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Shhh! It's us, Microsoft. Yes, it's 2020. We're here with a new build of Windows 10

Ghost of Windows Future takes a bow while the Ghost of Windows Past spots XP in the wild

Happily for those still reacting negatively to sunlight after New Year's festivities, the new version of Windows 10 Microsoft has flung at Fast Ring fanboys and girls was a tad on the muted side.

And, of course, thanks to the exciting way in which Microsoft is now handling the Windows Insider program, there is no guarantee that any of the new toys will find their way into the shipping product.

Build 19541 has added the ability to check the given architecture of a process in the Task Manager. Handy if one is a member of the exclusive club of Windows on Arm users and wondering just why that app is so slow, but less so for the vast majority (we'd bet on a lot of x64 out there).

The other tweak sees an update to the icon that appears in the notification area when the location is in use.

There was, however, good news for the vanishingly small niche of Cortana-on-desktop users as Microsoft continued to add back features culled from the unloved assistant. Need to ask Bing a question? (maybe not "Where can I download Chrome") - Bing Instant Answers is for you! Or perhaps set a timer? Cortana can once again take care of it. Jokes and other conversations may also make an appearance before long, you lucky, lucky people.

This is, of course, assuming you're running English (United States) as a language since, presumably, making a Timer work in English (United Kingdom) is a tad tricky due to all those pesky regional variations.

The build features a number of fixes, including Windows Update "Reboot needed" notifications hanging around and the update speed in Task Manager setting itself to Paused. Anti-cheat code, however, remains a problem, as does hanging updates and USB 3.0 issues. Timeline, for those that actually use the thing, may also not be showing any activities this time around.

Under the new regime, the Fast Ring of the Windows Insider program is no longer tied to a specific release. So don't go playing with it expecting to see those toys showing up in a set timeframe (or at all.) As it stands, the release formerly known as 20H1, and now confusingly as 2004, is due in the coming months and currently lurks in the Slow Ring.

Still, even with the continually updating Windows 10 and Windows 7 gasping its last, things could be worse. The ghost of Windows past, Steven Sinofsky, spotted an elderly copy of Windows XP still doing its thing over at this year's CES.

Those were the days. ®

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