New Windows 10 build lets you hide Task View and Search button

Microsoft pushed out a new Windows 10 Preview Build yesterday together with the security and regular updates for all its operating systems and products.

Windows 10 users can get it already provided that they have set the speed in which they get the preview builds to fast under Preview Builds in the Update and Recovery part of PC Settings.

As usual, it takes a while for the build to download and if you are on a slow line, you may want to consider doing something else for the time being, While there are not any information about this update's size, it is likely again in the Gigabyte range.

The update brings the build number of the operating system to 9879 and with it come several requested changes ( via the built-in feedback option).

Gone are the Task View and Search buttons

When Windows 10 launched, Microsoft placed a Task View and a Search button in the taskbar that you could not remove natively.

A bad design decision and while some users liked the functionality that one or both buttons offered, most disliked the fact that they could not be removed and were placed prominently in the taskbar.

Third-party tools allowed you to hide them but that meant running them in the background all time.

With the new version of Windows 10 comes an option to hide the buttons. Just right-click on the taskbar and uncheck "Show Task View button" and "Show Search button" to remove both buttons from the Windows 10 taskbar.

Native MKV and H.265 HEVC Support

Introduced in last month's build, MKV support has now been integrated into Windows Media Player so that it can play mkv files directly.

This means that other apps and desktop programs benefit from this as well.

Thumbnails and metadata are shown in File Explorer now and DLNA and Play TO support has been added.

In addition to that, native support for H.265 HEVC has also been added.

Three dots menu now Hamburger menu

Three dots in an app window indicated a menu that you could click on to display options and settings. Microsoft has changed the dots to the well known Hamburger menu instead to  improve the visibility of that menu.

New 3-finger gestures

The following 3-finger gestures have been added:

1. 3-finger up - Task View
2. 3-finger down - Show Deskop
3. 3-finger flick to left or right - Switch to previous app
4. 3-finger move left or right - Alt-Tab and app selection
5. 3-finger tap - Search

OneDrive changes

Microsoft introduced a placeholder system on Windows 8.1 in regards to its file synchronization and cloud hosting service OneDrive.

It was used to display all files stored on OneDrive on the local system. Placeholder icons were used for files that were not available locally but only online.

This caused confusion according to Microsoft and was the core reason for the change that was introduced in the latest Windows 10 build.

OneDrive uses selective sync now instead on Windows 10 so that every file that is visible on the hard drive is accessible offline.

Other changes

Folders can now be pinned to the Home screen of File Explorer so that they become available on the new start page of the file browser.

Internet Explorer has a new feedback button that you can use to report broken or working websites.

The Feedback application has been improved. You can now sort by number of votes for example or by trending or most recent suggestions.

Additional information about the changes are available on Microsoft's Windows blog.