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Microsoft is messing with the Windows 11 Start menu again - and we don't like it

One new idea has some merit, mind, but the concept of recommended websites for the Start menu is a tired road Microsoft seems insistent on traveling down.

Microsoft is messing with the Windows 11 Start menu again - and we don't like it
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Tech Reporter
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Windows 11's Start menu remains one of the more controversial areas of the interface for the OS, and a fresh change in testing won't do anything to alter that perception.

Microsoft has applied some tweaks to the Recommended panel of the Start menu, one of which is potentially quite useful, and another, which, well, isn't.

The more positive change was spotted by regular leaker PhantomOfEarth on X (formerly Twitter), and is actually a hidden move you can see in the above tweet (only visible by using a Windows configuration utility, namely ViVeTool).

The features consists of a 'Recently added' apps folder which when clicked displays a list of any recently installed programs, and that could be quite handy. This was found in preview build 23545, by the way.

Elsewhere with Windows 11 recently, we have a new build for the Release Preview channel (22621.2359), and this carries the sure to be more divisive change for the Start menu.

It's an old idea Microsoft had, namely introducing suggested websites for the Recommended section of the Start menu.

Microsoft explains that:

"These websites will be personalized for you and come from your browsing history. This gives you quick access to the websites that are important to you."

Unfortunately, we don't trust exactly where the line will be drawn between recommendations genuinely based on what might be useful to you, and suggestions for Microsoft partner services and sites (advertising by the back door, if you will).

As this is now in Release Preview, which is the final channel before a feature is deployed to all Windows 11 users, there's seemingly no turning back now.

The good news is that you can switch off the feature (in Settings > Personalization > Start, where there are options for the menu). So, at least you aren't stuck with the idea if you're not keen on it.

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Darren has written for numerous magazines and websites in the technology world for almost 30 years, including TechRadar, PC Gamer, Eurogamer, Computeractive, and many more. He worked on his first magazine (PC Home) long before Google and most of the rest of the web existed. In his spare time, he can be found gaming, going to the gym, and writing books (his debut novel – ‘I Know What You Did Last Supper’ – was published by Hachette UK in 2013).

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