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“Microsoft is finally fixing my biggest issues with the Windows 11 Start menu”

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  “Microsoft is finally fixing my biggest issues with the Windows 11 Start menu” Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> - 2025-04-08 14:56 -0500
    Re: “Microsoft is finally fixing my biggest issues with the Windows 11 Start menu” Newyana2 <newyana@invalid.nospam> - 2025-04-09 10:45 -0400
    Re: “Microsoft is finally fixing my biggest issues with the Windows 11 Start menu” "Alan K." <alan@invalid.com> - 2025-04-09 15:06 -0400
      Re: “Microsoft is finally fixing my biggest issues with the Windows 11 Start menu” Herbert Kleebauer <klee@unibwm.de> - 2025-04-09 22:23 +0200
        Re: ?Microsoft is finally fixing my biggest issues with the Windows 11 Start menu? Stan Brown <the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm> - 2025-04-12 12:25 -0700
          Re: ?Microsoft is finally fixing my biggest issues with the Windows 11 Start menu? Herbert Kleebauer <klee@unibwm.de> - 2025-04-13 08:21 +0200
            Re: ?Microsoft is finally fixing my biggest issues with the Windows 11 Start menu? Peter Johnson <peter@parksidewood.nospam> - 2025-04-13 11:52 +0100
              Re: ?Microsoft is finally fixing my biggest issues with the Windows 11 Start menu? Newyana2 <newyana@invalid.nospam> - 2025-04-13 08:03 -0400
              Re: ?Microsoft is finally fixing my biggest issues with the Windows 11 Start menu? Herbert Kleebauer <klee@unibwm.de> - 2025-04-13 16:28 +0200
              Re: ?Microsoft is finally fixing my biggest issues with the Windows 11 Start menu? Daniel70 <daniel47@eternal-september.org> - 2025-04-15 21:48 +1000
                Re: ?Microsoft is finally fixing my biggest issues with the Windows 11 Start menu? Newyana2 <newyana@invalid.nospam> - 2025-04-15 08:03 -0400

#18337 — “Microsoft is finally fixing my biggest issues with the Windows 11 Start menu”

“Microsoft is finally fixing my biggest issues with the Windows 11 Start 
menu”
  
https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/windows-11/microsoft-is-finally-fixing-my-biggest-issues-with-the-windows-11-start-menu

“A new Windows 11 Start menu is in the works, and our early hands-on 
experience proves it's addressing some of the current one's biggest 
criticisms.”

No, no, please just stop.  The hole is getting deeper and deeper.

Lynn

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#18373

On 4/8/2025 3:56 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> “Microsoft is finally fixing my biggest issues with the Windows 11 Start 
> menu”
> 
> https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/windows-11/microsoft-is-finally-fixing-my-biggest-issues-with-the-windows-11-start-menu 
> 
> 
> “A new Windows 11 Start menu is in the works, and our early hands-on 
> experience proves it's addressing some of the current one's biggest 
> criticisms.”
> 
> No, no, please just stop.  The hole is getting deeper and deeper.
> 

  I predict that it will gradually expand, including more
ads and services, until Windows basically has a cellphone,
semi-kiosk UI: "What experience do you want to buy today?"

   Here's my Start Menu on both Win10 and Win11, courtesy
of Open Shell and a bit of housecleaning:

   https://i.postimg.cc/HjDVspHx/startmenu.jpg

   No ads. No gimmicks. No silly "apps". Just a simple
menu of programs, making things easy to find. No one
has to put up with the 1/4 screen calamity of
Microsoft's everchanging Start Menu.

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#18378

On 4/8/25 03:56 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> “Microsoft is finally fixing my biggest issues with the Windows 11 Start menu”
> 
> https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/windows-11/microsoft-is-finally-fixing-my- 
> biggest-issues-with-the-windows-11-start-menu
> 
> “A new Windows 11 Start menu is in the works, and our early hands-on experience proves 
> it's addressing some of the current one's biggest criticisms.”
> 
> No, no, please just stop.  The hole is getting deeper and deeper.
> 
> Lynn
> 
Another 19min video, preview of the 24H2 2025 updates, said to come in the next weeks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WhZ_Kyfkcc

-- 
Linux Mint 22.1, Cinnamon 6.4.8,  Kernel 6.8.0-57-generic
Thunderbird 128.9.0esr, Mozilla Firefox 137.0
     Alan K.

