Hate Windows 11’s Start menu? Rumors suggest Microsoft is fixing pretty much everything that’s wrong with it — and speeding up File Explorer too

• Windows 11’s Start menu is rumored to be getting a bunch of important fixes
• That includes full control over what elements appear in the menu, and the ability to manually switch between the small and larger layouts
• Microsoft is testing changes to make File Explorer perform better, too, and that should arrive with the next Windows 11 update in May

Windows 11‘s Start menu is going to get the changes many people have been clamoring for, and Microsoft is busy fixing the performance of File Explorer, too, as the company moves to shore up key parts of the operating system‘s interface.

Windows Central reported the work on the Start menu, although it should be noted that this is just a rumor. That said, we do know that Microsoft intends to revamp the menu as part of the major campaign to fix Windows 11, so something will certainly be done with this part of the UI.

According to sources who spoke to Windows Central, the main change will be a much greater level of control over the customization of the Start menu. Windows 11 users will be able to turn off any section of the menu that they don’t want to see.

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That means not just the ability to ditch the recommended panel — which you can do now (that was part of the most recent major overhaul for the Start menu — but you can also get rid of pinned apps, or even the list of all apps installed on the PC.

Apparently, you’ll also be able to choose to have a small (6-column) or larger (8-column) Start menu layout, which is a decision Windows 11 makes itself right now. For example, if you have a small screen, the OS will automatically elect for the more compact view, which is sensible enough. However, not everyone is happy with the way this works in certain scenarios, so Microsoft is set to let users override this decision should they wish.

Windows Central says Microsoft is trying to make the Start menu “much faster and responsive” on top of this, and we’ve heard about this before (and that the UI should work snappily even when the system is straining under a heavy workload). The search function in the Start menu is going to be made speedier, too.

As for File Explorer — the app that powers the very folders that contain the files on your desktop — Microsoft just released a new Windows 11 test build in the Release Preview channel which boosts its performance.

The build notes say that it “improves the speed and performance of File Explorer launch” and cures the remaining bugs where opening a folder in dark mode causes a nasty white flash to light up the screen (a fix that has been progressing through test versions of late).

Windows Latest tried out the preview and found that File Explorer does indeed feel faster, and that it seems especially faster when first launched, so that sounds promising.

Analysis: a mountain to climb

The first time File Explorer is run can often be seriously sluggish with some PCs — I’ve witnessed this myself, on my Windows 11 Surface device — so it’s an important area to fix. These are welcome improvements for File Explorer, and all being well, they should be deployed in the May update for Windows 11. (Don’t count on it, though, as whether that goes ahead could depend on what happens in testing, and if last-minute bugs are found).

The proposed work with the Start menu is huge, and pretty much a wish-list of everything you could want fixed with this part of the interface (about the only thing lacking is any mention of ditching the ad-like promos, though you can switch off the recommended panel already, of course). However, before we get carried away with the idea of these changes, we should remember that they are just rumored plans for Microsoft. Even if all this is true as it stands, the company could yet change its mind on some of these points.

I’m really surprised to see the idea of turning off the Start menu’s all apps list is seemingly on the table. If so, the thrust of this redesign is handing the user complete control over the look of the Start menu, to the point of making it extremely streamlined. The ability to manually switch to the small layout of the Start menu (previously a selection made by the OS, as noted) plays into this notion, too.

This would appear to be a drive to please those who’ve been complaining about the Start menu looking too large and cumbersome, and essentially spanning the whole desktop and becoming more like the old ‘Start screen’ in some cases.

As I’ve observed in the past, the menu has become such an annoyance for some folks in its newer, wider form, that they’ve been forced to resort to hacks or third-party tools to get a more compact Start menu. Now, Microsoft is going to offer this choice, and the ability to make the menu really sleek by disabling various elements — which is great, but at the same time, should’ve been the case in the first place.

Indeed, not everyone is impressed with Microsoft here. As one Redditor observed: “Too little too late. My next build will be… another OS.” Others expressed similar sentiments in that thread, albeit more barbed in nature at times, such as: “Too little, too late. We’ll believe it when we see it, and even then, we’ll be careful because it can go back to being sh*t faster than we can say pumpernickel.”

It’s probably the software-related understatement of the year to say that there’s a lot going on with tweaking and changing Windows 11 right now, across so many fronts. Windows Central points out that the project to fix the major pain points with the OS is called ‘Windows K2’ and I think that’s a more than apt name.

It seems Microsoft realizes it has a mountain to climb here; I just worry that the ascent ahead is a bit too steep, and there are good reasons why Microsoft can’t stumble or fall here, as I discussed at length recently. Linux is becoming a more imposing threat, and the MacBook Neo is a challenge to Windows 11 laptops to boot.

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Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel – ‘I Know What You Did Last Supper’ – was published by Hachette UK in 2013).