a new start Back to basics: Microsoft tests overhauled Start menu in Windows 11 beta builds Redesigned Start menu would give users more control over what apps they see. Andrew Cunningham – Apr 8, 2025 11:22 am | 62 Credit: Microsoft Credit: Microsoft Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more Windows 11 has become so synonymous with Microsoft's push into generative AI that it's easy to forget that it originally launched as a mostly cosmetic overhaul of Windows 10. But Microsoft continues to work on fundamental elements of the operating system's design. Case in point, Windows tester phantomofearth enabled an overhauled version of the Start menu from a recent Windows 11 beta build, the menu's first substantial rethink since Windows 11 launched a little over three years ago (via The Verge). The new, larger Start menu displays up to two rows of eight pinned apps—you can't see more than two rows by default, but you can expand this section to show more apps—and then shows the scrollable list of apps installed on your PC. This list is hidden behind an "All" button on the current Start menu. These apps can be displayed as a vertically scrollable list, in a horizontal grid, or sorted by category (which does appear to be the most space-efficient display option). A redesigned Windows 11 Start menu available in current beta builds. Note that the Recommended section can be hidden and that the rows of pinned apps are wider. User phantomofearth on Bluesky A redesigned Windows 11 Start menu available in current beta builds. Note that the Recommended section can be hidden and that the rows of pinned apps are wider. User phantomofearth on Bluesky Viewing all your installed apps by category rather than alphabetically appears to be your most space-efficient option. User phantomofearth on Bluesky Viewing all your installed apps by category rather than alphabetically appears to be your most space-efficient option. User phantomofearth on Bluesky A redesigned Windows 11 Start menu available in current beta builds. Note that the Recommended section can be hidden and that the rows of pinned apps are wider. User phantomofearth on Bluesky Viewing all your installed apps by category rather than alphabetically appears to be your most space-efficient option. User phantomofearth on Bluesky Perhaps most interestingly for people who are tired of Windows' constant reminders and recommendations, the new Start menu looks like it lets you turn that "Recommended" section off entirely, replacing it with a full list of all apps installed on your PC. I find the Recommended area inoffensive when it sticks to showing me recently installed apps or opened files, but recent Windows 11 builds have also used it to advertise apps from the Microsoft Store. Microsoft continues to tweak the Windows 11 UI in other ways as well. A beta build released to Windows Insider testers earlier this month enables "taskbar icon scaling," which can shrink your taskbar icons to a smaller size to make more of them if you have enough apps pinned or opened at the same time (currently, the taskbar reclaims space first by shrinking the size of the search box and widget areas and then by tucking extra icons behind an ellipsis icon in an overflow area). Users can also choose to preserve the current taskbar behavior or use smaller icons all the time to gain some extra space. The current version of the Start menu in public builds of Windows 11 24H2. Credit: Andrew Cunningham The taskbar changes are likely to come to the standard public version of Windows 11 sooner rather than later, since Microsoft is testing them in its Windows Insider Beta channel—that's the second-most-stable channel for new Windows 11 builds, in between the near-final Release Preview channel and the experimental Dev channel. The Start menu changes could be officially announced in a future Windows 11 preview build, or they could never actually be enabled at all. These hidden Windows 11 changes often end up rolling out to the public—things like the Windows version of the Sudo command were initially discovered this way—but Microsoft occasionally tests things internally that don't end up becoming part of the public version of Windows in the end. Andrew Cunningham Senior Technology Reporter Andrew Cunningham Senior Technology Reporter Andrew is a Senior Technology Reporter at Ars Technica, with a focus on consumer tech including computer hardware and in-depth reviews of operating systems like Windows and macOS. Andrew lives in Philadelphia and co-hosts a weekly book podcast called Overdue. 62 Comments