build 10586.122 to Windows Insiders in the Slow and new even slower (Release Preview) rings.

Like the 10586.122 build for Windows 10 PCs, this is a Cumulative Update with a number of fixes and performance improvements. (It's a "Threshold" update, not a "Redstone" one.) On phones, these improvements included improved Internet Sharing; improved data connection profiles for dual SIM devices; improved video recording capabilities and more.

The 10586.122 preview build will work on four additional new devices: the MCJ Madosma Q501, BLU Win HD 510U, BLU Win HD LTE X150Q and Alcatel OneTouch Fierce XL.

Insiders who are on the Fast Ring might need to temporarily switch to the Slow or Release Preview rings to get this build, Microsoft officials said.

Microsoft also is changing the way it makes firmware updates available to Windows 10 Mobile Insiders. As of March 3, all firmware updates for Windows 10 Mobile devices will be auto-published for Insiders.

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