Windows Love
This week, Microsoft released the Windows 11 Insider Preview build 22518 for Insiders in the Dev channel. The new build brings Spotlight collection backgrounds, an updated entry point for Widgets with weather, and the ability to install WSL2 from the Microsoft Store!
IMPORTANT: This build will not be offered to ARM64 PCs due to an issue that causes these devices to rollback when attempting to update to this build!
WHAT’S NEW IN BUILD 22518?
VIEW THE WORLD ON YOUR DESKTOP WITH SPOTLIGHT COLLECTION
Keep your desktop fresh and inspiring with Spotlight collection. You will get beautiful new desktop pictures from around the world every day and fun facts about each picture. Here is how you can try out Spotlight collection:
1. Right-click on your desktop and choose “Personalize”.
2. On the Personalization settings page, choose “Background”.
3. Under the “Personalize your background” dropdown, select “Spotlight collection”.
Upon enabling Spotlight collection, you will see an inspiring picture from Whitehaven Beach in Australia on your desktop as well as the Spotlight icon.
Later in the day, we will replace Whitehaven Beach with a collection of up to five background pictures from around the world. This could take up to 24 hours. If you hover over the Spotlight icon, you can learn more about each picture. Right-clicking on the Spotlight icon on the desktop opens a context menu where you can switch to a different background picture as well as tell us whether you like or don’t like one of the pictures. Double-clicking on the Spotlight icon launches the landing page where you can learn even more about any of the Spotlight collection pictures you saw throughout the day.
Please note the Spotlight collection experience is not yet localized and will show text in English only. Full localization will come in a future update. Spotlight collection is available to Windows Insiders in the following countries: Australia, Canada, China, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Norway, Spain, Sweden, U.K., U.S. More countries will be added over time.
UPDATED ENTRY POINT FOR WIDGETS ON YOUR TASKBAR
We are trying out showing the Widgets entry point on the left side of your taskbar with live weather content. You can also open the Widgets board by simply hovering over the entry point.
For users who choose to align their taskbar, the Widgets entry point will be to the right of the Task view icon.
Group policies and the ability to show/hide the Widgets button from the taskbar remains unchanged.
PLEASE NOTE: This change will be rolling out gradually to Insiders!
INTRODUCING VOICE ACCESS
Voice access is a new experience that enables everyone, including people with mobility disabilities, to control their PC and author text using their voice. For example, voice access supports scenarios like opening and switching between apps, browsing the web, and reading and authoring mail. Voice access leverages modern, on-device speech recognition to accurately recognize speech and is supported without an internet connection. Voice access supports English-U.S. language only, so the Windows display language should be set to English-U.S., otherwise voice access may not work as expected.
PLEASE NOTE: Voice Access is currently US-only!
Get started
You can find voice access in Settings / Accessibility / Speech. When you turn on voice access for the first time, it will prompt you to download a speech model for the on-device speech recognition. Once it is downloaded, you can choose a microphone you want to use with voice access and start using your voice to control your PC.
You can choose to auto start voice access the next time you sign-in to your PC in settings. You can also use voice commands or keyboard shortcuts (Alt + Shift + C and Alt + Shift + B) to control whether voice access is listening or not listening.
➤ The full blog post includes a long list of supported voice commands, and we invite you to check it for more details:
Before getting started, Insiders will need to download a speech model for the on-device speech recognition.
Voice access includes an interactive guide that explains how to complete common tasks using your voice.
In addition to the interactive guide, you can access a complete list of commands by asking “what can I say?” when voice access is listening.
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