start menu

Microsoft has quietly moved critical phone controls into the heart of Windows 11’s user experience by embedding Phone Link directly into the Start menu, giving users one‑tap access to messages, calls, recent photos and device status without launching the standalone Phone Link app. This change...

Microsoft’s latest Insider flight, Windows 11 Build 27965 (Canary Channel), delivers the most substantial Start menu overhaul since Windows 11’s debut — a single, scrollable Start surface with new browsing modes, a responsive layout that adapts to screen size, and deeper Phone Link integration —...

Microsoft has rolled out Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27965 to the Canary Channel, bringing the long-teased, redesigned Start menu to early testers — and introducing a set of platform-level changes that matter beyond mere cosmetics, including a shift in how legacy .NET Framework 3.5 is...

Microsoft’s newest Insider bits finally give the Start menu room to breathe — but it’s still Windows, not you, that decides how big that breathing room will be. The latest preview introduces a responsive, scrollable Start that adapts to your screen size (8 columns vs. 6 columns, depending on...

Microsoft is testing a bolder, more flexible Start experience in Windows 11 with Insider Preview Build 27965 (Canary), while quietly rearranging a few legacy pieces of the platform and adding modern tooling for command-line users — changes that matter for everyday consumers, power users, and IT...

Windows 11’s long-suffering dark mode just stopped getting interrupted by glaring white copy and delete pop-ups, and the change makes File Explorer feel like a finished product instead of a patchwork of modern and legacy surfaces. Overview Microsoft’s latest Dev Channel Insider Preview build...

Microsoft has begun the phased rollout of the Windows 11 25H2 update, a streamlined “enablement package” that turns on features already present in recent builds, adds new AI-driven tools in File Explorer and search, refreshes the Start menu and lock‑screen widgets, introduces finer...

Microsoft’s Start menu may finally stop pulling web results into Edge and Bing by force — experimental flags discovered in Microsoft Edge Canary suggest Windows Search could soon open links in your system default browser and use your preferred default search engine instead of always routing...

I began using Windows 11 in beta in 2021 and, over several major releases, learned a handful of practical, time‑saving adjustments that turned the upgrade from “annoying compatibility shuffle” into a smoother daily driver — and those same five fixes are the heart of Tom’s Guide’s quick primer...

Microsoft’s 2025 Windows 11 feature update — version 25H2 — arrives as a careful, operationally minded release rather than a headline-grabbing rework: it’s an enablement package that flips on features already staged in the 24H2 servicing stream, removes a few long‑deprecated tools, and resets...

Windows 11’s next annual refresh is officially on the doorstep: Microsoft’s 25H2 update has reached final pre-release builds and is being distributed to partners and insiders, but the real headline for many users may be the overhauled Start menu — a change already living, dormant, in Windows 11...

Microsoft has quietly begun testing a more integrated, surface-level approach to Account management in Windows 11 through the latest Insider builds (delivered as KB5065786), and the changes deserve attention from everyday users, power users, and IT administrators alike. These updates — visible...

Windhawk arrives as a surprisingly polished bridge between what Microsoft ships in Windows 11 and what many users actually want: a lightweight, open‑source mod platform that makes the Start menu, taskbar, File Explorer and other core UI elements genuinely customizable — and, in many cases...

ExplorerPatcher’s latest pre-release restores the long-missed File Explorer title bar, patches several Start menu and taskbar regressions, and moves under-the-hood hooking to a new library — but it also ships with a short list of known quirks and a reminder that modifying core shell behavior...

Microsoft will begin automatically installing the Microsoft 365 Copilot desktop app on Windows machines that already have Microsoft 365 desktop clients installed, a background rollout slated to start in early October and run into mid‑November 2025 — and while enterprise tenants can opt out, most...

Google’s experimental Windows app aims to remove the friction of switching windows to look something up — a floating, Spotlight‑like search bar you summon with Alt + Space that can search local files, installed apps, Google Drive, and the web, and that folds in Google Lens and the company’s AI...

Microsoft is rolling the Microsoft 365 Copilot app onto Windows 11 devices that already have the Microsoft 365 desktop apps installed, pushing a background, non‑disruptive installation that will place a new Microsoft 365 Copilot entry in Start menus across eligible systems beginning in Fall 2025...

Windows 11 gives you more than one way to open the Settings app — and knowing the right method for the moment can save minutes or avert a full restart when you’re troubleshooting. The platform exposes the app everywhere: Start, Taskbar, Quick Settings, File Explorer, Run and command-line tools...

Microsoft will begin automatically installing the Microsoft 365 Copilot desktop app on most Windows PCs that already have Microsoft 365 desktop applications, in a background, phased rollout Microsoft describes as starting in “Fall 2025” and which industry reporting has translated into an...

Microsoft’s continued migration of legacy Control Panel features into the modern Settings app has taken another step forward: recent Windows 11 Insider preview builds contain hidden, in-progress pages that surface longstanding keyboard controls and a redesigned haptic touchpad panel inside...