Windows 10 in 2018: Microsoft offers new glimpse of life after Fall Creators Update

Microsoft has unveiled the second update to Redstone 4, the next version of Windows 10 after the Fall Creators Update.

Microsoft has released the Redstone 4 Build 16362 to the portion of its testers who've opted in to the Skip Ahead part of the Windows Insiders program's fast ring. Those not in the Skip Ahead subset continue to get Fall Creators Update test builds, the latest of which was released yesterday.

This Redstone 4 (RS4) release follows August's Windows 10 Build 16353, which was the first test build in the RS4 development branch.

The second build brings improvements to the Windows 10 boot experience, Narrator, the Windows Shell, Edge, gaming, and inputs.

Microsoft's main focus right now is on the Window 10 Fall Creators Update, scheduled for release on Oct. 17, which means it's mostly working on bug fixes rather than new features.

Some of the bug fixes are similar to those fixed in the Fall Creators Update this week. Microsoft is also only in the early phases of developing the next update, so there aren't any new features in this new build either.

However, there are still a number of tweaks to improve the overall experience on PCs, including the process of setting up a device after a restart or a Windows update.

Building on earlier work to automate this process with the user's existing sign-in information, the lock screen now displays how the user has personalized it with details such as Windows Spotlight, Cortana's status, Calendar and so on. These can be customized in the Lock Screen section of Personalization within Settings.

Microsoft notes that users can opt out of this personalization feature within the Privacy section of the Sign-in options page.

Microsoft has built new choices for controlling Narrator, the feature that reads out text on a PC's screen. Now users can select the audio channel for Narrator speech output under Narrator within Settings. There's a new option called "Sounds you hear."

There are also a number of bugs fixed in the Windows Shell, mostly focusing on issues affecting Action Center and Start.

Edge has nine improvements, including a fix for the bug that caused multiple apps to crash if users tried to log into Facebook. Uploads were also failing on some sites, and Edge was crashing after users tried to pin websites to Start.

The final improvements address inputs, with fixes to emoji picket, emoji panel tooltips, gestures, and a bug that caused CPU spikes and froze the mouse.

Other general fixes include a missing taskbar icon for the Windows Defender Security Center, random reboots due to USBhub.sys, and failing Microsoft Store apps.

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