Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22557 to the Dev Channel. TL;DR Windows Insiders will notice that the name of the branch we are releasing builds fro
blogs.windows.com
Now,
this is stuff that's happening in the Insider Dev builds and not yet anywhere close to being available in stable Windows 11 releases, but it's interesting to look at, since it points out some changes that might arrive in the next big update for Windows 11.
There are quite a few changes, but I'm just gonna pick the ones that stood out to me (and some of you might want to know about them beforehand, too):
Getting the most controversial one out of way first:
Windows 11 Pro edition now requires internet connectivity. If you choose to setup device for personal use, MSA will be required for setup as well. You can expect Microsoft Account to be required in subsequent WIP flights.
For this one I'll definitely expect people to come out with torches and pitchforks. Also expecting the usual suspects to provide workarounds or straight out hacks that do away with the requirements. Personally not a problem, since I actually take advantage of the account integration, but that's just me.
Pinned app folders. Basically grouping together a bunch of pinned apps and dumping them under one icon (this existed in Windows 10 already, IIRC, with the live tiles)
.
File Explorer's Quick Access: ability to pin files. Also will synchronize Office.com's recent and pinned files. For files that are edited in collaboration with other people, the Tiles and Details views will also show the latest activity in them, if changes have been introduced by others.
Power Settings: Microsoft is updating the default power settings to reduce the time the computer waits before entering sleep mode or for turning off the screen. Keep in mind, though, this will ***NOT*** change settings for anyone yet. The updated default settings only apply to clean-installs of this particular Dev build and future ones.
Task Manager: it's finally getting dark mode. I'm no longer going blind every time I open it
. It's also getting some design changes (though it's kinda weird right now) and Microsoft is currently trying out a new feature called "Efficiency mode", which the user can use to limit the resource usage of any single process (basically to limit CPU-hungry processes so that the system can give CPU time to others). A bit of a niche feature, I guess, but I imagine a few here will be interested if it ever becomes a thing in stable releases.
Dragging and Dropping files is supported again on the Windows taskbar. This feature was available all the way back to... Windows XP (as far back as I can remember, but it's probably older), but it got removed in Windows 11, much to the annoyance of quite a few people here (and probably a lot more out there). Just drag a file over to the application's icon on the taskbar, which will bring out the application window, then drop the file in the application window.
Folder contents preview in File Explorer is back. Another feature available since at least Windows XP that was removed by Windows 11. However, it only shows a preview for one file. Still, better than nothing.
This last one shouldn't be of note, but one never knows:
TKIP and WEP (WiFi security protocols) support is gonna be killed off at some point. For insider Dev builds, those two are no longer usable starting with this specific build.
