Edge gets Fluent design, Input and Windows Defender see improvements in build 16257 for PC

Microsoft today released Windows 10 build 16257 for Windows Insiders in the Fast ring. Though the build comes with new features such as support for Tobii’s Core eye tracking, it also improves other core areas of the operating system such as Microsoft Edge, and Windows Defender. Here is what you need to know.

Microsoft Edge Improvements:

• We’re giving Microsoft Edge a refreshed and more modern look in the browser frame, inspired by the Fluent Design System. The use of Acrylic material provides depth and transparency to the tab bar and other controls, and we’ve improved button animations to feel more responsive and delightful.”
• Based on your feedback we’ve adjusted the design of the address bar so now even if the address bar isn’t in focus to start with when you click and drag the text it will remain under the cursor. Previously the text would shift as the “http://” appeared – this change will make it easier to quickly edit parts of the URL.
• We fixed an issue where right-clicking on an image in Microsoft Edge and selecting copy then later pasting the clipboard content would result in the image URL being pasted rather than the image itself.
• We fixed an issue where if a tab had been opened while Microsoft Edge was in full screen mode, using Ctrl + W to close that tab while still in full screen mode would close the content but leave the tab in the frame.
• We fixed an issue where if you had two unrelated tabs in Microsoft Edge and opened a link from the first in a new tab, the new tab would appear to the right of the second tab rather than the first.

Windows Defender Application Guard (WDAG) Improvements:

• We have added new status strings to the WDAG splash dialog to provide more information about the startup stages for WDAG. These new strings will be displayed to users when WDAG is starting up and when it’s being resumed from a paused state.
• We have also made significant improvements to container launch times by optimizing background preparation of the WDAG container.
• We fixed a number of issues that were impacting networking inside the WDAG container as well as a poor user experience when connecting to the WDAG container.
• Fixed an issue where the WDAG launch resulted in Error Codes 0x02 / 0x00 or 0x02 / 0c.
• Fixed an issue where only part of the WDAG window was being displayed after launch.
• Added a registry key to allow users to optimize WDAG launch times during active browsing by not suspending the WDAG container when the WDAG window is closed. You can set the registry key to optimize for performance here: Computer\HKLM\Software\Microsoft\HVSI\, Value name: SuspendOnContainerClosed, REG_DWORD, Value data: 1.
• Note: Setting this key will result in the container not pausing and the container will not release committed memory.

#WindowsInsiders: fueled by cake, we're releasing 16257 for PC & 15237 Mobile to the Fast Ring: https://t.co/mteUBdPy8j

— Dona Sarkar (@donasarkar) August 2, 2017

Input Improvements:

• We’ve improved the performance of launching the touch keyboard after tapping the touch keyboard button in the taskbar.
• We fixed an issue where using WIN+H to dictate into a UWP app’s text field wasn’t working.
• We fixed an issue resulting in the Japanese IME prediction candidates position being shifted and overlapping with typed text if you set the page zoom level to something other than “100%” in Microsoft Edge.
• We’ve adjusted the design of the Japanese curve-flick touch keyboard to display numbers and English letter keys in a smaller font that’s more consistent with the size of the Japanese character keys.

As you can tell, Microsoft is working to improve the core areas of the operating system before the Fall Release of the Windows 10 Creators Update. It’s best to keep the feedback coming to Microsoft, as it will only help make things more stable in future build.