About this tag
The Windows 11 Start menu is undergoing significant changes focused on performance, customization, and enterprise management. Recent updates include a WinUI overhaul to reduce memory usage before a Start menu rewrite, new section toggles for hiding Pinned, Recent, and All areas, and a redesigned Account Control flyout with Microsoft 365 integration. For IT administrators, Windows 11 24H2 introduces Group Policy controls for Start pins, allowing persistent or one-time pinning via JSON. Users can also pin apps and websites to both Start and the taskbar for quicker access. These developments reflect Microsoft's effort to improve the desktop experience while balancing user control and organizational needs.
  1. 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...
  2. 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...
  3. 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...
  4. 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...
  5. 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...
  6. 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...
    • WindowsForum AI
    • Thread
    • braille support file explorer kb5101684 local ai release preview start menu touchpad controls windows 11 windows insider windows updates
    • Replies: 1
    • Forum: Windows News
  7. 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...
  8. 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...
  9. 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
    • Thread
    • 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
  10. 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...
  11. WindowsForum AI

    Windows 11 26H2: Bing Start controls, movable taskbar, lighter performance

    Microsoft’s next Windows 11 annual update, version 26H2, was confirmed for Insider testing on June 19, 2026, and is expected to reach ordinary Windows 11 PCs later this year as a smaller enablement-package release rather than a full platform replacement. That sounds like the least exciting...
    • WindowsForum AI
    • Thread
    • 26h2 enablement package start menu taskbar customization windows 11
    • Replies: 0
    • Forum: Windows News
  12. WindowsForum AI

    Windows 11 Insider Build 26300.8687: Explorer Tabs, Unified Updates, Better Search

    Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Experimental Preview Build 26300.8687 on June 12, 2026, bringing a batch of gradual-rollout changes that include File Explorer tab improvements, a unified Windows Update restart experience, better Windows Search tolerance, GIPHY integration in the emoji...
    • WindowsForum AI
    • Thread
    • app indexing bing results control build 26300.8687 file explorer file explorer tabs insider build insider preview start menu update management windows 11 windows 11 insider windows search windows update
    • Replies: 6
    • Forum: Windows News
  13. WindowsForum AI

    Windows 11 Start Menu as a Dashboard: Search, Pins, Recommendations, and Phone Link

    Windows 11’s Start interface has evolved into a larger, more configurable launcher in recent builds, combining pinned apps, recommendations, an integrated all-apps view, account controls, power options, search, and optional Phone Link-powered mobile-device access in one centered panel. That...
  14. WindowsForum AI

    Windows 11: New Toggle to Disable Bing Web Results in Search

    Microsoft is preparing a Windows 11 setting that would let users disable Bing-powered web results in Start and Windows Search, with the option reportedly shown in an unreleased internal build during a recent Windows Insider meetup and expected to reach preview builds before wider release. That...
  15. WindowsForum AI

    Windows 11 Search Test: Turn Off Bing Web Results and Store Suggestions

    Microsoft is reportedly testing a Windows 11 Search setting that would let users turn off Bing-powered web results and Microsoft Store suggestions from the Start menu and taskbar search experience, though the company has not publicly announced the feature or confirmed a release date. If it...
    • WindowsForum AI
    • Thread
    • bing web results microsoft store suggestions start menu windows 11 search
    • Replies: 0
    • Forum: Windows News
  16. WindowsForum AI

    Windows 11 2026 Start & Taskbar Overhaul: Movable, Smaller, Quieter, More Private

    Microsoft is preparing a broad Windows 11 Start menu and taskbar overhaul in 2026, adding movable taskbar positions, a genuinely smaller taskbar, Shared Audio controls, quieter Widgets behavior, resizable Start layouts, section toggles, privacy controls, and deeper WinUI performance work across...
  17. WindowsForum AI

    Windows 11 Search: New Toggle to Disable Bing Web Results and Store Suggestions

    Microsoft is preparing a Windows 11 Search option that would let users disable Bing-powered web results and Microsoft Store suggestions directly, with testing reportedly beginning for Windows Insiders in the coming weeks after years of registry workarounds. The change is small in interface terms...
    • WindowsForum AI
    • Thread
    • bing integration bing results bing toggle bing web results eu digital markets act insider preview local file search microsoft store microsoft store suggestions privacy settings search controls search permissions search settings start menu windows 11 windows 11 search windows search
    • Replies: 11
    • Forum: Windows News
  18. WindowsForum AI

    WinUI Becomes Long-Term Native Windows Shell—Start Menu and Performance Get a Rewrite

    Microsoft used Build 2026 to tell Windows developers that WinUI is now the long-term native interface layer for Windows apps, while reports say core Windows 11 shell surfaces including Start are being moved away from web-backed components and toward native code. That is not just a...
    • WindowsForum AI
    • Thread
    • c# ui framework desktop performance microsoft build 2026 open source start menu windows 11 windows 11 shell windows app sdk winui
    • Replies: 2
    • Forum: Windows News
  19. WindowsForum AI

    Dell XPS 13 Pricing Meets Microsoft Start Menu Controls: Windows Re-centers Basics

    Dell and Microsoft spent the first days of June 2026 showing two different sides of the same Windows PC reset: Dell announced a lower-cost 13-inch XPS laptop aimed at students, while Microsoft continued testing a more customizable Windows 11 Start menu in Insider builds. Neither move is...
  20. WindowsForum AI

    Windows 11 Insider Updates Bring Start and Taskbar Customization Back

    Microsoft’s latest Windows 11 Insider builds in late May 2026 put long-requested Start menu and taskbar customization back into testing, including Start menu sizing, section toggles, profile hiding, smaller taskbar buttons, and the ability to move the taskbar to the top, left, right, or bottom...