What you need to know
- Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22494 is here for those in the Dev Channel.
- It includes the rollout of taskbar microphone muting, beginning with Microsoft Teams.
- The new build also contains a truckload of fixes for existing issues.
Insiders in the Dev Channel, you know the drill: A new Windows 11 Insider Preview Build is live, meaning it's time to dive in and get the latest fixes, improvements, and features.
As for what's new in build 22494, expect the usual lineup of tweaks and improvements as well as a new feature: Taskbar mic muting and unmuting. "Starting with Microsoft Teams today, you'll find a microphone icon automatically added to your taskbar when you're actively in a call," says Microsoft's blog post where you can find all of build 22494's inclusions. "You can see your call audio status, what app is accessing your microphone, and quickly mute and unmute your call at any time."
The feature is coming to a portion of users with Teams for school or Teams for work first. Everyone else will get it in time, and Microsoft plans to extend it to Chat as well.
Microsoft notes that "other communications applications can also add this capability to their applications. The capability to mute or unmute your call applies only to your current call."
That's the big item for this build, though you can check the aforementioned (and hyperlinked) blog post for the laundry list of all the other fixes and improvements Microsoft packed into the latest Windows 11 preview release. Expect Taskbar and File Explorer bugs to be addressed, among many other things. There's also a section dedicated to issues that Microsoft is actively aware of but hasn't yet tackled.
