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62-564: Windows Insider is an open software testing program by Microsoft that allows users globally who own a valid license of Windows 11 , Windows 10 , or Windows Server to register for pre-release builds of the operating system previously only accessible to software developers . Microsoft launched Windows Insider for developers, enterprise testers and the "technically able" to test new developer features on pre-release software and builds to gather low level diagnostics feedback in order to identify, investigate, mitigate and improve Windows 10, with
124-432: A 2nd generation AMD Ryzen or later CPU, with a Trusted Platform Module 2.0 security chip and Secure Boot enabled. Testing had been conducted on 7th generation Intel and 1st generation Ryzen CPUs, but support was ended before the final version was released. Older CPUs and systems without TPM or Secure Boot may be able to run Windows 11, but will require changes to be made to the system registry to be able to upgrade to
186-425: A database . The tester can observe the state of the product being tested after performing certain actions such as executing SQL statements against the database and then executing queries to ensure that the expected changes have been reflected. Grey-box testing implements intelligent test scenarios based on limited information. This will particularly apply to data type handling, exception handling , and so on. With
248-439: A user or sponsor. Software testing can determine the correctness of software for specific scenarios but cannot determine correctness for all scenarios. It cannot find all bugs . Based on the criteria for measuring correctness from an oracle , software testing employs principles and mechanisms that might recognize a problem. Examples of oracles include specifications , contracts , comparable products, past versions of
310-526: A Requirements gap – omission from the design for a requirement. Requirement gaps can often be non-functional requirements such as testability , scalability , maintainability , performance , and security . A fundamental limitation of software testing is that testing under all combinations of inputs and preconditions (initial state) is not feasible, even with a simple product. Defects that manifest in unusual conditions are difficult to find in testing. Also, non-functional dimensions of quality (how it
372-413: A failure. For example, a defect in dead code will not be considered a failure. A defect that does not cause failure at one point in time may later occur due to environmental changes. Examples of environment change include running on new computer hardware , changes in data , and interacting with different software. A single defect may result in multiple failure symptoms. Software testing may involve
434-509: A non-Insider preview of the OS, except for the Mi4 ROM version. This was followed by build 14291, released for existing Windows 10 devices on March 17, 2016 in conjunction with the official RTM release of Windows 10 Mobile to third and fourth-generation Lumias. The following week, it became available to the newly upgraded older Lumias in addition to several other devices already on Windows 10 Mobile at
496-412: A separate program module or library . Sanity testing determines whether it is reasonable to proceed with further testing. Smoke testing consists of minimal attempts to operate the software, designed to determine whether there are any basic problems that will prevent it from working at all. Such tests can be used as build verification test . Coffee Lake Next generation Coffee Lake
558-472: Is Intel 's codename for its eighth-generation Core microprocessor family, announced on September 25, 2017. It is manufactured using Intel's second 14 nm process node refinement. Desktop Coffee Lake processors introduced i5 and i7 CPUs featuring six cores (along with hyper-threading in the case of the latter) and Core i3 CPUs with four cores and no hyperthreading. On October 8, 2018, Intel announced what it branded its ninth generation of Core processors,
620-449: Is a lack of its compatibility with other application software , operating systems (or operating system versions , old or new), or target environments that differ greatly from the original (such as a terminal or GUI application intended to be run on the desktop now being required to become a Web application , which must render in a Web browser ). For example, in the case of a lack of backward compatibility , this can occur because
682-713: Is helpful in ensuring correct functionality, but not sufficient since the same code may process different inputs correctly or incorrectly. Black-box testing (also known as functional testing) describes designing test cases without knowledge of the implementation, without reading the source code. The testers are only aware of what the software is supposed to do, not how it does it. Black-box testing methods include: equivalence partitioning , boundary value analysis , all-pairs testing , state transition tables , decision table testing, fuzz testing , model-based testing , use case testing, exploratory testing , and specification-based testing. Specification-based testing aims to test
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#1732782910217744-416: Is now available to the public, allowing users to try out "hot off the presses" builds that include experimental and cutting-edge features. On July 17, 2017, reports began to come that Windows 10 Creators Update refused to install on PCs and tablets sporting Intel Atom "Clover Trail" processors. At first, it appeared as though this might have been a temporary block as Microsoft and hardware partners work to fix
