Struggling with the Windows 11 Start Menu and Taskbar? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Stardock’s Start11 utility was recently released as Edition 1.0, and if, by any chance, you don’t like the reductionist new design of the Start menu and Windows 11 taskbar – apart from disliking the fact that Windows 11 changed some basic features.
For instance, it now hobbles the gaming performance by default on some prebuilt PCs, which includes not only playing video games but also playing casino games (made by Stakelogic and numerous other top software providers at TopCasinoExpert.com), etc. – you will want to take a look at it.
Start11, among other handy tricks, allows you to scroll the taskbar across the desktop and configure the Start menu to mimic the look and experience of Windows 10.
What’s Exactly Start11?
Start11 is a standalone tool that costs $ 4.99 but does not accomplish everything: for example, it cannot build any dynamic Windows 10 Live tiles, and your ability to move and resize taskbar icons in Windows 11 is still limited. But, if you want a softer transition between Windows 10 and Windows 11, then Start11 definitely helps.
Start11 is the newest generation of Stardock’s “StartX” programs, which began with Start8 and Start10 providing backup interfaces to prior versions of Windows after installing Windows 8 and Windows 10. Start11 is easily installed using Windows 11, which is the most well-known method of interacting with the operating system.
The program itself consists of a simple settings menu, where you can adjust things as you wish. After that, Start11 customizes Windows 11 to your preferences, and then it ‘gets out of the way’.
How to Set Up a Windows 11 Toolbar Using Start11
After reviewing Windows 11, we can point out that Windows 11 will not allow you to resize the taskbar or move it around the screen. Start11 works, but not with the full versatileness of Windows 10, and with it, you are enabled to resize icons and shift the taskbar to the top or bottom of the screen rather than the sides. To do this within the Start11 Settings menu, you must click the button to manually restart the Windows Explorer process.
You can adjust the position of the taskbar on each individual screen, and resizing icons certainly helps to make the most of usable screen space on both tablets and 4K screens. This is a big improvement over the default Windows 11 experience.
Still, Stardock has not yet addressed a critical problem in Windows 11: the Windows clock still only appears on one screen. Start11 also does not yet allow you to resize the taskbar, nor drag and drop files on the taskbar icon to launch an application, although those restrictions no doubt come from Microsoft more than Stardock.
Setting the Start Menu Using the Start11 Tool
The Start menu in Windows 11 is one of the more controversial aspects of the new Microsoft operating system, but Start11 allows a number of settings to make it more familiar. You can use the Start menu in the OS if you want – but choose to let Start11 resize it or to open it full screen, which Windows 11 does not do yet.
However, Start11 also allows you to open Start as a Windows 7-like interface or use more paved access to Windows 10. You may move and group icons, resize them, and, generally, customize Start to look like Windows 10 – but without the animated “Live Tiles” that Windows 10 supports. Stardock also has its own “modern” style, which reduces the Start menu to an ultra-compact look and points to your most recently used application-by-application files, not the OS as a whole.
Start11 also offers some additional search management options, as well as some additional changes to run your own Start menu in Windows 11 over your own Start11. Still, if the original look and feel of the operating system caused you to delay upgrading to Windows 11, Start11 really makes the transition easier.
Watch this space for updates in the Technology category on Running Wolf’s Rant.
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