Microsoft announces a strongly revised start menu
It is now official: Microsoft will soon introduce a comprehensive update for the Windows 11 start menu. The redesign offers more adaptation options, a clearer app view and integrated smartphone connection.
New start menu for Windows 11 is coming
Microsoft will roll out a comprehensive update for the Windows 11 start menu in the coming weeks. There have already been reports or sightings in preview builds, but now the Redmonders have officially confirmed this in the course of the presentation of new Surface devices. The redesign brings with it a broader presentation that offers more space for apps and enables a clearer scrolling.
Users can choose between three different views for their apps: the classic list view, a new grid view and a category view that automatically grouped installed applications in folder – similar to the app shelf for iOS and iPados. One of the most striking innovations is the integration of a phone link area directly in the start menu. This indicates information on related Android smartphones or iPhones, including the battery level, connection status, recently taken photos and messages. If necessary or on request, this area can also be hidden. Microsoft shows the new start menu and the Phone Link integration
The new start menu offers significantly more personalization options. For example, users can display all attached apps by default or hide the area with recommended content. This allows a complete page with attached apps to be displayed via the app list.
Microsoft explains in one Blog post that these changes are part of a larger wave of innovations for Windows 11. “Start becomes more personal – with more options for adapting and organizing your apps,” explains Navjok Virk, CVP of Windows Experiences at Microsoft. At the same time, Microsoft integrates various AI features, also into the start menu, which should make the “experiences more intuitive, more accessible and ultimately useful”. Microsoft Photo app gets innovations to use light
Particularly noteworthy is a AI agent in the Windows settings that can help with adaptation of the system or can fix problems. However, Windows shows the warning “Recommendations are generated by AI and can be wrong” – so caution is advised here. The integrated apps also receive AI extensions.
The photo app receives a “religious” function with which up to three positionable light sources can be added to an image. Paint receives a content -dependent selection tool for generative fillings and the possibility of creating stickers by entering the text. The snipping tool, in turn, is expanded to include a “Perfect Screenshot” mode that automatically cuts the most prominent content.
Availability of the update
The new functions are first rolled out on Windows PCs with Snapdragon X chips. The updates receive owners of copilot plus PCs with AMD or Intel processors a little later. Microsoft has announced that the new start menu can soon be tested in the Windows Insider program before it will be released later in a regular update.
