Yesterday, Microsoft announced the release of Windows 10 21H2 Build 19044.1618 (KB5011543) to the Release Preview Channel Insiders running Windows 10. This new build comes with three new improvements.
First, Microsoft is bringing the new Search experience (which was recently announced for Windows 11) to Windows 10. Right now, the Search experience in Windows 10 just displays Top Apps, Quick Searches and Recent apps. The upcoming new search experience will display what’s trending online, in the world, and in your organization. As you can see from the screenshot above, the new search highlights are replacing the Top Apps section and Quick Searches sections.
In addition to the list of your recently launched apps, files, settings, and websites, here’s what you can expect from this new Search experience:
- The taskbar search box and search home will periodically update with content, including fun illustrations, which help you discover more, be connected, and stay productive.
- Search highlights will present notable and interesting moments of what’s special about each day—like holidays, anniversaries, and other educational moments in time both globally and in your region.
- To see more details at a glance, hover or click on the illustration in the search box.
- Explore additional content in search home related to each moment, with daily content like word of the day, Microsoft Rewards offers, trending searches, and more.
With your work or school account, the new Search highlights will feature the latest updates from your organization and suggested people, files, and more.
If you prefer the old simpler search experience, you can enable it by disabling the following setting:
- Right click on your taskbar > Search > select/clear “Show search highlights”.
Along with the new Search experience, this new Windows 10 build comes with the ability to change the color of toast buttons. Also, there is a new policy that expands an app’s top three notifications by default in the Action Center for apps that send notifications using Windows notifications in the OS.