806-497: Is one that detects an as-yet undiscovered error." ), it illustrated the desire of the software engineering community to separate fundamental development activities, such as debugging, from that of verification. Software testing is typically goal driven. Software testing typically includes handling software bugs – a defect in the code that causes an undesirable result. Bugs generally slow testing progress and involve programmer assistance to debug and fix. Not all defects cause
868-488: Is supposed to be versus what it is supposed to do ) – usability , scalability , performance , compatibility , and reliability – can be subjective; something that constitutes sufficient value to one person may not to another. Although testing for every possible input is not feasible, testing can use combinatorics to maximize coverage while minimizing tests. Testing can be categorized many ways. Software testing can be categorized into levels based on how much of
930-438: Is supposed to do and what it needs to do? Information learned from software testing may be used to improve the process by which software is developed. Software testing should follow a "pyramid" approach wherein most of your tests should be unit tests , followed by integration tests and finally end-to-end (e2e) tests should have the lowest proportion. A study conducted by NIST in 2002 reported that software bugs cost
992-648: The Coffee Lake Refresh family. To avoid running into thermal problems at high clock speeds, Intel soldered the integrated heat spreader (IHS) to the CPU die instead of using thermal paste as on the Coffee Lake processors. The generation was defined by another increase of core counts. Coffee Lake is used with the 300-series chipset, and officially does not work with the 100- and 200-series chipset motherboards. Although desktop Coffee Lake processors use
1054-546: The HTC One M8 for Windows . This was followed up by Xiaomi who, in partnership with Microsoft, released a ROM port of Windows 10 to its flagship Mi 4 handset on June 1, 2015. At that time, it was limited to certain registered users in China. Build 10080 and its follow-up build 10166 also added support for fourth-generation Lumia (x40 series) devices. As a result, all compatible Windows Phone 8 or later Lumia phones now support
1116-526: The software system is the focus of a test. There are many approaches to software testing. Reviews , walkthroughs , or inspections are referred to as static testing, whereas executing programmed code with a given set of test cases is referred to as dynamic testing . Static testing is often implicit, like proofreading, plus when programming tools/text editors check source code structure or compilers (pre-compilers) check syntax and data flow as static program analysis . Dynamic testing takes place when
1178-484: The unit , integration , and system levels of the software testing process, it is usually done at the unit level. It can test paths within a unit, paths between units during integration, and between subsystems during a system–level test. Though this method of test design can uncover many errors or problems, it might not detect unimplemented parts of the specification or missing requirements. Techniques used in white-box testing include: Code coverage tools can evaluate
1240-482: The "technically able" to test out new developer features and to gather feedback to improve the features built into Windows 10. By the time of the official launch of Windows 10 for PCs, a total of 5 million volunteers were registered on both Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile. They were also among the first people to receive the official update to Windows 10. With the release of Windows 10, the Windows Insider app
1302-491: The 100 and 200 series chipsets, are officially only compatible with Coffee Lake CPUs, meaning that older motherboards do not officially support Coffee Lake processors, and 300 series motherboards do not officially support Skylake or Kaby Lake processors. The enthusiast Z370 (a rebranded Z270), launched alongside the first Coffee Lake CPUs in October 2017, was the only officially supported chipset for these mainstream CPUs. When
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#17327829102171364-566: The 40th anniversary of the Intel 8086 CPU architecture, Intel released the i7-8086K as a limited edition CPU, a renumbered and slightly higher clocked batch of the i7-8700K dies. Coffee Lake's development was led by Intel Israel's processor design team in Haifa , Israel, as an optimization of Kaby Lake . Intel first launched its 8th Generation Intel Core family processors in August 2017. While with
1426-517: The Core i7-8700K CPU may consume over 110 W under load. (GHz) Up to 128 GB ECC memory supported Turbo (MHz) (GHz) The first 9th generation Coffee Lake CPUs were released in the fourth quarter of 2018. They include hardware mitigations against certain Meltdown / Spectre vulnerabilities. The main differences from the 8th generation (besides increased frequency) are: Even though
1488-702: The Dev and Beta channels transitioning to the new operating system. The first Insider build for Windows 11 was released on June 28, 2021 for the Dev Channel. Windows Insider Preview updates are delivered to testers in different channels (previously "rings") or logical categories: Windows Insiders in Dev Channel (previously Fast ring ) receive updates prior to Windows Insiders in Beta Channel (previously Slow ring ) but might experience more bugs and other issues. Release Preview Channel (previously Release Preview ring )
1550-740: The IUT should be decided before the testing plan starts to be executed (preset testing ) or whether each input to be applied to the IUT can be dynamically dependent on the outputs obtained during the application of the previous tests (adaptive testing ). Software testing can often be divided into white-box and black-box. These two approaches are used to describe the point of view that the tester takes when designing test cases. A hybrid approach called grey-box that includes aspects of both boxes may also be applied to software testing methodology. White-box testing (also known as clear box testing, glass box testing, transparent box testing, and structural testing) verifies
