Microsoft’s hidden a wealth of information among the Settings menu in the new Windows 10 Insider build 16199, as well as some new My People functionality.
Microsoft may be using Windows 10 Insider Build 16199 to flesh out its My People experience for Windows 10, but chances are you’ ll find a few of the new Settings to be the more useful features.
Like other Settings, the new additions—the updated System Health listings, new tips videos, and a more comprehensive Storage Sense—won’ t be called out, and you’ ll have to know where to look for them. Another improvement, a notification that will pop up on your screen when your Android phone receives a call, is part of the new cross-device connectivity built into the upcoming Fall Creators Update.
In our original review of Windows 10, we dinged it for failing to inform users regularly about what’s new. That’s now been solved, and Microsoft is adding other resources as well. What isn’ t clear quite yet are whether those videos are being stored locally—adding to the size of the OS—or streamed, which would require an active Internet connection.
You’ll fnd new tips content scattered around the Settings menu.
The About page provides a wealth of content that you should know about.
Now, Microsoft has added a “System health” section, demonstrating that your PC is safe and secure, thanks to Windows Defender—and if it’s not, what to do about it.
Your People are now your go-to contacts.
When Microsoft first launched the My People experience, the company talked about giving you quick access to a number of friends right from your taskbar, complete with the ability to send and receive emojis, short communications, and more.
With the most recent update, that vision is a bit more complete. Friends can now send (spam?) emoji from your taskbar, and they’ ll animate and display on your desktop. If you have additional notifications, they’ ll show up as a numeric badge on top of the icon. In addition, your My People will now be the default option if you want to share something with friends.
Build 16199 includes two other improvements, the Android call notifications, and a couple of tweaks to the Windows 10 Beam capabilities. As long as you have the Cortana app installed on your Android phone, you’ ll see something like this when you receive a call:
Finally, Microsoft provided a nice tweak to Windows 10’s Beam capabilities, which allows users to stream games to the Internet at large. Though you don’ t have to enable this option, Beam now allows you to stream just the game’s audio, and not the bleeps and pings from notifications or other sounds from your PC.