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#18380

On 09.04.2025 21:06, Alan K. wrote:


> Another 19min video, preview of the 24H2 2025 updates, said to come in the next weeks.
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WhZ_Kyfkcc

There is an official Windows Roadmap page:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/business/roadmap

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#18421 — Re: ?Microsoft is finally fixing my biggest issues with the Windows 11 Start menu?

On Wed, 9 Apr 2025 22:23:53 +0200, Herbert Kleebauer wrote:
> On 09.04.2025 21:06, Alan K. wrote:
> 
> 
> > Another 19min video, preview of the 24H2 2025 updates, said to come in the next weeks.
> > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WhZ_Kyfkcc
> 
> There is an official Windows Roadmap page:
> 
> https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/business/roadmap

The changes listed there don't include anything about the start menu. 
(I scanned by eye, then tried a Ctrl+F search of the page.) Am I 
missing something? 


-- 
Stan Brown, Tehachapi, California, USA         https://BrownMath.com/
Shikata ga nai...

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#18422 — Re: ?Microsoft is finally fixing my biggest issues with the Windows 11 Start menu?

On 12.04.2025 21:25, Stan Brown wrote:

>> There is an official Windows Roadmap page:
>> 
>> https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/business/roadmap
> 
> The changes listed there don't include anything about the start menu.
> (I scanned by eye, then tried a Ctrl+F search of the page.) Am I
> missing something?

Maybe they think it is not worth to mention? I nearly never use
the start menu. Instead I use a normal folder where I put the
links to all the programs and folders I often use. And I have
a link to this folder in the task bar right next to the start
button. So instead of a click on the start button I click an
this folder symbol. And if you precede the link names in this
folder with A_, B_, C_, ...  you can sort the links in the
way you like it and start one of them by just entering the
letter A, B, C  ... followed by a RETURN. In particular this
is an easy way to open frequently used folders in Windows
Explorer.

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#18423 — Re: ?Microsoft is finally fixing my biggest issues with the Windows 11 Start menu?

On Sun, 13 Apr 2025 08:21:46 +0200, Herbert Kleebauer <klee@unibwm.de>
wrote:


>Maybe they think it is not worth to mention? I nearly never use
>the start menu. Instead I use a normal folder where I put the
>links to all the programs and folders I often use. And I have
>a link to this folder in the task bar right next to the start
>button. So instead of a click on the start button I click an
>this folder symbol. And if you precede the link names in this
>folder with A_, B_, C_, ...  you can sort the links in the
>way you like it and start one of them by just entering the
>letter A, B, C  ... followed by a RETURN. In particular this
>is an easy way to open frequently used folders in Windows
>Explorer.

An interesting technique
I have the apps that I use most often, less than 20, on the task bar,
and just use the start menu for those that I rarely use.

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#18424 — Re: ?Microsoft is finally fixing my biggest issues with the Windows 11 Start menu?

On 4/13/2025 6:52 AM, Peter Johnson wrote:

> An interesting technique
> I have the apps that I use most often, less than 20, on the task bar,
> and just use the start menu for those that I rarely use.
> 

   I do similar. Using Explorer Patcher to get the Quick Launch
toolbar back, my links don't take up much room and they don't
get mixed up with open windows, the way that "pinned" links do.

   Though with Win10/11, I also keep a few links on the Desktop.
In Win32-bit I made an Explorer Bar with common shortcuts in
every folder window. I don't have a 64-bit version, so I've ended
up puting folder links in the corner of the Desktop going to
System, AppData, Firefox profile folder, etc. I also have about 8
items on my SendTo menu that point to VBScripts, which copy
a given item to two redundant backup folders. And I have shortcuts
to all data partitions, so that I can easily just drop files into
one partition or another. And I have a cluster of shortcuts that
I need frequently, like regedit.

   One of the few actually useful items in Active Desktop was
the configurable folder window, which was actually a webpage
in IE. Folder.htt. The files/folders were a listview control set
on the webpage. That allowed anyone to make their own Explorer
Bar equivalent with little more than HTML, for a truly customizable
Explorer. All of that was rarely used. Then it was later removed.
But I used to have a number of shortcuts, allowing me to quickly
bop around to commonly used folders.

