First Windows 11 Canary build offers File Explorer access key shortcuts, file recommendations, more

Microsoft is releasing its first Canary release for Windows 11 Insiders this week. Build 25314 offers a handful of new features, including File Explorer access key shortcuts and file recommendations and Local Security Authority (LSA) protection. However, as mentioned by Microsoft before, the release might be unstable in many areas, which might be faced by former Dev Insiders who chose to move into this channel.

This week, Microsoft released the addition of the new Canary Channel into its Windows Insider program. This also brought a change to Insiders, especially those in the Dev Channel, as Microsoft said those testers would be moved to the Canary. Those who wished to stay in Dev Channel were advised to have a Windows 11 clean installation, but Insiders who moved to Canary will get more exciting releases. As believed by some, the new Canary Channel might be the place where Microsoft would test the features for the rumored Windows 12. The downside of this, however, is unstable builds.

In this first Canary release, Microsoft included several features and improvements for Insiders. Here is a quick look at them:

• File Explorer Access Keys Shortcuts. The shortcuts are added to the XAML context menu. They will serve as “one keystroke shortcut” for users for specific commands by using designated letters for the display names in the context menu.
• File Explorer File Recommendations. After testing AI-powered recommended Start menu content in Release Preview Build 22621.1343, Microsoft is now trying to test file recommendations in File Explorer. And like in the said earlier test, this feature will only apply to users signed into Windows with an Azure Active Directory (AAD) account.
• LSA Protection. In this release, Microsoft is enabling LSA protection by default, and this decision is just logical for Microsoft to implement. As the company puts it, the feature “helps protect against theft of secrets and credentials used for logon by preventing unauthorized code from running in the LSA process and by preventing dumping of process memory.”
• Narrator Outlook Support Update Retrieval. Microsoft said Narrator would now retrieve updates to its Outlook support when Narrator is started.
• Disabling Remote Mailslot Protocol. Microsoft noted that the release would also disable Remote Mailslot Protocol by default in Windows 11 systems since it was a “simple, unreliable, insecure, and unidirectional inter-process communications protocol between a client and server.” Part of this, the software company said it plans to deprecate it in a future Windows release.