The Home windows 11 Begin menu has irritated many individuals with its clumsy format and lack of customization. As an alternative of enhancing and enhancing the earlier menu designs from Home windows 7 and 10, Microsoft opted for a backward redesign that left many people questioning, “What had been they considering?”
Hit by person complaints, Microsoft has taken child steps to attempt to enhance the menu. One possibility added in late 2022 allows you to create folders wherein to retailer your Begin menu shortcuts. A extra dramatic overhaul that would deal with lots of the menu’s flaws and limitations could roll out later in 2025. For now, although, the Begin menu stays an ungainly and irritating function, largely the identical because it was when Home windows 11 rolled out in October 2021.
Additionally: Your Home windows 11 Begin menu is getting a design makeover – here is the way to attempt it first
Effectively, in the event you hate the Begin menu in Home windows 11 as a lot as I do and wish one thing extra usable and customizable, your finest wager is to modify to a Begin menu different.
A number of third-party apps can substitute the Home windows 11 Begin menu, giving it a extra acquainted look and format and permitting customers to customise it in varied methods. This system I exploit on my Home windows 11 machines is Start11.
However there are different utilities price trying out, together with StartAllBack and Open Shell Menu. Here is the way to get the Home windows 11 Begin menu you deserve.
Start11
Stardock’s Start11, priced at $9.99 for a single license, allows you to select from seven completely different Begin menu layouts. The Home windows 7 and Trendy types supply the standard two-column show with all apps or favourite apps on the left and shortcuts to varied Home windows options and places on the fitting. A Home windows 10 model makes use of the acquainted menu and tiled display screen mixture.
There are even 4 completely different Home windows 11 types, however they supply extra options and adaptability than the built-in menu. I’ve all the time appreciated the two-column show, so I exploit the Trendy model menu.
No matter menu you select, you’ll be able to tweak its look, format, and design. You may go for an everyday menu that makes use of the total width or a extra compact design that shrinks sure objects. Additional, you’ll be able to configure the All Apps listing, add and take away shortcuts, regulate the colour and look, and decide when and the way the Start11 menu is triggered.
Start11 additionally gives much-needed help to the Home windows 11 Taskbar, which has been criticized for its limitations and lack of flexibility. You may tweak the taskbar’s shade and transparency, regulate its measurement, select the place it ought to seem on each a main and secondary monitor, and determine if and when Taskbar buttons must be mixed.
One other bonus is which you can rename, transfer, and delete folders and shortcuts straight from the Begin menu, simply as Home windows way back allowed you to do. To revert to the common Begin menu, you’ll be able to change the actions that happen while you click on the Begin button or press the Home windows key. Uninstalling Start11 can even deliver again the default menu.
Whether or not you employ Start11 as is or dive into its many customizations, I feel you will discover this a pleasant and efficient different to the common Home windows 11 Begin menu, simply as I do.
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StartAllBack
At a price of $4.99 for one license, StartAllBack is a extra fundamental however nonetheless succesful Begin menu alternative. Proper off the bat, this system asks what theme you want to use for the menu, providing three decisions: Correct 11, Kinda 10, and Remastered 7. Regardless of their names, all three kick within the conventional two-column format with program shortcuts on the left and Home windows options on the fitting. The variations between them are extra aesthetic and depend upon whether or not you favor rounded or sq. corners, for instance.
After you’ve got chosen your most well-liked theme, head to the Begin Menu part in this system to tweak the menu’s model, look, and performance. You may management the dimensions of the menu’s icons, choose to show fashionable apps in their very own folder, select to focus on newly put in applications, and arrange the shortcuts on the fitting facet as menus or hyperlinks.
Like Start11, StartAllBack possesses the facility to spruce up the Taskbar. You may choose a customized picture for the Begin button, choose a visible model for the Taskbar, and decide the way to mix Taskbar buttons. Better of all, you’ll be able to place the Taskbar on the high, backside, left, or proper, a functionality that Microsoft gives in Home windows 10 however killed in Home windows 11.
StartAllBack even faucets into File Explorer, letting you select between the Ribbon interface or command bar, activate the traditional search field, and restore the traditional context menus from Home windows 10. In case you ever need to revert to the common Home windows 11 Begin menu, simply uninstall StartAllBack.
If you’d like a easy however succesful Begin menu alternative, StartAllBack is an efficient alternative.
Additionally: The right way to ‘downgrade’ a Home windows 11 PC to a Home windows 10
Open Shell Menu
Open Shell Menu is a free Begin menu alternative that works effectively in Home windows 11. After downloading and putting in this system’s exe file from its GitHub web page, click on the common Home windows 11 Begin button to entry Open Shell Menu and choose your most well-liked model. You may select a traditional one-column format, a traditional two-column format, or a Home windows 7 format. To alter the Begin button, test the field for “Substitute Begin button” and choose one of many built-in photographs.
On the settings display screen, you’ll be able to customise different choices: You may decide the way to set off the Open Shell Begin menu, present current or steadily used applications, select the habits of the Shut Down button, and choose to show the Search field.
Subsequent, you’ll be able to tweak the pores and skin choices to set the dimensions of fonts and icons. A bit for the Taskbar allows you to regulate the dimensions, shade, and opacity of the Taskbar. Then you’ll be able to choose which options you need to see within the Begin menu and whether or not they seem as hyperlinks or as menus.
To delve deeper into this system, test the “Present all settings” field and evaluation the extra choices. In any other case, click on the Begin button to see the outcomes. As with the opposite two applications, uninstalling Open Shell Menu brings again the common Home windows 11 Begin menu.
Although it isn’t as polished as Start11 or StartAllBack, the Open Shell menu is actually price contemplating, particularly in the event you’re searching for a free Begin menu alternative.
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