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#18425 — Re: ?Microsoft is finally fixing my biggest issues with the Windows 11 Start menu?

On 13.04.2025 12:52, Peter Johnson wrote:

> I have the apps that I use most often, less than 20, on the task bar,o

No problem for a 30" monitor, but on a 14" Netbook monitor there is
no place for more than a few apps in the taskbar. But with a link
to the folder with the collected apps/folders, it is just one click
more.

But Microsoft didn't make to easy to add a folder to the taskbar.
Maybe somebody doesn't know already, so here in full details
for somebody who doesn't know anything about Windows:

1. Choose a name for the link in the taskbar which is displayed
    when you put the mouse on it. For example: abc

2. Open the folder you want to pin to the taskbar in Explorer.

3. Create an empty text file in this folder with the name "abc.txt":
    right click on an empty space in this folder, select
    new -> text document -> abc

4. Rename this file to abc.exe:
    click on abc.txt so it is highlighted, press the key F2 and change
    txt to exe. (Note: you see the extension only if the option "Hide
    extensions for known file types" is not selected in the Explorer
    options).

5. Drag and drop the file abc.exe to the taskbar

6. right click an the newly added symbol in the taskbar, right click
    on abc, select properties, click "different symbol" (or similar
    name, in German "Anderes Symbol") and select a symbol you like
    (there a many folder symbols available) and then click "apply" in
    the properties window.

7. Still in the properties window click on "target" and remove the
    trailing abc.exe, then press OK in the properties window.

8. Delete abc.exe

9. Move the symbol in the taskbar to the position you like (maybe
    the best place is right next the start button.

10. If you want to use this folder as a replacement for the
     start menu, put all the links to commonly used apps and
     folders into this folder.

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#18432 — Re: ?Microsoft is finally fixing my biggest issues with the Windows 11 Start menu?

On 13/04/2025 8:52 pm, Peter Johnson wrote:
> On Sun, 13 Apr 2025 08:21:46 +0200, Herbert Kleebauer <klee@unibwm.de>
> wrote:
> 
>> Maybe they think it is not worth to mention? I nearly never use
>> the start menu. Instead I use a normal folder where I put the
>> links to all the programs and folders I often use. And I have
>> a link to this folder in the task bar right next to the start
>> button. So instead of a click on the start button I click an
>> this folder symbol. And if you precede the link names in this
>> folder with A_, B_, C_, ...  you can sort the links in the
>> way you like it and start one of them by just entering the
>> letter A, B, C  ... followed by a RETURN. In particular this
>> is an easy way to open frequently used folders in Windows
>> Explorer.
> 
> An interesting technique
> I have the apps that I use most often, less than 20, on the task bar,
> and just use the start menu for those that I rarely use.
> 
Aren't the Apps on the Task Bar, effectively, running in the background, 
so using some of youe Computers resources??

I suppose, in these days of Bulk Resources, that wouldn't be much of a 
problem ..... just wasted power! ;-P
-- 
Daniel70

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#18433 — Re: ?Microsoft is finally fixing my biggest issues with the Windows 11 Start menu?

On 4/15/2025 7:48 AM, Daniel70 wrote:

>> An interesting technique
>> I have the apps that I use most often, less than 20, on the task bar,
>> and just use the start menu for those that I rarely use.
>>
> Aren't the Apps on the Task Bar, effectively, running in the background, 
> so using some of youe Computers resources??

   They're just shortcuts. If they're "pinned" then those
icons will also represent any running instance, but they're
not started simply by having shortcuts on the taskbar.

    I recently figured out that I could not only replace
the Start Menu billboard with Open Shell, but it's also
then feasible to block startmenuexperiencehost, which
wastes some 90MB RAM. With that and searchapp blocked
I save about 300MB RAM -- 10 times what Win98 typically
had and WinXP could probably survive on!

(I haven't tried blocking startmenuexperiencehost yet in
Win11, but it worked fine on Win10. With Classic/Open
Shell the Windows Metro Start Menu is never seen and
is not needed.)

   The Start Menu is almost certainly going to only get
worse, as they expand it with ads, news bits, and so on.
Microsoft are trying the Facebook trick: Keep people
looking at ads and sharing personal info by giving them
trinkets and titillations to keep them entertained. So any
kind of hoped for "fix" is surely an outdated expectation.

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