1612-725: The Intel Core i9 branding made its debut on the mainstream desktop, describing CPUs with 8 cores and 16 threads. 9th generation i7s feature 8 single-threaded cores, marking the first time desktop Core i7s have not featured Intel's Hyper-threading technology, although the 9th generation Core i7 mobile CPUs do support hyperthreading and have 6 cores just like 8th gen mobile chips. 9th generation i5 CPUs feature six single-threaded cores, just like their 8th generation predecessors. The ninth generation Core i series includes hardware fixes for Meltdown and L1 Terminal Fault . The 300 series chipsets, while using physically identical LGA 1151 socket to
1674-496: The U.S. economy $ 59.5 billion annually. More than a third of this cost could be avoided if better software testing was performed. Outsourcing software testing because of costs is very common, with China, the Philippines, and India being preferred destinations. Glenford J. Myers initially introduced the separation of debugging from testing in 1979. Although his attention was on breakage testing ("A successful test case
1736-663: The Windows Insider program would continue beyond the official release of Windows 10 for future updates. Gabriel Aul and Dona Sarkar were both previously the head of the Windows Insider Program. The present head of the Windows Insider program is Amanda Langowski. Similar to the Windows Insider program, the Microsoft Office , Microsoft Edge , Skype , Bing , Xbox and Visual Studio Code teams have set up their own Insider programs. Microsoft originally launched Windows Insider for enterprise testers and
1798-468: The application is supposed to do. It uses external descriptions of the software, including specifications, requirements, and designs, to derive test cases. These tests can be functional or non-functional , though usually functional. Specification-based testing may be necessary to assure correct functionality, but it is insufficient to guard against complex or high-risk situations. Black box testing can be used to any level of testing although usually not at
1860-464: The bug fixes and security updates for the latest compatible version of Windows 10. Versions of Windows 10 that were released before a microprocessor was released is also not supported and installations for those operating systems may be actively blocked. For example, Windows 10 Version 1507 LTSB will not install on Kaby Lake processors. Due to security concerns such as the zero day exploit, Windows 11 now requires an 8th generation or later Intel CPU or
1922-455: The completeness of a test suite that was created with any method, including black-box testing. This allows the software team to examine parts of a system that are rarely tested and ensures that the most important function points have been tested. Code coverage as a software metric can be reported as a percentage for: 100% statement coverage ensures that all code paths or branches (in terms of control flow ) are executed at least once. This
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1984-501: The concept of grey-box testing, this "arbitrary distinction" between black- and white-box testing has faded somewhat. Most software systems have installation procedures that are needed before they can be used for their main purpose. Testing these procedures to achieve an installed software system that may be used is known as installation testing . These procedures may involve full or partial upgrades, and install/uninstall processes. A common cause of software failure (real or perceived)
2046-444: The developer as opposed to just describing it, and the need to replicate test failures will cease to exist in many cases. The developer will have all the evidence he or she requires of a test failure and can instead focus on the cause of the fault and how it should be fixed. Ad hoc testing and exploratory testing are important methodologies for checking software integrity because they require less preparation time to implement, while
2108-460: The devices that remain supported, nearly all, except the Lumia 640 and its XL variant, had originally come with Windows 10 Mobile instead of Windows Phone 8.1. Software testing Software testing is the act of checking whether software satisfies expectations. Software testing can provide objective, independent information about the quality of software and the risk of its failure to
2170-410: The expense of die area and idle power. Coffee Lake marks a shift in the number of cores for Intel's mainstream desktop processors, the first such update for the previous ten-year history of Intel Core CPUs. In the 8th generation, mainstream desktop i7 CPUs feature six hyperthreaded cores, i5 CPUs feature six single-threaded cores and i3 CPUs feature four single-threaded cores. For the 9th generation,
2232-537: The full lineup of CPUs was revealed in April 2018, it was then accompanied by the lower-end H310, B360, H370 and Q370 chipsets for home and business users. The Z390 chipset was launched alongside the release of the 9th generation CPUs, supporting all 8th and 9th generation mainstream desktop parts. A B365 chipset was added later on. 9th generation Xeons require motherboards with the C246 chipset. Coffee Lake features largely
2294-401: The functionality of software according to the applicable requirements. This level of testing usually requires thorough test cases to be provided to the tester, who then can simply verify that for a given input, the output value (or behavior), either "is" or "is not" the same as the expected value specified in the test case. Test cases are built around specifications and requirements, i.e., what
