Windows 11 Start Menu Overhauled
Microsoft has confirmed several changes to the Windows 11 Start menu. They include more space and better support for connected phones.
The changes had been in testing for several weeks but have now been officially announced. They will be available to members of the Windows Insider program first and then roll out to all users. That means Microsoft has definitely decided to make the changes and its now just a case of picking up any late bugs before the full release. (Source: windows.com)
The most notable change is to the size of the Start menu, which will now be both taller (taking up most of the screen vertically) and wider (taking up roughly half the screen horizontally.) That extra space brings more options about how the various apps and icons appear. There will now be up to four sections.
All Apps Available
The top of the menu will now be the search menu, underneath which is the "Pinned" items section. This will include all apps the user has chosen to "pin" so that they are always shown here regardless of when and how often they are used.
Below this will be the "Recommended" section which is made up of frequently used apps and recently opened documents. Users will be able to customize the size of both the Pinned and Recommended sections.
Finally, the bottom of the screen will be an optional section that shows all apps, organized by category or as either a grid or list of all apps in alphabetical order, depending on the user's preference. Previously this required an extra click to access. (Source: lifehacker.com)
Phone Link More Prominent
The other big change is a new optional panel to the right of the menu. It's described as "phone companion" but is effectively what was previously a standalone "Phone Link" app.
This can be used with a connected iPhone or Android phone and, depending on the devices, will show information such as battery level, recent messages and calls, with an option to type replies to messages. The idea is that it means users won't need to get their phones out of their pockets for the most basic tasks.
What's Your Opinion?
Do you like the sound of these changes? Do you prefer the Windows 11 Start Menu to previous systems? What other changes would you like to see?
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The Windows 10 start menu had tiles that were useless and took up too much space. Windows 11 doesn't have tiles and the start menu is smaller, which is nice. Now they want to make it take up more space. Why? Most of the time I click Start and then type in the first few letters of what I want to do (control panel, device manager, etc) and it finds what I'm looking for without having to wade through sub menus - thus, no need for a bigger menu taking up half the screen. Personally, I prefer the original start menu (Windows 7 style). In that case, I prefer Open Shell (Classic Shell) and now StartAllBack because it has a lot of UI tweaks that aren't available anywhere else and allow me to do things like a customizable Quicklaunch toolbar which Microsoft decided to axe in Windows 11. Sometimes it's good to leave things alone if they aren't broken!