Windows 10 Build 14971 is out

Microsoft is really pushing it with new builds for its Windows 10 operating system. The company released build 14971 to the Fast Ring Insider channel yesterday.

The last couple of builds have not been all that exciting in regards to new features. In fact, some introduced bugs, like the weird one that some apps, like Photos, Store or People, launch automatically after some inactivity, have still not been fixed in this build.

Windows 10 Build 14971 ships with a couple of new features and changes though that stable Windows 10 users may look forward to when the next feature update of the operating system is released (likely in March 2017).

What’s new in Windows 10 Build 14971

One of the big feature additions in this build is EPUB support in Microsoft Edge. As you may know, Edge can be used to display PDF documents directly in the browser.

This works similar to other browsers, Firefox or Chrome for instance, handle native PDF reading. The newly added support for the EPUB format works in the same way.

To read an EPUB book click on it in Edge. If it is unprotected -- which means no DRM basically -- it will be opened and you can start to read it right in Edge without requiring a third-party viewer application for that.

Edge displays a toolbar at the top that offers quite a few functions. You may use it to change the text size, font type or theme of the page, set page bookmarks, browse the table of contents (if provided), or use the built-in search to find words or phrases.

You can still download the EPUB file instead if you prefer that. Simply right-click on the link and select the save option that appears in the context menu.

Paint 3D Preview

The new Paint 3D Preview app, showcased recently on a Microsoft event, is integrated in the latest build now.

You can run it directly as any other native Windows 10 application provided that you are on the link. This app will be one of the new apps that Microsoft will ship with the Windows 10 Creator's Update.

The app does not seem to have received an update though. Please note that it is still only available in English. The Remix 3D Preview, the community feature that is integrated in Paint 3D, is available in additional countries now though including Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and Austria.

Focus on PowerShell

If you use the Win-X menu regularly to open the command prompt, you may have noticed already that it is no longer listed in the menu.

Microsoft replaced the Command Prompt -- both the standard and elevated -- with PowerShell in the Win-X menu.

The Settings app has an option right now to undo the change. If you don't like it -- tell us why you don't please -- you can do the following to restore the command prompt links:

1. Right-click on the Windows 10 taskbar and select Settings.
2. Find "Replace Command Prompt with Windows PowerShell in the menu when I right-click the start button or press Windows key + X".

You can still launch the command prompt by launching cmd from the start menu.

Other changes

The new Windows 10 build ships with a couple of other changes. Microsoft announced that it has improved the typing experience with Japanese and Chinese Input Method Editors in this build.

As always, make sure you read the known issues and what is been fixed on the official Windows blog before you start the update.

The auto-launching issue of apps can be quite annoying for instance.

Now You: What's your take on the changes?