Windows 10 Technical Preview Build 10061 hits the Fast ring

The latest build of Windows 10 has landed, and it’s got some pretty nice upgrades, particularly with regard to the Start menu and Taskbar. First and foremost is a new black system theme across the Start menu, Taskbar, and Action Center. The former two also have transparency, and a new AutoColor option lets it pull from your desktop wallpaper automatically. You can resize the Start menu, and the power button is now at the bottom left instead of the top right.

Tablet fans will appreciate the Taskbar and Notification area improvements; entering Tablet mode brings larger buttons with more spacing between items, and pinned and running apps are now invisible by default in order to streamline the interface. You can also boot directly into Tablet mode on systems with displays under 10 inches in size.

Build 10061 also provides another set of Mail and Calendar apps, this time with faster performance a three-pane email UI. You can also switch quickly between calendar modes, and similar to how a phone email app works, swipe left or right to do things like delete a message, move it, or flag it. When writing a message, you can also insert tables, add pictures, and use other formatting options. Finally, you can now create unlimited Virtual Desktops, and the Task View gets some usability improvements.

There are also a slew of bug fixes for Project Spartan, Outlook, and Hyper-V. And then there’s a new big problem: “We know this one will be a bit painful, but there is a bug with this build in which Win32 (desktop) apps won’t launch from the Start menu,” Microsoft says. “The workaround is to use search to find and launch these apps and pin them to your taskbar for quick access.”

Microsoft also said in the post that it held 10061 back from the Slow ring because of a bug with long upgrade times for language pack installs. The Slow ring remains at 10049 for now.

The other day, AMD CEO Lisa Su let it slip that Microsoft is targeting late July for the final Windows 10 release to consumers and businesses, which is a bit earlier than expected. That said, we should learn a heck of a lot more about Windows 10 come next week, when the Microsoft Build Developer Conference launches in San Francisco on April 29th.

With that, let’s turn it over to you: How is Windows 10 Technical Preview working for you so far? Have you tried this latest build yet? Let us know what you think in the comments below. If you want to give it a shot without messing up your current PC install, here’s how to install Windows 10 Technical Preview in a virtual machine.