Microsoft is now rolling out Windows 10 build 17692 for PCs enrolled in the Fast ring and Skip Ahead lane of the Windows Insider Program. This new preview is a significant release with a number of features and improvements that are expected to arrive with the Redstone 5 development later in 2018.
Windows 10 build 17692, according to the company brings its SwiftKey touch-keyboard technology, delivers several improvements for Easy of Access, Game Bar, Game Mode, Search, Windows Mixed Reality, and Microsoft Edge adds new autoplay controls.
What’s new with Windows 10 build 17692
Here are the changes included in the latest Redstone 5 preview of Windows 10 coming later this year:
Search
As part of the Redstone 5 deployment, Windows 10 continues to add improvements to the search experience. Starting with flight search includes tweaks to make it easier to find official download pages for Windows software you want to install.
Input
Starting with this flight, Microsoft is bringing its SwiftKey intelligence available on Android and iOS to the Windows 10 touch keyboard experience. Using SwiftKey will give you more accurate autocorrections and predictions by learning your writing style.
SwiftKey is currently available in English (United States), English (United Kingdom), French (France), German (Germany), Italian (Italy), Spanish (Spain), Portuguese (Brazil), or Russian.
Game bar and Game Mode
On the gaming side, Windows 10 build 17692 is introducing a few changes to Game bar and Game Mode.
Starting with this flight Game bar includes new audio controls to change your default audio output device and mute or adjust the volume of games and apps running.
In addition, it’s now possible to see games framerate (FPS), CPU usage, GPU VRAM usage, and system RAM usage.
As for Game Mode, Windows 10 is now introducing new options that are expected to improve the gaming experience on desktop PCs. Gamers on computers with many background processes may also see performance improvements when they toggle “Dedicate resources” in Game bar.
Microsoft Edge
On Windows 10 build 17692, Microsoft Edge is making it easier to automate testing in the browser using WebDriver by making this functionality a Windows Feature on Demand, and the software giant has also updated WebDriver to match the latest W3C Recommendation spec with major new improvements.
Windows Update
In order to make it easier to find, the Delivery Optimization settings is now listed as a category under Settings > Update & Security.
Ease of Access
In a continuous effort to make Windows 10 more inclusive, Windows 10 build 17692 is also adding a number of improvements to Ease of Access.
Beginning with this Redstone 5 preview, users can now increase text size across the system on Settings > Ease of Access > Display, under the new Make everything bigger section. Even further, these settings will change the text size for Microsoft Store apps as well as classic apps.
On Narrator, this flight adds a bunch of improvements, including a new keyboard layout that is designed to be more familiar to screen reader users.
Narrator will now automatically read the contents of a dialog box when brought to the foreground. For example, if you try to close a document in Word with unsaved changes, Narrator will speak the title “Microsoft Word,” the focus “Save button” and the static text within the dialog.
You now have the ability to search for text using the Narrator new Find feature. If the text is found Narrator will move to the found item.
In addition, Narrator now can present a list of links, headings, or landmarks present in the application or content. (You are also able to filter the results by typing in the list or the text field of the window.)
Along with being able to select content when using scan mode with the Shift-selection commands, it’s now possible to select a block of data by first moving to one end of the block and pressing F9, moving to the other end of the block and pressing F10. Once F10 is pressed the entire contents between the two points will be selected.
While in scan mode, you can now press the Up and Down arrow keys to read different parts of the page. Starting with this flight, the press of a Down arrow in Scan Mode will stop on interactive elements to make them easier to use. For example, if you are reading a paragraph with multiple links, Narrator will stop on these links when you press the Down arrow.
Windows Mixed Reality
The Windows Mixed Reality experience is also getting improvements. For example, you can now stream audio to both the headset and the computer speakers simultaneously.
If you want to give this feature a try, make sure that you can hear sound from your normal device speakers when not running the Mixed Reality Portal and from the headset audio jack or built-in headphones when mixed reality is running. Finally, close all running applications, including the portal, and go to Settings > Mixed reality > Audio and speech to turn on When Mixed Reality Portal is running, mirror headset audio to desktop.
Microsoft is listing the complete set of improvements, fixes, and known issues for Windows 10 Insider Preview build 17692 at the Windows Blog. In case you missed it, you can read all the changes for Windows 10 build 17686 in this article.
Downloading Windows 10 build 17692
Although there are no ISO files for Windows 10 build 17692, the update is available immediately through the Fast ring and Skip Ahead for PCs. This preview build will download and install automatically on your device, but you can always force the update from Settings > Update & security > Windows Update and clicking the Check for updates button. (You can learn how to join the Windows Insider Program on this video.)
You can also check out these resources:
Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 15 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 21 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me. Email him at [email protected].