Windows 11 Start Menu: What’s New
The Windows 11 Start menu looks quite a bit different from the menu in Windows 10. As you can see, pinned items are displayed at the top with all the others accessible through an All apps button. Recommended and recent items are on the bottom half. The power button is how you put your computer to sleep or shut down or restart. After the registry tweak described below, the classic Start menu will be restored. It works in nearly the exact same way as the Windows 10 Start menu, where recently added items are on the left and pinned apps are on the right. The power button is situated on the left in the classic menu and unlike Windows 10, there aren’t links along the left panel for settings, documents, pictures, etc., unless you customize the settings (more on that below).
How to Change the Start Menu Back to ‘Normal’
Windows 11 sets a new normal for the Start menu. It’s not quite the same as the menu you’re used to in Windows 10, but fortunately, a small registry tweak can get it looking more like the classic Start menu you might prefer.
How to Customize the Windows 11 Start Menu
The Windows 11 Settings is how you can customize what you see on the Start menu. Get there by searching for Settings and then navigating to Personalization > Start. It’s there you can show or hide recently added apps, most used apps, and recently opened items. Selecting Choose which folders appear on Start lets you toggle the visibility of folders like File Explorer, Settings, Documents, Network, Downloads, and more. Pinning and unpinning Start menu items, and rearranging them, is very straightforward. Both the default and classic Start menu have an Unpin from Start option when you right-click a pinned item. Click and drag to rearrange how things appear, or right-click on the default Start menu to find Move to top to quickly pin it as the first item in the list.
