Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 10565 Brings New Skype, Cortana Features

On Monday, software biggie Microsoft shipped the newest Windows 10 preview – Windows 10 Build 10565 – to its Insider testers.

In a post on the Windows blog Gabe Aul wrote: “As we’ve announced previously, Skype messaging, calling and video capabilities will come integrated into Windows 10 through the Messaging, Phone and Skype video universal Windows apps”. These new apps allow users to send messages, place a phone call or place a video call to users with a Skype account. These include Quick Reply from the Action Center, which lets users view incoming notifications and reply inline without having to open the Skype application.

Cortana can track activities such as movie bookings and other ticketed events, and can request and track Uber transport directly from within the app.

Microsoft’s Windows 10 support forum dedicated to activation, is over crowded with threads complaining about trouble activating Windows 10 outside of the OS’s new process. Hovering over a tab will display a preview of its contents, and the contents of a user’s Favourites and Reading List can be synced.

Other features include darker title bars, improved context menus on Start, and a batch of new icons.

More than two months after it was released, Windows 10 is seeing ever-growing usage, especially among people downloading productivity apps and games, Microsoft said in an update this week. Assuming it meets the grade with the Insider guinea pigs, it will likely be pushed to all Windows 10 users at a few point. The Windows setup wizard accepts valid Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 product keys and is capable of verifying them itself, removing the step of using the upgrade assistant to register a device on Microsoft’s servers. Finally, Microsoft is also updating ancient icons it has for the Device Manager and Registry Editor.

As Microsoft’s Theo Thompson explains, you can run Windows 10 as a host and have a virtualized copy of Windows 10 running within it as a guest, with yet another copy of Windows 10 running within that guest… as a guest. One of these is the search box refusing to appear in locales where Cortana is not available.

Even with all of these new features, it’s worth noting that these beta builds for members of the Insider program are not without their bugs.

Meanwhile, Cortana is now able to understand handwritten notes, so you’ll be able to create a calendar appointment through handwriting if you’re using your computer in tablet mode.

From the latest build of Windows 10 onwards users should be able to bypass a lot of these issues. According to Extreme Tech, Microsoft will first be addressing the issue for those using the Insider Preview with their latest build update.