Windows 10’s next update could come with bigger changes including a new Start menu

Start menu is now in testing for 20H2 update, which seemingly isn’t a minor upgrade

Windows 10’s next update due to land later this year (referred to as 20H2) was expected to be just a service pack-style upgrade, mirroring what happened in the second half of 2019 – but it seems that the update won’t just offer minor changes, but some bigger introductions.

This appears to be the case because Microsoft has just released a new preview version for Windows 10 (20H2) which carries the new Start menu that has previously been tested in the dev channel, among a number of other more sizeable alterations to the OS.

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Build 19042.421 has been deployed to beta channel testers and it comes with the more streamlined design for the Start menu, which changes live tiles so they carry the same background color (which matches whether Windows 10 is in a light or dark theme), as opposed to the patchwork of different colors which they currently are.

The idea is a more uniform look overall, but those who are wanting a splash more in the way of colorfulness can apply an accent color if they wish.

Microsoft explains: “This refined Start design looks great in both dark and light theme, but if you’re looking for a splash of color, first make sure to turn on Windows dark theme and then toggle ‘Show accent color on the following surfaces’ for ‘Start, taskbar, and action center’ under Settings > Personalization > Color to elegantly apply your accent color to the Start frame and tiles.”

Other changes in build 19042.421 include modifying the way Alt-Tabbing works in relation to Microsoft Edge. Essentially, this lets every single tab you have open in the browser appear as a separate element when Alt-Tabbing through your running tasks.

That may be confusing or clunky if you have a whole load of tabs open, mind, and you might not like the idea of this feature anyway – so Microsoft has made it easy to turn off (or limit the number of Edge tabs that can be displayed when Alt-Tabbing).

Furthermore, websites in Microsoft Edge that you’ve pinned to the taskbar will now show all of the open tabs for that site across any active browser windows when you click them on the taskbar.

Note that to get these Edge features, you’ll need to be running either the Canary or Dev build of the browser, on at least version 83.0.475.0 for Alt-Tabbing, and 85.0.561.0 or higher for the improvement to pinned sites.