It could be argued that it’s unfair to talk about problems with Windows 10 preview builds, since they are provided to us for testing purposes and expected to have issues. I hold the opposite view: everyone is better off if we report problems as publicly as possible. But I’ll try to stick to the facts and avoid complaining.

With the arrival of Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 11082, my test PC started doing some very weird things. The extent to which these problems are specific to my hardware remains unclear.

• On logging in for the first time after the new build was installed, Windows reported that the application CCleaner was not compatible with the new Windows build, and had been removed. CCleaner (formerly CrapCleaner) is primarily a tool for removing junk and temporary files from Windows systems. The message pointed to this page, which says “If you try to use this app with Windows Insider Preview , it might not work correctly or might not work at all.” Not too helpful. I reported the problem to the CCleaner developers.
• Normally, when File Explorer copies, moves, or deletes files, it displays a progress dialog. Those dialogs no longer appear. File operations still work, but there’s no visual indication of what’s going on.
• Audio stopped working completely. A reboot didn’t help. Powering off the computer completely and then back on did fix the problem. There was nothing in the Windows events logs to point to a possible cause.

None of these issues are show-stoppers for me. I used the Windows 10 Feedback app to report the File Explorer dialog problem.

This is the first Windows 10 preview build with which I’ve had any serious problems, aside from privacy concerns. It will be interesting to see how quickly Microsoft responds.

Update 2015Dec21: The CCleaner developer responded to my report, saying that they have received similar reports and that they are looking into it.

One of the updates released by Microsoft on Tuesday apparently caused serious crashing problems on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 computers. Microsoft has re-issued the update to resolve these problems. Anyone who already installed MS15-115 on affected Windows systems should run Windows Update again to get the new version.

The MS15-115 bulletin has been updated to show the change.

From the associated knowledge base article:

This security update was rereleased on November 11, 2015, for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 to resolve the following issues:

* Resolves crashing that occurred in all supported versions of Microsoft Outlook when users were reading certain email messages.
* Resolves problems that occurred while users were logging on to the system. For example, after a user restarted the computer and then pressed Ctrl+Alt+Delete at the logon screen, the screen flashed and then went black. The user was then unable to continue. There may be other, similar logon issues that are related to this issue.

Microsoft is happy with the latest Windows 10 Insider Preview build, designated 10586. That means it will find its way to your Windows 10 computer over the next week or so as the Windows 10 Fall Update. This will roughly coincide with next week’s Patch Tuesday.

My Insider Preview test machine is configured to get the latest updates, so I’ve been using 10586, and the builds that were available in the interim since the last public release (10240) for a while. Now that the test computer is running the new release version, the ‘Insider Preview build’ message is once again gone from the desktop. That will change when Microsoft pushes out the next preview version.

There’s not a lot to talk about here. Most of the changes are fairly minor, including coloured title bars, tab previews in Edge, general cleanup in user interface elements, and improvements to the Start menu. Skype will get several enhancements. Several bugs have also been fixed.

Update 2015Nov15: Ars Technica has a list of changes in the new release, and really, there’s not much of interest.

With this release, Microsoft has also changed the way it identifies Windows 10 versions. The previous release was “Version 10.0 (Build 10240).” The new release is “Version 1511 (OS Build 10586.3)” where “1511” refers to the 11th month of 2015. They like to keep us confused, don’t they?