Posted on 03/25/2022 6:30:25 AM PDT by Red Badger
Every major update since Windows 8 has come with a major redesign of the Start menu, and Windows 11 is no exception. This time, though, Microsoft went rather radical: The taskbar is centered, the Start menu is devoid of live tiles, and there are only two sections—pinned apps, and recommendations.
If you find yourself unhappy with the new look and feel of it, there are changes you can make to improve it or remove it altogether.
Let’s start by customizing what is now the only major part of the Start menu (RIP Live Tiles). In the Pinned section, you can see a list of apps that are designated to the Start menu. You can click the “All Apps” button to see a list of all installed applications. By default, this will show you a list of mostly Microsoft apps. Once your PC is set up, we recommend unpinning the default apps, and pinning the apps you’re actually going to use.
Right-click any app in the Pinned section and choose the “Unpin from Start” option. Go to the “All Apps” section, right-click any app you want to pin, and choose “Pin to Start.”
Once you have pinned everything you want, you drag and drop to rearrange the apps however you’d like.
The star of the Start menu, according to Microsoft, is the new Recommended section. This section will show you recent files, new apps, and app suggestions. But it’s not always on point. There’s no way to remove this section, but you can at least disable it.
Go to Settings > Personalization > Start and disable “Show recently opened items in Start, Jump Lists and File Explorer.”
In the bottom-right corner of the Start menu, you’ll find the small power button. It’s so lonely out there, though. Give the little guy some company by adding shortcuts and quick access folders to the bottom of the start menu.
Go to Settings > Personalization > Start > Folders. Enable the features or folders that you want to see. (We recommend adding “Settings,” “File Explorer,” “Downloads,” and “Personal Folder.”)
It’s not just the Start menu design that’s new, it’s the placement, as well. If you don’t like the Start menu being smack in the middle of the screen, there is an option to move it back to the left-hand corner.
Go to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar Behaviors. Here, from the “Taskbar alignment” option, switch to “Left.”
There’s a secret Start menu that’s arguably a lot more useful than the default Start menu. Right-click the Start button, and you’ll get a list of options. From here, you can quickly open Settings, Task Manager, Terminal, Desktop, and a lot more.
Even after making these changes, you might feel like it’s not enough. If you just can’t make the Windows 11 Start menu work for you, it’s time to go back. Install the Start11 app (it’s free to use for 30 days, then costs $5.99). This app will give you the familiar Windows 10-style start menu back. You get a similar, two-pane interface, customizable menus, a search field at the bottom, and more.
Plus, you can customize this as much as you want. You can even go back to the Windows 8 style, full-screen Start menu, if you want.
StartAllBack is another fully-featured Start menu replacement that’s focused on more tweaks. You can have a Windows 7 theme if you want, but where this app excels is the sheer amount of changes you can make to the Windows 11 Start menu.
You can change the taskbar icons, bring back the app labels, center your app icons, and keep the Start menu docked to the left. There are themes available for Windows 7 and Windows 10-style start menus.
Here’s a radical idea: Stop using the Start menu altogether. Ask yourself, how useful is it anyway? There’s no way to actually disable the Start menu, but you can ignore it and use something better instead. For this, we recommend the PowerToys keyboard launcher. It’s similar to Spotlight on Mac, and it lets you launch apps, actions, and tasks from the keyboard.
Press Alt + Space to bring it up, and type to open an app, a website, or do some math. Here are the best shortcuts to know about.
I wasn4 upset at all, I agreed. Was jusy really thinking out loud about why so much is taken up. I sued to,have a ton of games our old old,gateway computer that had a whopping 500 megabyte drive. Full games and lots of demos even. But thise games were long before one could,see the nose hairs of a villain blowing In The breeze, and the crowsfeet around the eyes wrinkle more when a character farted.
An i-7 won’t run windows 11? What are theynup,to,they up to now? I-9? 10? Been awhile,since I even looked at a computer specs. But it surprises me that an i-7 can’t run windows 11.
Or, opt for any Linux version. Then, install a package that will allow a M$ OperatingSys to run on top of Linux.
It really is easy.
Then, if you are stuck with M$ applications you can’t shed, fire up the M$ OS and run your app.
Most of your daily stuff will be done within Linux, and when you absolutely have to run some M$ crappola, go ahead.
It is a virus free insulating barrier. Kinda like having a rabid dog in a kennel.
Well, that is kinda cruel to the dog. But, you get the point.
Mostly it is the TPM module that is proving to be the sticking point. I have a couple of Dell Latitudes that are still in warranty but fail the hardware test.
