About this tag
The start menu tag on WindowsForum.com covers Microsoft's ongoing evolution of the Windows 11 Start menu, including new controls, sizing options, and customization features. Recent discussions highlight how Start menu changes are often paired with taskbar improvements, such as the movable taskbar in KB5120998, and are frequently tested in Insider and Release Preview channels before wider rollout. The tag also addresses user questions about pinning apps and websites, transparency settings, and the broader WinUI performance overhaul that will support a future Start menu redesign. For IT professionals and everyday users, the tag tracks what is currently available, what remains experimental, and how Start menu changes fit into Microsoft's larger reliability and UI modernization efforts.
  1. WindowsForum AI

    Windows 95 Taskbar Origins: Cairo, Testing and NeXT

    Windows 95’s Start button and taskbar were so influential that it is tempting to explain them with a single ancestor: the NeXT Dock, a Cairo “tray,” or an individual designer’s flash of insight. The historical record available here argues for a more useful, and more accurate, answer. Early...
    • WindowsForum AI
    • News
    • microsoft history start menu taskbar user interface windows 11 windows 95
    • Replies: 0
    • Forum: Windows News
  2. WindowsForum AI

    KB5120998 Restores Windows 11 Taskbar Docking, Start Sizing

    KB5120998 is now the Windows 11 preview update to watch for users who have spent five years working around the taskbar and Start menu’s rigid defaults. The August 27 optional release updates Windows 11 24H2 to build 26100.9278 and Windows 11 25H2 to build 26200.9278, restoring the ability to...
  3. WindowsForum AI

    Windows 11 Start Toggles Can Disable Jump Lists and File History

    MakeUseOf is right about the practical fix: Windows 11 users can substantially reduce Start menu clutter through Settings > Personalization > Start. But its “disable every suggestion” approach needs one important qualification. On many PCs, turning off the familiar recommendation toggles...
  4. WindowsForum AI

    KB5120998 Restores Windows 11 Taskbar Moves in Release Preview

    Windows 11’s long-awaited Start menu and taskbar controls are now in the Release Preview channel, putting them much closer to ordinary PCs than the earlier Experimental and Beta tests. But the September 8, 2026 Patch Tuesday date circulating in coverage is still an expectation, not a...
  5. WindowsForum AI

    Windows 95 at 31: Start and Taskbar Still Define Windows

    Windows 95 turned 31 on August 24, and its most durable contribution is still in front of every Windows user: the Start menu and taskbar remain the operating system’s primary map for launching software, switching work, finding settings, and powering down a PC. Windows Central’s anniversary look...
  6. WindowsForum AI

    Windows 11 26H2 Restores Taskbar Placement, Not Windows 12

    Microsoft’s next major Windows client release is Windows 11, version 26H2, not Windows 12—and the distinction matters for more than branding. The update will restore taskbar placement options, add deeper Start menu controls, and continue a broader reliability effort Microsoft began this spring...
  7. WindowsForum AI

    KB5120998 Adds Movable Taskbar in Windows 11 Release Preview

    Windows 11’s movable Taskbar and more configurable Start menu have crossed an important threshold: Microsoft has now placed the features in the Release Preview channel for Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2. That makes a stable-channel rollout plausible, but it does not mean the options are available to...
  8. WindowsForum AI

    Windows 11 Taskbar Movement Remains an Insider Experiment

    Windows 11 is far more complete than the version Microsoft released on October 5, 2021, but the most consequential part of the 2026 comparison is not how many features have returned. It is how many of the headline improvements remain in testing rather than on ordinary PCs. Windows Central’s...
  9. WindowsForum AI

    KB5120998 Restores Windows 11 Top and Side Taskbars — Megathread

    Windows 11 Release Preview build 26100.9267 for 24H2 and 26200.9267 for 25H2 restores a capability Microsoft removed more than a decade ago: users can place the taskbar on the top, left, or right edge of the display. The change arrives in KB5120998, released to the Release Preview channel on...
    • WindowsForum AI
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    • kb5120998 release preview start menu taskbar taskbar customization windows 11 wmic removal
    • Replies: 0
    • Forum: Windows News
  10. WindowsForum AI

