Third build of Windows 10 in one week a sign of OS stability

Build 10162 is the third build Microsoft has released in one week -- a record for the company during its public beta testing -- and comes just a day and a half after the company released its predecessor, build 10159.

The release only features bug fixes and other minor improvements, which is hardly a surprise, since Windows 10 will begin rolling out to customers later this month. While there aren't any new capabilities included in this build, it's supposed to feature "better reliability, performance, battery life, and compatibility than any Windows 10 Insider Preview build so far."

Gabe Aul, a Microsoft engineering general manager, said in a blog post that members of the Windows Insider Program's Fast ring, which is getting the build today, should expect more frequent updates to Windows 10 over the next month as Microsoft gets ready for its launch on July 29. Insiders should still expect to wait a few days between updates so Microsoft can test that new builds don't break existing features, but new versions of the OS will be coming fast and furious.

People who are signed up for the Windows Insider Program's Slow ring, which delivers updates that are more stable but less frequent, have good news to look forward to next week. Aul said that build 10162 is a candidate for release to members of the Slow ring next week after Microsoft confirms that it's sufficiently stable. That means people will be able to download ISO disk images of the build to install it cleanly on their devices, if that's something they're interested in.

As with all of the Windows Insider Program builds, it's worth noting that this is still pre-release software, which may include bugs that make it less useful as an operating system for daily use. Microsoft didn't call out any major known issues with the current build, but people who rely on their computers working exactly as expected will likely still want to hold off on installing it until the public release of Windows 10.

Microsoft offered some new details about that Thursday morning, saying that while the company will begin allowing members of the public to download the consumer build of its new operating system on July 29, it will be rolling out in waves rather than all at once.