Much as the Windows 11 Start Menu is an improvement over what came before (yeah, I said it), there’s still plenty of room for improvement. Microsoft hasn’t made any major changes to its initial design since the launch of its latest operating system but it seems the brand has something in the works to that effect.
Earlier this month, Microsoft release Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5518. While the company was candid with many of its new features, including taskbar icon scaling, and new file sharing methods, it didn’t mention the presence of a new Start Menu. However, with a strike of the Windows key, there it is.
Windows Central took the plunge into the Insider Preview Build, highlighting many of the changes Microsoft has made to this new Start Menu. It’s important to note that this is clearly a work in progress but does give us some indication as to what Microsoft has in store for its final version.
The most immediately noticeable difference between this Start Menu and the one on your desktop is its size. It now takes up considerably more screen space but this provides room for a lot more pinned applications, with each row now housing eight icons at once. I do hope that Microsoft scales appropriately with resolution.
A ‘Show less’ and ‘Show more’ toggle replaces the ‘All’ button, decreasing and increasing the number of rows for pinned applications displayed at one time. You’ll now find the wider collection of applications on your PC underneath your personal pins, which you can view grouped together in categories or as a longer grid/list. Here’s hoping for custom categories.
Perhaps the change I’m most thankful for is an end to Microsoft’s ‘Recommended’ section. While you can make it smaller, there’s currently no way to get rid of it in the current Start Menu. Now, with the simple click of a toggle in the settings menu, it disappears for good. At last, I can finally exorcise what feels tantamount to the spirit of Clippy.
It’s unclear when Microsoft plans to rollout this new Windows 11 Start Menu as the company hasn’t even formally announced it. With this context in mind, don’t expect to see the new design sneak its way into an OS update in the near future. It’s far more likely that the company will include as part of a larger patch, like Windows 11 24H2, akin to service packs of old.
I’ll patiently wait for it in the meantime, as I’m sure many others will to. For more musings on Microsoft and other techie topics, follow Club386 on Google News and whatever social media platform you call home these days.
