Announcement of Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22621.440 and 22622.440 (Beta Channel)

Good evening friends! Microsoft has released new preview builds of Windows 11 (version 22H2) under the numbers 22621.440 and 22622.440 (KB5015890) for members of the Windows Insider Beta Program.

• Assembly 22622.440 – testing of new functions is available.
• Assembly 22621.440 – new features are disabled by default.

If you are in a group with features disabled by default (build 22621.xxx), then check for updates and agree to install an optional update that will make these features available (build 22622.xxx).

Innovations in assembly 22622.440

taskbar overflow

Support for taskbar overflow has been re-added in Windows 11. Microsoft notes that the taskbar has been designed to offer users the most convenient way to switch and launch applications in tight spaces. The taskbar will automatically switch to overflow mode when new icons no longer fit in the allotted space. In this mode, a new button will appear on the taskbar to open a menu that includes all applications that do not fit on the main taskbar.

The new menu supports most of the taskbar’s features, including the ability to pin apps, view the jump list, and can also display a richer user interface from apps. The menu will be closed after you click somewhere outside of it or open any application.

Note. This change is currently not available to all Insiders on the Beta channel. The fact is that Microsoft wants to collect feedback from a small group of users before the change becomes available to all Insiders.

New in both builds

Dynamic content from “Widgets” on the taskbar

Microsoft is trying some changes to add more dynamic content from widgets to the taskbar. In addition to viewing the current weather, now the “Widgets” button on the taskbar will display messages from the widgets “Sports”, “Finance”, alerts about the latest news.

This feature allows you to quickly know when something important has happened with these widgets, so you’ll always be up to date with the latest news.

The displayed content will be concise and clear, but you can always find out the details if you open the widget panel. If you don’t interact with the content that appears on the taskbar, the widget button will automatically revert to showing the current weather.

Note. This change is currently not available to all Insiders on the Beta channel. The fact is that Microsoft wants to collect feedback from a small group of users before the change becomes available to all Insiders.

Changes and improvements in build 22622.440

• General:
  • Microsoft has once again begun rolling out an updated Open With dialog box that matches the design of Windows 11. The updated dialog box supports light and dark skins. In addition, the ability to update the default application with one click has been added.
    As a reminder, in March of this year, Microsoft temporarily disabled the new Open With dialog box after a short period of testing. During this time, engineers have significantly improved the performance of this window, based on insider feedback.
• Input:
  • Updated the American English (EN-US) handwriting model to be faster and more accurate.
• Options:
  • The Settings app now supports managing apps that were previously only available in the classic Control Panel. This includes deleting applications that depend on each other (for example, Steam and game applications running through Steam), restoring and modifying Win32 applications.

Fixes in build 22622.440

• General:
  • We fixed an issue resulting in some Insiders experiencing a crash in explorer.exe when connecting or disconnecting monitors in Build 22622.436.
• Conductor:
  • Some changes have been made to address memory leaks when using tabs in File Explorer.
  • We fixed an issue that caused Narrator to not announce the names of tabs when moving focus through them.
  • We fixed an issue where the File Explorer thumbnail in the taskbar, Alt + Tab menu, and Task View could display the title of an adjacent tab instead of the one currently selected.
  • The “Add New Tab” button in the title bar of a window should no longer be covered by the “Minimize” button when using a large number of tabs and the text scaling feature.
• Suggested actions:
  • We fixed an issue that caused some apps to freeze after copying something with Suggested Actions enabled.
  • Fixed a major issue affecting the stability of Suggested Actions.

Known Issues

• General:
  • [Новое] Recent updates to the Beta channel have identified an issue that is causing the Photos app to crash. An updated version of the Photos app with a fix for the issue will be available in the Microsoft Store soon.
  • [Новое] We are investigating reports of SQL Server Management Studio not launching for some members of the Windows Insider Program.
• Windows Explorer
  • [Новое] The left half of File Explorer’s title bar may not be drag-and-drop or touch-enabled.
  • [Новое] Engineers are working on a fix for an issue where using File Explorer in certain ways (for example, from the command line) when using a dark theme causes the main area of ​​File Explorer to unexpectedly display with a light theme.
  • File Explorer tabs incorrectly display up arrow button next to the address bar. This will be fixed in future builds.

We wish you a successful update!