The Windows Insider Program gives you a peek at what Microsoft is working on and what new features are rolling out in Windows – both Windows 11 and Windows 10. However, it’s not for everyone, and you definitely shouldn’t install Insider Preview on your work computer.
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What is the Windows Insider Program?
The Windows Insider Program gives the public access to the changes and new features that Microsoft is developing. The program benefits many people: Microsoft gets a large number of testers to help identify and iron out bugs, and to see if people like changes, developers can review changes before they appear in the live version of Windows , so they can schedule updates to their programs, and enthusiastic first-timers have fun all day fighting pre-release hiccups.
The Windows Insider Program really isn’t for everyone. Preview versions of Windows are usually much more buggy than officially released versions. That alone makes it unsuitable for everyday use, but the fact that features and changes come and go often makes matters worse.
However, not all preview versions of Windows are created equal. There are three different “channels” available to Windows Insiders.
What are the different channels?
The Windows Insider Program is divided into three channels, the Developer Channel, the Beta Channel, and the Release Preview Channel. Microsoft uses the term “flight” to describe joining and using Insider builds of Windows. Here’s a brief idea of what flighting might look like in each channel:
The developer channel
The developer channel is the bleeding edge. It’s the most updated Insider channel and therefore tends to be the most unstable. New features appear and disappear fairly regularly as Microsoft tests brand new code and new features on a larger scale. You must be skilled at bypassing bugs and you should only select the dev channel if you are tech savvy otherwise you are likely to have a miserable time.
You shouldn’t choose this as your daily driver unless you actually need to work with the latest updates.
The Beta Channel
The beta channel tends to be more stable than the developer channel. Updates for the Beta Channel are more reliable, and you probably won’t spend as much time trying to work around bugs with the operating system or the software installed on it.
Microsoft says the beta channel is specifically designed to help them collect user feedback on updates and new features, so any issues in the code can be ironed out before they go live.
The Release Preview channel
The Release Preview channel is the most stable channel of the Insider program. The features in the Release Preview channel have all been tested fairly thoroughly and are set to roll out in the live version of Windows. You could probably use the versions in this channel for your day-to-day operating system without too much trouble, but there’s no way to know for sure if existing third-party software will be fully compatible.
How to sign up for the Windows Insider Program
Warning: After you’ve signed up for the Windows Insider Program, the only reliable way to return to the live version of Windows is to reinstall Windows. You should prepare for this in advance. It might be a good idea to create a system image to fall back to if you don’t want to use Insider Preview. If you can, consider running Insider Previews in a virtual machine.
Microsoft has made signing up for the Windows Inside program pretty easy. Go over there the Microsoft Insider preview pagescroll down and then click Register.
Note: You need to sign in to the Microsoft website with the same account that you connected to your Windows PC.
Heed the warnings on the next page – there is a real possibility that you are currently losing data on your PC. After doing this, check the box and accept the terms and conditions.
Then, on either Windows 10 or Windows 11, you need to go to the Windows Insider Preview window in the Settings app.
Click the Start button, type “Windows Insider Program” in the search bar, and then press Enter or click Open. Alternatively, you can open the Settings app and navigate to System > Windows Update > Windows Insider Program.
Click on “Get Started” and then follow all the steps. You must first link an account and then select the channel you want to use.
Click through the next set of prompts and restart your computer. The selected Windows preview will be installed.
Opt out after you join
Joining the Windows Insider Program is much easier than leaving it. You can Exit to the Microsoft website anytime, but that won’t actually remove the Insider build from your PC. Returning to a stable version of Windows is a bit more complicated.
Once you’ve signed up for the Dev Channel, the only way to get back to a stable version of Windows is with a full reinstall. If you have created a system image, you can also use it to roll back your PC to a stable version of Windows.
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You have two choices if you are in the Beta Channel or the Release Preview Channel. The first is to reinstall Windows with a new image or a recovery image, just like you would join the dev channel. The second option is to configure your computer to turn off new Insider updates as soon as the latest Insider preview goes live – after all, the current build you’re testing becomes the stable build. That’s not ideal if you want to go back to a stable build nowas it can take months for a preview to go live.
The difficulty of going back to a stable version of Windows only reinforces one important point: the Windows Insider Program isn’t for everyone. If you just want to try it, use a virtual machine or whatever computer you don’t care. Installing preview versions of Windows on your everyday work PC is a headache.
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