For those Windows Insiders that took part in the recent Bug Bash, Anita George has published a post going into the the “Behind the Scenes”. I really enjoy the Bug Bash and the fun and the enthusiasm with the Windows team. From doing the multiple quests to the Beam webcasts to offering and upvoting feedback, I really enjoy it. It does give a sense of inclusion with the process of making Windows 10 a better product.

The blog post is a good insight into what goes into these Bug Bashes. I’m sure a lot of queso is involved, as well.

I’m sure there will be more Bug Bashes in the future, and I encourage you to join in if you have the time and the desire. It really is a fun part of the process!

Hi! My name is Anita George, and I am the leader of the two Bug Bashes for the Windows 10 Creators Update (the one in November 2016 and the one we just finished up in Feb). For this most recent Bug Bash, Windows Insiders completed approximately 108,900 Quests and submitted or upvoted an astounding 115,100 feedback items! Thank you so much to everyone that took the time to Bug Bash with us. The level of participation was just incredible! So what goes into running a Bug Bash? I’d like to take some time to explain the behind-the-scenes work that happens to make a Bug Bash successful.

Great news! Build 15042 for PC has been released for Fast Ring insiders. Note: this is only for x64 PC’s and 32 bit PC’s will be blocked as there is a bug for 32 bit.

Today we are excited to be releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 15042 for PC and Build 15043 for Mobile to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring. We have discovered a bug that impacts our ability to release this build to PCs running 32-bit (x86) versions of Windows 10 Insider Preview builds. Because the majority of Insiders in the Fast ring have PCs running 64-bit (x64) – we decided to go ahead and release this build with 32-bit PCs blocked until our next flight. Also – please read the known issues below.

Microsoft has extended the Windows Insider program to include IT Professionals. There is a distinct line with consumer level products and focus and the enterprise, IT Professional, focus. Many IT Pro’s are currently Windows Insiders and some run their newer builds within a domain (mostly in a lab setting, but some do in production as well). As long as you accept that the Insiders rings are capable of breaking things, it’s a good way to stay ahead of the curve and learn the newer features that will impact your job in the near future.

The Windows Insider Program recognizes IT Professionals as a critical asset to any organization. From managing complex environments that incorporate Microsoft systems, to managing how they integrate with other applications inside their organization, IT Professionals understand ‘mission critical’ and know how to think through and resolve deployment issues. They are the front-line IT heroes of any organization. But we don’t have to tell you this.

In the coming months, we’ll be adding additional features to the existing Windows Insider Program to better support you in your job. Incorporating the Windows Insider Program for IT Professionals into your deployment plans enables you to prepare your organization for Windows 10, to deploy new services and tools more quickly, to secure your applications, to increase productivity giving you confidence in the stability of your environment.

This Valentines Day, Microsoft has brought Hello Kitty to Actiongram on HoloLens. Bringing the Sanrio iconic little cat  and her friends to augmented reality looks pretty cool. Yea, I”m a Hello Kitty fan.

Microsoft has delayed it’s patches for this months Patch Tuesday due to a last minute issue. There are no estimated times for when they will be resolved and released. This was the first month with Microsoft’s new process without the bulletin summary as was done in the past.

Our top priority is to provide the best possible experience for customers in maintaining and protecting their systems. This month, we discovered a last minute issue that could impact some customers and was not resolved in time for our planned updates today.

After considering all options, we made the decision to delay this month’s updates. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by this change to the existing plan.

For those IT Pro’s that would like to get some hands on with Server 2016 in a sandboxed environment, Microsoft has some Server 2016 Virtual Labs to try out. There are a few nice setup’s you can play with, learning about new features. Nice to check out for some hands on with the product and the technologies.

When you sign in with your Microsoft account you’ll be able to access any of the individual labs in a private, sandboxed environment. It all adds up to about 6 hours of content, and you can come back later if you need to.

Check out each of these 60-minute experiences:

• Breach resistant security and Shielded VMs
• Storage Spaces Direct
• Nano Server
• Windows Server and Hyper-V Containers
• Failover clustering and rolling cluster upgrades

The upcoming Windows 10 Creators Update, currently on the Insiders rings, doesn’t only bring new features for home users. The enterprise additions are also very nice. Next week is the RSA conference, and they will be talking in a lot more detail about the new additions. Windows Hello is being extended to on premise Active Directory domains, rather than just Azure AD.

With RSA so clearly on my mind, I am pleased to share six new security announcements that we will discuss in detail next week.

1. NSA adds Windows 10 and Surface to list for classified use
2. Enhanced security capabilities with Surface Enterprise Management Mode
3. Extending device management in Windows 10
4. New enhancements to Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection
5. The quest for No More Passwords with Windows Hello
6. Turbo-charging your deployments with Windows Analytics

Windows Insiders on the Fast Ring can download build 15031 now. For those having issues downloading the update:

• [UPDATED] IMPORTANT: You may see “Initializing…” when attempting to download this build and the download progress indicator shown when downloading this build may seem broken under Settings > Update & security > Windows Update. It may look like you’re getting stuck at 0% or at other percentages. Ignore the indicator and be patient. The build should download fine, and the installation should kick off. See this forum post for more details.

The February bug bash for the Creators Update has begun. This time, it lasts about a week, going until Sunday February 11th. Go try out some quests, file some feedback, upvote issues that you share with others, and have fun. This is for the most recent fast ring build of Windows 10.

Also, there is a couple live Beam webcasts which should be fun.

We have lots of opportunities for Windows Insiders to participate in this Bug Bash. We are planning two live Beam webcasts with Insiders and some special guests from the Windows Insider Program. Our first live webcast will be Tuesday, Feb 7th from 2-4pm Redmond time with guest appearances by Dona Sarkar and Bill Karagounis. Our second live webcast will be on Saturday, Feb 11th from 7-9pm with a guest appearance by Gabe Aul. During these webcasts, engineers from the Windows Engineering Team will be running through quests live on Beam and on their own PCs. You can get to the Beam webcast through this link.

Those Insiders that are part of the fast ring, Build 15025 is ready for download and install. This is the primary build for the Creators Update Bug Bash starting Friday.

A big fix:

• [GAMING] We fixed the issue where clicking on certain elements in desktop (Win32) games causes the game to minimize and cannot be restored.