Windows 10 Anniversary Update now available for Insider programme Fast Ring

Update 14393.5 is officially here, but only for the privileged

While Windows 10 Anniversary Update doesn't officially go live until 2 August 2016, what seems to be essentially the finished patch - build 14393.5 - is now available to "Fast Ring" members of the Windows Insider programme.

It's on Windows Update as KB3176927, for those interested.

The Windows 10 Feedback Hub says the update offers "improved reliability and performance of Microsoft Edge with AdBlock and LastPass extensions enabled".

Edge needs all the help it can get to run at anything even close to an acceptable level on a mid-tier machine, so this is potentially great news.

End users will also be pleased to hear that the extensions "should continue to work" after installing other extension updates from the Windows Store.

Meanwhile, crippling battery issues with portable Windows 10 devices are also being addressed in 14393.5, with the promise that Microsoft has "fixed an issue" in which "runaway CPU processes" were causing battery drain while devices were idle.

"We also fixed a battery life issue due to the proximity sensor always running on some devices", it states, vaguely.

The update also fixes flaws that prevented some Store apps from launching "due to a licensing issue".

Anyway, if you use Windows Update and aren't yet upset by it, you'll be pleased to know that issues with systems utilising Connected Standby (formerly InstantGo - the smartphone-like power management setup Windows 8 brought to the table) not running Windows Update are now fixed - so way more updates for you.

Further fixes include removing broken Search boxes in Store apps, and an issue where "keyboard input on some Windows tablet devices would not rotate to landscape normally".

We're actually not entirely sure what that last one means, but there's still plenty of times our old Surface Pro boots with the screen completely upside down, so reorientation generally may still be an issue.