Windows 11 Just Changed EVERYTHING – The New Start Menu Is Awesome!

The most structurally significant change is the merger of what were previously three separate, siloed sections — Pinned apps, Recommended files, and All apps — into a single continuous scrollable view. Previously, navigating between these areas required deliberate clicks and mental mode-switching. Now, everything flows together.

In practice, this means your pinned shortcuts, recently opened files, and the full application list are all accessible through a single, unified scroll gesture. It’s a design decision borrowed from mobile app philosophy, where continuous scroll has long outperformed paginated navigation for discovery and speed.

The tradeoff? Users who preferred the compartmentalized structure of the old layout may find the merged view requires more vertical scrolling, especially on smaller displays. That said, for most users, the benefit of eliminating click layers outweighs the occasional extra swipe.

One of the most consistent criticisms of Windows 11’s original Start menu was that it felt opinionated, it showed what Microsoft wanted you to see, not necessarily what you wanted. The updated version directly addresses this with granular toggle controls that let you turn on or off:

Recently added apps — useful for power users installing software frequently; easy to disable if you prefer a static menu.

Recommended files — surfaces documents you’ve recently worked on, pulling from across OneDrive and local storage.

Websites from browsing history — a genuinely new addition that surfaces frequently visited sites directly inside Start, bridging the gap between browser and OS.

This level of per-element control moves Windows closer to how Android and iOS handle home screens, letting the experience reflect the individual rather than the platform default. It’s a welcome shift, even if some users might wish the toggles lived somewhere more prominent than deep in Settings.

The “All apps” section has been completely rethought. Instead of a single alphabetical list, you now have three distinct view modes to choose from depending on your workflow:

List view preserves the classic alphabetical layout that experienced Windows users are most familiar with, no learning curve required. Grid view switches to an icon-forward visual grid, ideal for touch-screen devices or users who rely on visual recognition rather than name recall. Category view is the boldest addition: Windows automatically groups your installed applications into categories like Productivity, Entertainment, Games, Development, and more.

Category view is particularly powerful for users with hundreds of installed apps who struggle with scroll fatigue in traditional lists. The major caveat is that categories are assigned automatically, there is currently no way to manually reclassify an application or create custom groupings. For most users, the auto-categorization is accurate enough to be useful. For power users with niche software, it can occasionally misfile tools.

The “Recommended” section, which shows recently opened files, installed apps, and websites, has always been a point of contention. For some, it’s a productivity shortcut. For others, it’s visual clutter that reveals your activity to anyone who glances at your screen.

Windows 11 now lets you completely disable the Recommended section. Not just minimize it or reduce it, remove it entirely. This gives the pinned apps area substantially more breathing room and produces a dramatically cleaner, more focused Start menu. For users in professional environments, shared workstations, or anyone who simply prefers a distraction-free interface, this is the single most useful toggle in the entire redesign.

Pinned apps are the core of most users’ Start menu workflow, yet the original Windows 11 layout limited how many were visible at once, hiding overflow apps behind an extra click. The updated version resolves this with two meaningful changes.

First, you can now show all pinned apps by default without needing to click to expand the grid. What was previously a hidden gesture is now the standard view. Second, the pinned app area has been expanded, particularly beneficial on larger displays and high-resolution monitors, allowing significantly more shortcuts to appear simultaneously. For users who rely on pinned apps as a quick launcher, this reduces friction meaningfully.

The Start menu itself is now physically wider by default and dynamically adjusts its layout based on your screen resolution and display size. On a 27-inch 4K monitor, you get a generously expanded panel that can surface significantly more content at a glance. On a laptop display, it adapts proportionally.

This adaptive scaling is the right approach for a world where Windows runs on everything from 11-inch tablets to triple-monitor workstations. That said, users on smaller screens, particularly those with older 1366×768 laptops, may find the wider default footprint feels oversized. For those users, the expanded customization options elsewhere in the redesign help compensate by letting them strip back what’s displayed.

This is the feature that signals the most ambitious direction for the Start menu’s future. A new dedicated sidebar within Start connects directly to your smartphone through Microsoft’s Phone Link service, surfacing:

Messages — read and reply to SMS and supported messaging apps without picking up your phone.

Calls — manage incoming and outgoing calls directly from your PC.

Photos — browse and access your phone’s camera roll.

File transfer, send files between your PC and phone without cables, Bluetooth pairing, or third-party apps.

The Phone Link integration currently works most seamlessly with Android devices, with broader iOS compatibility still evolving. For users already in Microsoft’s ecosystem, or those who’ve long wished their PC and phone felt less like separate islands, this addition is genuinely exciting. It positions the Start menu not just as an app launcher, but as a true cross-device control center.