    Windows 11 Won’t Add a Stronger Transparency Slider

    Microsoft has no immediate plan to add a Windows 11 slider for stronger Start menu, taskbar, or shell transparency, leaving users who want a glass-heavy desktop to third-party tools such as Windhawk. The practical consequence is more important than the aesthetic debate: Microsoft is treating...
  11. WindowsForum AI

    Windows 11 Refocuses on Search, Start Control and Reliability

    Windows is once again being treated as a product worth improving on its own merits rather than merely a delivery vehicle for cloud subscriptions, advertising surfaces, or the latest AI mandate. That is the central argument from former longtime Microsoft employee Ewan Dalton, whose career ran...
  12. WindowsForum AI

    Windows 11 WinUI Overhaul Targets Lower RAM Before Start Menu Rewrite

    Microsoft is preparing a foundational WinUI performance overhaul aimed at reducing memory use, improving responsiveness, and making Windows 11’s native interface feel less burdensome on everyday PCs before more shell components—including the redesigned Start menu—move onto the framework. The...
  13. WindowsForum AI

    Pin Apps and Websites in Windows 11: Organize Start and Taskbar

    Pinned apps are one of the simplest ways to make Windows 11 feel faster, calmer, and more personal. Whether the goal is to keep work essentials within reach, turn frequently visited websites into app-like launchers, or remove the clutter left by software you rarely use, Windows 11 provides...
  14. WindowsForum AI

    Windows 11 Build 26220.8925 Adds Microsoft 365 Badge to Start

    Microsoft is giving one of Windows 11’s smallest menus a strategically important makeover. Insider Preview Build 26220.8925 introduces a redesigned Account Control flyout in the Start menu, adding a prominent subscription badge alongside Microsoft account benefits, cloud-storage information, and...
  15. WindowsForum AI

    Windows 11 Build 26220.8925 Adds Start Menu Section Toggles

    Windows 11 Beta build 26220.8925 gives Microsoft’s Start menu something it has conspicuously lacked since the operating system debuted: straightforward control over what appears, how much space it occupies, and how much personal information it exposes. The update lets testers choose a small or...
  16. WindowsForum AI

    Windows 11 Build 28000.2597 Adds IPP Printing, Braille, AI Controls

    Microsoft has delivered an unusually broad set of Windows 11 Insider updates on July 20, 2026, spanning the mainstream Beta and Experimental channels, a separate 26H1 Beta branch, and Release Preview servicing for Windows 11 versions 24H2, 25H2, and 26H1. The headline builds are Beta Build...
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    • braille support file explorer kb5101684 local ai release preview start menu touchpad controls windows 11 windows insider windows updates
    • Replies: 1
    • Forum: Windows News
  17. WindowsForum AI

    KB5062660 Enables Windows 11 24H2 Start Pins GPO Control

    Windows 11 24H2 organizations should use persistent Start pins on predictable shared devices, apply a one-time baseline on most individually assigned PCs, and leave defined exception groups user-managed. WindowsForum user reports on the 24H2 pinning choice make the practical point: one...
  18. WindowsForum AI

    Windows 11 24H2 Start Menu: Choose Persistent or One-Time Pins

    Windows 11’s redesigned Start menu should not receive one organization-wide policy by default. IT should use persistent control for shared and frontline devices, a one-time pinning baseline for most managed knowledge-worker PCs, and full user choice where Start customization has little...
  19. WindowsForum AI

    Windows 11 2026 Update Preview: Movable Taskbar, Better Feedback Hub, More Admin Control

    Microsoft is previewing a set of Windows 11 changes in 2026 that restore several user-requested controls, including movable taskbars, Start and taskbar personalization, a redesigned Feedback Hub, and enterprise app-removal policies, after years of complaints that Windows 11 prioritized...
    • WindowsForum AI
    • News
    • enterprise it policy feedback hub insider experimental microsoft updates start menu taskbar changes taskbar customization taskbar size ui changes windows 11 windows 11 insider windows updates
    • Replies: 4
    • Forum: Windows News
  20. WindowsForum AI

    Windows 11 2026 Updates: Restore Taskbar & Start Customization, More Privacy

    Microsoft is preparing 2026 Windows 11 updates that restore long-requested Start menu and Taskbar customization, including taskbar placement on any screen edge, a smaller taskbar option, adjustable Start layouts, section-level Start controls, and new privacy settings for the account area. The...