Windows 11 'Start Menu' changes

[Steerpike]

I happened to read somewhere that MS have improved the overly simplistic 'start menu' of Win 11 a little by allowing repositioning of entries, grouping of icons, and allowing more icons/fewer recommendations. Not a huge leap forward, but better than nothing. 

 

I've been using 'Explorer Patcher' since the beginning to get 'Windows 10' start menu functionality on my Windows 11 laptop, but I decided this week to give 'native' windows 11 a try.  To my surprise, I'm quite liking it.  Not sure I'll stick with it - I really like Explorer Patcher - but it's always good to know what the options are. 

[Aaron44126]

I'll point again to Start11.  They've "reimplemented" the Start menus for Windows 7, 10, and 11 (you can pick which to use) and have additional features and options available in many cases.  They've also done some work to add back missing taskbar options to Windows 11.  It's a small cost but there is a free trial if you want to check it out.

 

I've been using it with the "Windows 10 style" menu and I really like it, and it's nice to know that my tile layout won't "go away" after I eventually upgrade to Windows 11.  Some features that they have added specific to the Windows 10 style are the ability to set custom individual tile images/icons, change individual tile colors, change the overall tile size, and to have multiple "pages" of tiles.

[Steerpike]

12 hours ago, Aaron44126 said:

I'll point again to Start11.  They've "reimplemented" the Start menus for Windows 7, 10, and 11 (you can pick which to use) and have additional features and options available in many cases.  They've also done some work to add back missing taskbar options to Windows 11.  It's a small cost but there is a free trial if you want to check it out.

 

I've been using it with the "Windows 10 style" menu and I really like it, and it's nice to know that my tile layout won't "go away" after I eventually upgrade to Windows 11.  Some features that they have added specific to the Windows 10 style are the ability to set custom individual tile images/icons, change individual tile colors, change the overall tile size, and to have multiple "pages" of tiles.

Have you tried Explorer Patcher? I found it to be surprisingly functional.  I was able to re-create my Windows 10 'tiled start menu' look and feel. I'm sure Start11 is 'even better', but EP did everything I needed. 

 

Regarding the Win11 Start Menu, I discovered this new feature yesterday. Not sure exactly when it was released, but it's new to me and I find it very helpful indeed!  You can add a bunch of shortcuts to the Start Menu, at the bottom, which removes the need to add other shortcuts to the 'start menu' main body itself. 

 

 

There are more possibilities than this, but above I have 'settings', File Explorer, Downloads, Documents, added. 

 

More broadly, though, I'm finding I am making more and more use of the taskbar - pinning tasks there rather than pinning to 'start', and it's feeling more and more natural. 

 

 

[MyPC8MyBrain]

since win8 when MS originally changed classic start menu i use startisback,

for win10/11 they renamed the app to srartallback https://www.startallback.com/

it does cost $2 per pc lifetime lic (it used to be $1), for the record you can manually restore most of these options if you wanted to save $2,

this is updated regularly and been running flawlessly throughout MS iterations thus far 8/8.1/10/11 with refined classic menu and classic control options, well worth the price of admission.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Aaron44126]

1 hour ago, Steerpike said:

Have you tried Explorer Patcher? I found it to be surprisingly functional.  I was able to re-create my Windows 10 'tiled start menu' look and feel. I'm sure Start11 is 'even better', but EP did everything I needed.

 

Explorer Patcher relies on old Windows 10 code that Microsoft hasn't actually removed yet and still exists in Windows 11.  No telling if it will continue to work long-term.

...I do think that adding those shortcuts to the corner of the Windows 11 Start Menu has been around for a while.  There are similar settings to add shortcuts to the Windows 10 Start Menu, they get pinned along the left edge (separate from the tiles and application list).