14 DAY TRIAL // Windows 10 Technical Preview won't get any new build until January 2015, but this doesn't necessarily mean that Microsoft stopped fixing bugs and performance issues in the existing builds.
In fact, that's exactly what Redmond is trying to do right now, in an attempt to improve the overall experience you get when you install Windows 10 build 9879.
This time, Microsoft has released a patch for a common explorer.exe bug that causes the app to crash all of a sudden and which the company confirmed one week ago.
The software giant has announced, through the voice of Windows Insider boss Gabriel Aul, that Windows 10 build 9879 users could now download this new build from Windows Update and everyone is recommended to do so even if the bug doesn't seem to exist on their computers.
Two bugs at the core of the issue
Gabriel Aul explains in a post that this explorer.exe crash occurs because of 2 different problems, one of which is related to new system compression code available in build 9879. “In some cases the logic for low-space detection gets inverted, and we compress automatically as a background operation,” Aul says.
In addition, there is a second issue on PCs with system compression enabled, as a bug found in the way filesystem tracks deletes “caused the installer to think that the temp files failed to extract correctly, so the installer fails because it thinks it cannot complete.”
Only 12 percent of the computers are affected
Aul has added that, while Microsoft rushed to fix this problem, only 12 percent of the PCs running 9879 appear to have it, so rolling out a hotfix was critical because the company “wants to keep this build usable for your through the end of the year.”
Even though 9879 is the latest official build that was released by Microsoft, two other versions have already gotten leaked and can be installed by users worldwide if they know where to look.
Basically, build 9901 is pretty much the newest and the closest to the consumer preview version expected to be released by Microsoft in the coming months.
Windows 10 build 9901 comes with several new features, including an early version of personal assistant Cortana, which allows you to perform a series of tasks with the help of voice commands just like users can do on Windows Phone.
Cortana is set to arrive with more features on the stable version of Windows 10, which, according to Microsoft executives, should launch in late summer or early summer 2015.
New hotfix posted for #WindowsInsiders on WU that fixes the underlying issue for http://t.co/vrg4X7kXpq.
— Gabriel Aul (@GabeAul) December 15, 2014
