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.)