How to Customize the Windows 11 Start Menu

Windows 11 moved the Start Menu from the bottom-left corner to the center of the taskbar, and the menu itself looks quite different from Windows 10. Instead of showing all your apps at once, Windows 11's Start Menu shows "Pinned" apps at the top and "Recommended" recent files at the bottom.

Many people find the new Start Menu confusing at first, but it is actually more customizable than Windows 10's version once you know where to look. You can pin your most-used apps to the top section, move the Start button back to the left corner, resize the pinned area, and remove the Recommended section if you find it cluttered.

Pinning apps to the Start Menu is the most important customization. When you pin an app, it shows up on the first screen of the Start Menu — no searching needed. Aim to pin the 6–8 apps you use every day: your email, web browser, news site, weather app, etc.

The Recommended section shows your most recently opened files and newly installed apps. This can be helpful for quickly reopening a document you were working on, but some people prefer more privacy and would rather not see recent files. You can turn off Recommended files entirely in Settings.

You can also move the entire taskbar (including the Start button) back to the left corner — the way it looked in Windows 7 and 10 — by changing one setting in the Taskbar Alignment option. Many people switching from older versions of Windows find this reassuring.