New Update: Windows 10s next update could accompany bigger changes including a replacement Start menu

The start menu is now in testing for 20H2 update, which seemingly isn’t a minor upgrade

Windows 10’s next update thanks to land later this year (referred to as 20H2) was expected to be just a service pack-style upgrade, mirroring what happened within the last half of 2019 – but it seems that the update won’t just offer minor changes, but some bigger introductions.

This appears to be the case because Microsoft has just released a replacement preview version for Windows 10 (20H2) which carries the new Start menu that has previously been tested within the dev channel, among a variety of other more sizeable alterations to the OS.

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Build 19042.421 has been deployed to beta channel testers and it comes with the more streamlined design for the beginning menu, which changes live tiles in order that they carry an equivalent background color (which matches whether Windows 10 is during light or dark theme), as against the patchwork of various colors which they currently are.

The idea may be a more uniform look overall, but those that are wanting a splash more within the way of colorfulness can apply an accent color if they want.

Microsoft explains: “This refined Start design looks great in both dark and lightweight theme, but if you’re trying to find a splash of color, first confirm to show on Windows dark theme then toggle ‘Show accent color on the subsequent surfaces’ for ‘Start, taskbar, and action center’ under Settings > Personalization > Color to elegantly apply your accent color to the beginning frame and tiles.”

Other changes in build 19042.421 include modifying the way Alt-Tabbing works in reference to Microsoft Edge. Essentially, this lets every single tab you've got open within the browser appear as a separate element when Alt-Tabbing through your running tasks.

That may be confusing or clunky if you've got an entire load of tabs open, mind, and you would possibly not just like the idea of this feature anyway – so Microsoft has made it easy to show off (or limit the number of Edge tabs which will be displayed when Alt-Tabbing).

Furthermore, websites in Microsoft Edge that you’ve pinned to the taskbar will now show all of the open tabs for that site across any active browser windows once you click them on the taskbar.

Note that to urge these Edge features, you’ll get to be running either the Canary or Dev build of the browser, on a minimum of version 83.0.475.0 for Alt-Tabbing, and 85.0.561.0 or higher for the development to pinned sites.

Taskbar tweak
There are various other changes also, as Microsoft lists in its blog post, and that they include tweaks for notifications and settings, also as personalizing the taskbar when first fixing Windows 10 (something we’ve also seen before). The latter means the taskbar is going to be populated with icons more relevant to you supported your Microsoft account (so if you’ve previously attached a smartphone, you’ll have the Your Phone app already on the taskbar).

It would seem, then, that subsequent update for Windows 10 goes to be quite a minor affair just like the November 2019 Update, although that said, the listed changes could also be all that Microsoft is planning.

Even so, the New Look for the beginning menu may be a pretty major alteration on an aesthetic level, and who knows, we could see further work being wiped out terms of honing the looks of the menu, as other rumored changes have surfaced in recent times.

Interestingly, Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet has apparently heard from a source that what could be happening here – and that we stress the word might – is that Windows 10 might not get an update for the primary half 2021, then these features which were scheduled for that upgrade are shunted forward to the 20H2 update.

Dropping one among the twice-yearly updates for Windows 10 certainly would be an enormous change, but at the instant, that’s just a theory supported an anonymous tip that we should always treat very cautiously. even as we would have liked to treat the strong rumors about Windows 10 (20H2) being only a minor service-pack style upgrade, which is seemingly not the case.

However, we can’t help but ponder whether that potential move from Microsoft may need something to try to to with other speculation that the software giant is aiming for spring 2021 for the primary commercial release of Windows 10X.

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