2356-485: The help, support and guidance of the Insider program Participants, in direct communication with Microsoft Engineers via a proprietary communication and diagnostic channel. It was announced on September 30, 2014, along with Windows 10. By September 2015, over 7 million people took part in the Windows Insider program. On February 12, 2015, Microsoft started to test out previews of Windows 10 Mobile . Microsoft announced that
2418-612: The important bugs can be found quickly. In ad hoc testing, where testing takes place in an improvised impromptu way, the ability of the tester(s) to base testing off documented methods and then improvise variations of those tests can result in a more rigorous examination of defect fixes. However, unless strict documentation of the procedures is maintained, one of the limits of ad hoc testing is lack of repeatability. Grey-box testing (American spelling: gray-box testing) involves using knowledge of internal data structures and algorithms for purposes of designing tests while executing those tests at
2480-476: The internal structures or workings of a program, as opposed to the functionality exposed to the end-user. In white-box testing, an internal perspective of the system (the source code), as well as programming skills are used to design test cases. The tester chooses inputs to exercise paths through the code and determines the appropriate outputs. This is analogous to testing nodes in a circuit, e.g., in-circuit testing (ICT). While white-box testing can be applied at
2542-735: The issues preventing the operating system to run well. However, Microsoft later confirmed that devices running the "Clover Trail" Intel Atom processors would not be receiving the Creators Update, as the processors are no longer supported by Intel and does not have the appropriate firmware to properly run versions of Windows 10 newer than the Anniversary Update. The following processors are no longer supported and will remain on Windows 10 Anniversary Update: Because PCs with unsupported processors could not receive new features updates, Microsoft agreed to extend support for these PCs with
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2604-438: The low-cost Lumia 550 and Lumia 650 . Since their release, these new Windows 10 devices became eligible to receive future updates in advance via the Insider program, beginning with build 10586 on December 4, 2015. On February 19, 2016, Microsoft released the first Windows 10 Mobile "Redstone" preview, build 14267. Starting with this build, future preview versions became exclusively available for devices that were already running
2666-453: The new Coffee Lake microarchitecture. When it was officially announced on August 21, 2017, however, Intel stated that the eighth generation family would be based on multiple microarchitectures: Kaby Lake Refresh , Coffee Lake, Whiskey Lake , and Cannon Lake . These processors mark the first time that Intel has released mainstream consumer CPUs that support up to 128 GB RAM. (GHz) DDR4-2666 DDR4-2400 * various reviews show that
2728-508: The next unit. The aim of visual testing is to provide developers with the ability to examine what was happening at the point of software failure by presenting the data in such a way that the developer can easily find the information he or she requires, and the information is expressed clearly. At the core of visual testing is the idea that showing someone a problem (or a test failure), rather than just describing it, greatly increases clarity and understanding. Visual testing, therefore, requires
2790-421: The operating system. Microsoft has raised the possibility of not providing updates to unsupported devices on Windows 11. Microsoft initially launched Windows 10 Technical Preview for certain third-generation (x30 series) phones from their Lumia family and subsequently released it to second-generation (x20 series) devices throughout the testing phase. Some hacked their non-Lumia phones (which were not supported at
2852-563: The preview. In August 2015, Microsoft stated that while all Windows Phone devices, including those from Microsoft's new hardware partners announced the previous year, would receive the final version of Windows 10 Mobile, not all would receive preview builds through the Insider program. However, the company did not provide any information at the time on whether new devices would be added to the preview program. Microsoft instead focused on promoting new devices that come with Windows 10 Mobile, including their Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL flagships, and
2914-423: The program itself is run. Dynamic testing may begin before the program is 100% complete in order to test particular sections of code and are applied to discrete functions or modules. Typical techniques for these are either using stubs /drivers or execution from a debugger environment. Static testing involves verification , whereas dynamic testing also involves validation . Passive testing means verifying
2976-451: The programmers develop and test software only on the latest version of the target environment, which not all users may be running. This results in the unintended consequence that the latest work may not function on earlier versions of the target environment, or on older hardware that earlier versions of the target environment were capable of using. Sometimes such issues can be fixed by proactively abstracting operating system functionality into
3038-553: The range or data types can be checked for data generated from one unit and tested for validity before being passed into another unit. One option for interface testing is to keep a separate log file of data items being passed, often with a timestamp logged to allow analysis of thousands of cases of data passed between units for days or weeks. Tests can include checking the handling of some extreme data values while other interface variables are passed as normal values. Unusual data values in an interface can help explain unexpected performance in
