What changed
2026-07-27 01:10 UTC → 2026-07-29 01:24 UTC ·
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In mid‑July Mid‑July 2026 Microsoft delivered a major Windows 11 update that went beyond routine patches. The release let Home users defer installation longer, removed Search‑box ads, added a system‑restore point feature, removed ads from the Search box, improved miss‑spelling tolerance, simplified Widgets, introduced an eye‑strain‑reducing dimming filter, and included performance tweaks for File Explorer and Bluetooth. Microsoft also The company urged prompt installation of the July Patch Tuesday, which addressed more than patched over 200 vulnerabilities. A week later the company pushed an Insider beta (build 26220.8925) previewing previewed the upcoming 26H2 enablement package. It let users resize the Start menu, hide sections and conceal profile details, and added package, adding Start‑menu resizing, section hiding, new touch‑pad gestures for scroll and zoom control. File Explorer now shows sizes in gestures, simplified units and supports opening folders in a new tab via middle‑click. Accessibility was expanded with Explorer size units, middle‑click folder tabs, HID‑compliant braille‑display support, additional extra Voice Access languages and better background‑noise filtering. On July 24 Microsoft released Release Preview builds (26200.8968 and 26100.8968) that corrected fixed inaccurate update‑progress indicators and reduced post‑install slowdown by refining the Windows Update Orchestrator and Arbiter components. These updates followed Concurrently a brief outage that had blocked Windows 11 updates through both the standard Windows Update interface and the Microsoft Update Catalog. A concurrent Beta build (28020.2539) added extensive expanded Narrator improvements and added native plug‑and‑play support for refreshable braille displays, enabling use of supported devices during the Out‑of‑Box Experience. displays. On July 26 the firm Microsoft announced a major WinUI performance upgrade. To curb excessive memory use, upgrade, migrating WinUI will be migrated to the Windows system compositor, delivering compositor to curb memory use and deliver faster, smoother app performance. An insider build demonstrated roughly Internal benchmarks showed up to a 41 % reduction in memory allocations for specific operations, and a roughly 30 % speed gain when deleting large, fragmented files and noticeably quicker loading of files. The overhaul, highlighted at the File Explorer home tab. Build 2026 developer conference, will roll out gradually ahead of a planned Start‑menu redesign, with no firm release date yet announced.