Celebrate 10 years of the Windows Insider program with two Windows 11 builds and a hidden feature

What you need to know

• Microsoft released two Windows 11 Insider builds recently.
• Build 22635.4291 is available through the Beta Channel and includes a few small changes and some general fixes.
• Dev Channel Insiders can install Build 26120.1912, which adds support for 6GHz connections through the Windows Mobile Hotspot feature.
• The Beta Channel build also includes parts of a feature that allows you to resize elements in the taskbar, but the feature needs to be enabled through a third-party tool.

Today is the 10-year anniversary of the Windows Insider Program. Through the program, Microsoft has tested hundreds of builds, plenty of new features, and driven feedback for Windows 11 (and Windows 10). You can celebrate the anniversary of the Windows Insider Program by installing an Insider build on your PC. Microsoft shipped two builds last night, one for the Beta Channel and one for the Dev Channel.

Neither of the builds is particularly large, but the Dev Channel update to Build 26120.1912 adds support for 6Ghz connections through Windows Mobile Hotspot. Before you get your hopes up, Windows Mobile Hotspot has nothing to do with Windows Phone or Windows 10 Mobile. The feature lets you share the internet connection of your PC to other devices. Previously, Windows Mobile Hotspot only supported 2.4GHz and 5 GHz connections.

An addition that's arguably more interesting is a feature that was not announced by Microsoft. Inside Windows 11 Build 22635.4291, which is available through the Beta Channel, there are the early workings of a feature that lets you resize parts of the taskbar.

Hidden Windows 11 feature

In addition to the two new Insider builds, we have a bit of a tease for what could come to Insiders in the near future. X (formerly Twitter) user phantomofearth shared a screenshot of a new Taskbar option that appears to be in its early stages. If you're on the latest Beta Channel build of Windows 11, you can enable a feature that lets you shrink the size of taskbar buttons. At the moment, the option only makes the buttons smaller, while leaving the taskbar itself the same size. There's a chance that Microsoft could add the option to resize the taskbar alongside shrinking taskbar buttons. 

To enable the feature, you have to use a third-party tool, such as ViveTool. Generally, it's not worth enabling these types of features unless your hobby is trying to predict what's next for Windows 11. Microsoft works on many features that have remnants of code ship before the feature is ready. If the features meet the company's standards and stay on the Windows 11 roadmap, Microsoft usually enables them in future Insider builds.

Windows 11 Build 22635.4291: Changes and Improvements

Task Manager

• We’ve updated the design of the Disconnect and Logoff dialogs in Task Manager to now support dark mode and text scaling.
• In the Performance section we now label listed disks with their type.

Settings

• Tailored Experiences is becoming Personalized offers in OOBE. The new setting can be found on the Recommendations and offers page under Settings > Privacy & security. Personalized offers will let users opt-out of allowing Windows to use info about their devices and how they use them to enhance Windows.

Windows 11 Build 26120.1912: Changes and Improvements

General

• This update includes a small set of general improvements and fixes that improve the overall experience for Insiders running this build on their PCs.

Mobile Hotspot

• The Windows Mobile Hotspot has been enhanced to support 6 GHz connections. The new band requires chips that support the feature and updated drivers; not all chips that support 6 GHz Wi-Fi in general will support the 6 GHz mobile hotspot. The change will be visible under Settings > Network & internet > Mobile hotspot when you edit the mobile hotspot properties. For compatibility with existing devices, the mobile hotspot will only use 6 GHz when explicitly enabled.

Other

• [Open Source Software] This update adds attributions to txt files for Rust OSS components.
• [Task Manager]
  • Its Settings page might have a white background when it should not.
  • It stops responding when you switch from a high contrast theme to a normal theme.
• [Input Method Editor (IME)] When a combo box has input focus, a memory leak might occur when you close that window.
• [WebView2 apps] They do not detect input from Xbox 360 and Bluetooth controllers.