Microsoft has launched Build 10041, the first Technical Preview update for Windows 10 since January, and it’s a pretty decent one. This also marks the first time Microsoft has unveiled a Windows 10 update since it promised to deliver them on a more timely basis. To get started, you’ll need to have a working Windows 10 machine to install the latest update. It’s currently on the Fast ring cycle, meaning that those who are choosing to wait for more stable upgrades won’t see this one yet. If you want to make adjustments as to how often you get builds, head into Settings | Advanced Options. Under “Choose how preview builds are installed,” choose either Fast or Slow.
So what does Build 10041 bring? The biggest upgrades seem to deal with the Start menu, Virtual Desktops, the taskbar, and the Photos app. The Start menu now has transparency, and the All Apps button is easier to touch. You can also drag an app from All Apps and pin it to Start. Virtual Desktops now let you drag windows between them, instead of needing to right-click and use a context menu. You can also create a new Virtual Desktop and drag a window to it in one motion using the “+” icon.
The taskbar now only shows the running windows in a given Virtual Desktop, which makes more sense, and there’s a filtered Alt+Tab as well. You can now configure network settings and connect via a fly-out from the taskbar icon. And the Photos app now works with OneDrive photos in addition to locally stored ones, and it supports RAW format and keyboard shortcuts for the first time. 
A few smaller updates made it into Build 10041 as well. For touch screens, there’s a new handwriting canvas for text input — I’ve been done with that whole business since the Palm V, thank you — as well as Lock screen updates that display tips in addition to imagery. Cortana now works in China, France, Germany, Italy, and the U.K.
Finally, there’s a slew of bug fixes involving the Start menu and task bar, and you shouldn’t be seeing a boot menu anymore each time you restart your PC. For existing Technical Preview users, these fixes could be worth installing the new version alone for. Unfortunately, there’s still no Project Spartan in this build.
Microsoft has also updated the Windows Insider program. The Feedback app can filter suggestions and problems into different groups, and you can quickly add “Me too” from the search results directly. For the Insider Hub, the Your Progress page tracks completed missions, requests for feedback, submissions, and up-votes. The company also has a fairly lengthy list of outstanding issues, along with some temporary workarounds for them.
Overall, this seems like a decent update, and hopefully will improve stability as well as continue to make the Start menu and taskbar more useful than they were before. We’re excited that Microsoft is stepping up its release schedule for Windows 10. If you give it a whirl, let us know what you think in the comments. (If you don’t have a spare machine handy, and want to try it in a virtual one, read our guide on how to install Windows 10 in a virtual machine.)
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