Curious and persistent, I was able to create a VM clone running Win-11 on that very same machine ;’}
Hmm. Weird that it woild work,with very that uses generic stuff for drivers, but bog down on a machine with specific drivers which are usually much better ths the generic ones used by vm’s
I was wondering if vm would run iti have an old drive i could experiment with if i can get windows 11 dowmload to try. I’m curious now
I run Virtualbox so here is the route I pursued: https://blogs.oracle.com/virtualization/post/install-microsoft-windows-11-on-virtualbox
It’s supposed to be a no-no to use external drives to host VM’s because of the slow throughput rate but the testing I’m doing is more focused on compatibility and interoperability, not so much performance so my 3 terabyte USB external drive works fine for all of my VM’s.
Good luck!
Oh, and here’s where to get an ISO of Win-11: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11?ranMID=24542&ranEAID=kXQk6*ivFEQ&ranSiteID=kXQk6.ivFEQ-NH3PI00AodaCCh7KlBHGUg&epi=kXQk6.ivFEQ-NH3PI00AodaCCh7KlBHGUg&irgwc=1&irclickid=_z0keysh3wskf6nkp133xftfux32xrcvu0svqhe0l00
(the junky URL is because I refuse to use Edge!)
Thanks, i do,have a drive duplicator/ dock station I could plop an old hd in instead of switching out main hd.. good,idea. Like,you, I’m just curious if it will work
Thanks for th link. I’m mostly curious about it, don’t want it for main os.
P
Only M$,the owner of the Windows OS that you pay to use under license, knows and decides. If not for Classic Shell that makes it seem like Windows 7 and a few Winows-only appsI would have gone to Linux completely.
Yup me too. I couldn’t stand the new layouts in windows 10, so went back,to windows 7. I use it almost exclusively offline for games now, so not real concerned about safety. I have macrium reflect backups of it incase anything happens (windows is awful when reinstalling, so much work to do,to get it back,the way I like,it- Linux is a breeze, takes only an hour or so- windows takes days)
In the long term, computing on the whole gets progressively less frustrating and more satisfying if you switch to *NIX, regardless whether it’s Linux proper of one of the “off-brands,” like OSX or Android. Most of the myths about “too hard to use” and “no drivers” are about 20 years behind the times.
As for Windoze, I find Windows 10 Ameliorated (available at the WayBack Machine) one of the least repulsive and least bloated Windoze I have tried.
The Ameliorated gang got court ordered into oblivion but there’s been yet another (later) Ameliorated image posted to the WayBack (21H1), so somebody is still developing and releasing it. And I hold out hope that they’ll follow on with a Windows 11 Ameliorated. Until then, I’m not touching Win11 with a 10-foot Ukrainian.
freeware open-shell (successor to classic shell) supposedly works on Windows 11 ...
#8 I installed Windows 10 in Oracle Virtual PC then upgraded to Windows 11. Windows 10 and 11 are huge.
Check properties of the “C” drive.
Used space: 69 gigabytes
Just these additional programs installed:
Firefox
Chrome
XYplorer - File explore replacement
VLC - media player
Irfanview - photo viewer
Photoshop Elements
Premiere Elements
Affinity Photo
BFLR
#14
You can do this in Windows 7, 10 prior if you want to upgrade.
Otherwise you can follow the directions below for a clean install.
Get Windows 11
https://tweaks.com/windows/67321/dow...indows-11-now/
How to Install Windows 11 on just about any Device
https://tweaks.com/windows/67324/how...ut-any-device/
Using the tricks I’m about to share with you I was able to install Windows 11 on my $79 8” NuVision Windows Tablet I purchased from the Microsoft store in 2017. Originally shipping with Windows 8, this tiny tablet is packed with 2GB of RAM, 32GB hard drive, no TPM, no secure boot, and a 1.4 Ghz Atom processor that is no where to be found on the CPU requirements list.
Need 64-bit processor
Plug in your USB installation media and boot up the installer on your PC. When you get to the main Windows Setup screen shown below, stop
Next, hold down the Shift and F10 keys to open up a secret Command Prompt window. On this screen type in regedit and hit Enter to open up Registry Editor.
In Registry Editor, navigate through HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, SYSTEM, and then Setup. Right click on Setup and select New and then Key.
Name the new key LabConfig and then hit Enter.
Next, under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, SYSTEM, Setup and then the new LabConfig key we just created, we need to create three new DWORD (32-bit) values. Right click on the background and select New and then DWORD (32-bit) Value and create a DWORD named after each item below:
BypassTPMCheck
BypassRAMCheck
BypassSecureBootCheck
And now for the final step, set the value for each DWORD you just created to 1 by either double click on each item or right clicking on each and selecting modify.
Simply close Registry Editor and Command Prompt and begin your install by clicking Next back on the Windows Setup screen.
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