3100-417: The recording of the entire test process – capturing everything that occurs on the test system in video format. Output videos are supplemented by real-time tester input via picture-in-a-picture webcam and audio commentary from microphones. Visual testing provides a number of advantages. The quality of communication is increased drastically because testers can show the problem (and the events leading up to it) to
3162-403: The release of the new 8th Gen Intel Core i9 processor in 2018, Intel said it would be the highest-performance laptop processor Intel has ever built. Coffee Lake CPUs are built using the second refinement of Intel's 14 nm process (14 nm++). It features increased transistor gate pitch for a lower current density and higher leakage transistors that allows higher peak power and higher frequency at
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#17327829102173224-414: The same CPU core and performance per MHz as Skylake/Kaby Lake. Features specific to Coffee Lake include: On August 8, 2017, Intel announced the first of its new eighth generation of processors would be mobile processors. As Intel's previous changes in product generations coincided with new microarchitectures, it was unclear but generally expected that the eighth Core generation products would be based on
3286-450: The same physical LGA 1151 socket as Skylake and Kaby Lake, the pinout is electrically incompatible with these older processors and motherboards. On April 2, 2018, Intel released additional desktop Core i3, i5, i7, Pentium Gold, Celeron CPUs, the first six-core Core i7 and i9 mobile CPUs, hyper-threaded four-core Core i5 mobile CPUs, and the first Coffee Lake ultra-power CPUs with Intel Iris Plus graphics. On June 8, 2018, to commemorate
3348-418: The same product, inferences about intended or expected purpose, user or customer expectations, relevant standards, and applicable laws. Software testing is often dynamic in nature; running the software to verify actual output matches expected. It can also be static in nature; reviewing code and its associated documentation . Software testing is often used to answer the question: Does the software do what it
3410-496: The system under test. This distinction is particularly important when conducting integration testing between two modules of code written by two different developers, where only the interfaces are exposed for the test. By knowing the underlying concepts of how the software works, the tester makes better-informed testing choices while testing the software from outside. Typically, a grey-box tester will be permitted to set up an isolated testing environment with activities, such as seeding
3472-423: The system's behavior without any interaction with the software product. Contrary to active testing, testers do not provide any test data but look at system logs and traces. They mine for patterns and specific behavior in order to make some kind of decisions. This is related to offline runtime verification and log analysis . The type of testing strategy to be performed depends on whether the tests to be applied to
3534-406: The time) to download the preview builds. Microsoft responded by blocking all unsupported models. To roll back the installed technical preview back to Windows Phone 8.1 , Microsoft launched Windows Device Recovery Tool that removes Windows 10 and recovers the latest officially released software and firmware. Preview build 10080, released on May 14, 2015, was the first to support a non-Lumia device,
3596-529: The time. All supported devices subsequently received Insider preview builds as far as build 15063, the "Creators Update", released on March 20, 2017. This included the official release of build 14393, the "Anniversary Update", on August 2, 2016. However, it was announced in April 2017 that many devices, including all third-generation Lumias, would not receive the RTM version of the Creators Update and further "Redstone" development builds, following feedback from users. Of
3658-471: The unit level. Component interface testing Component interface testing is a variation of black-box testing , with the focus on the data values beyond just the related actions of a subsystem component. The practice of component interface testing can be used to check the handling of data passed between various units, or subsystem components, beyond full integration testing between those units. The data being passed can be considered as "message packets" and
3720-424: The user, or black-box level. The tester will often have access to both "the source code and the executable binary." Grey-box testing may also include reverse engineering (using dynamic code analysis) to determine, for instance, boundary values or error messages. Manipulating input data and formatting output do not qualify as grey-box, as the input and output are clearly outside of the "black box" that we are calling
3782-640: Was introduced in February 2016. On November 5, 2019, Microsoft abandoned the Skip Ahead ring from the Windows Insider Program, stating "Our goal is to provide everyone in the Fast ring the freshest builds at the same time". On June 15, 2020, Microsoft introduced "channels" model to its Windows Insider Program, succeeding its "rings" model. On March 6, 2023, Microsoft announced that the Canary Channel
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#17327829102173844-545: Was merged with the Settings app . This made the ability to install Windows Insider preview builds an optional feature which could be accessed directly from within Windows 10. In May 2017, Microsoft announced that the program would extend to Windows Server 2016. The first Insider build for this operating system was released on 13 July 2017. On June 24, 2021, Microsoft announced that the program would extend to Windows 11, with
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