Preview builds start fixing the Windows 11 Start menu and taskbar

Microsoft may have tweaked the taskbar and Start menu in Windows 11, but the updated look also comes with new limitations. Microsoft seems to be listening to at least some of the subsequent complaints because the latest Windows Insider Preview build of Windows 11 on the Dev channel includes some improvements to both the taskbar and the Start menu, as well as many other tweaks.

For example, the Windows 11 version of the taskbar will not display the time and date on all monitors in a multi-monitor setup, only on the primary monitor; in this preview, time and date are back on all monitors. Hooray!

From the Start menu, users will be able to change the balance between pinned apps and “recommended”items depending on what they want to see more of. More Contacts adds another row of pinned apps, while reducing the Recommended field to a couple of entries, and the More Recommendations view removes the app icon row and shows up to eight recommended items.

All Windows Insider builds on the Developer Channel are particularly subject to change, and some of the features that Microsoft is testing in these builds will never see the light of day. But hopefully, these and other improvements to the taskbar and Start menu will be included in the stable version of Windows 11 when its first major update is released next fall (if not earlier).

Other notable changes: Microsoft is still slowly porting things from the old control panels to the Settings app, and this build is moving some advanced file sharing settings, some printer and scanner settings, and a few more network settings. And if you turn on Wi-Fi or Bluetooth while in Airplane Mode, Windows will remember this setting the next time you turn on Airplane Mode. Separately, Microsoft has also tweaked the color picker and resizing menu in the Paint app to better match the design of Windows 11.