{"id":56019,"date":"2026-06-08T20:38:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T00:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/overcentral.com\/en\/?p=56019"},"modified":"2026-06-08T20:38:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T00:38:21","slug":"windows-11-widgets-start-menu-settings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/overcentral.com\/en\/windows-11-widgets-start-menu-settings\/","title":{"rendered":"Windows 11 Quiets Widgets and Start Menu with New Settings"},"content":{"rendered":"

After years of incremental adjustments and user feedback, Microsoft<\/a> is finally addressing two of the most persistent friction points in Windows 11<\/a>: the overly eager Widgets panel and the inflexible Start menu layout. A new wave of settings rolling out through Insider channels gives users unprecedented control over how these interface elements behave and appear. The changes, which follow last month’s taskbar position and Start menu resizing updates, represent a meaningful shift in Microsoft’s approach to desktop customization.<\/p>\n

Widgets Finally Stays Quiet Until Called Upon<\/h2>\n

One of the most common complaints about the Windows 11 Widgets experience has been its tendency to activate unprompted. A simple brush of the cursor against the Widgets icon on the taskbar would expand the entire panel, flooding the screen with MSN news tiles, weather updates, and advertisements. That automatic behavior is now being retired.<\/p>\n

The hover-to-open gesture is being disabled by default. Moving forward, the Widgets panel will remain closed until the user explicitly clicks the taskbar icon. Notification badges, stock tickers, and other dynamic indicators on the taskbar will also stop appearing unprompted. When a user does click the icon, pinned widgets such as the calendar and weather take center stage, while the MSN news feed is pushed further down \u2014 effectively deprioritized rather than removed.<\/p>\n

This is a deliberate trade-off. Microsoft is reducing the visibility of its own advertising and content distribution network in favor of a quieter, more user-directed taskbar experience. The change is currently rolling out through the Experimental channel for Windows Insiders, with a full public deployment expected in the coming weeks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What does this mean for users who actually want the Widgets panel? It still works exactly as before \u2014 it just waits for permission. For those who never wanted it intruding on their workflow, the relief is immediate and requires no manual configuration.<\/p>\n

Start Menu Section Toggles Give Users Real Choice<\/h2>\n

The Start menu has long been a point of contention in Windows 11. Users have complained about the space consumed by the “Recommended” section, the inability to hide specific sections, and the general lack of configurability. The latest Insider build introduces granular per-section controls that fundamentally change how the Start menu can be tailored.<\/p>\n

Individual section toggles.<\/strong> The pinned apps section, the recently used files section, and the “All apps” list can now be shown or hidden independently. A user who only wants pinned apps visible can disable everything else. Those who rely on recent files but never use the “All apps” view can configure accordingly. The settings are consolidated under Settings > Personalization > Start<\/strong>, making them easy to locate and adjust.<\/p>\n

Column size selection.<\/strong> For the first time, users can explicitly choose between a 6-column (smaller) or 8-column (larger) layout for the pinned apps grid. Previously, the Start menu relied on automatic layout logic that offered no direct control. This change, while simple, addresses a long-standing request for more predictable and customizable app grid sizing.<\/p>\n

“Recommended” renamed to “Recently used.”<\/strong> The section that Microsoft had been calling “Recommended” is being relabeled to “Recently used.” This is not a superficial branding exercise \u2014 it reflects what the section actually shows. The content consists of recently installed applications and recently accessed files, not algorithmic recommendations. The name now accurately describes the content, closing a gap that had been a minor but persistent irritation for observant users.<\/p>\n

Decoupled file recommendations and app suggestions.<\/strong> A notable design flaw in the previous implementation was that disabling “Recommended” would also remove the Jump List history from the taskbar and File Explorer. The updated settings separate file recommendations from app suggestions, so users can hide the “Recently used” section in the Start menu without losing their Jump List history. This is a subtle but meaningful improvement for power users who rely on Jump Lists for quick access to recent files.<\/p>\n

Privacy mode for screen sharing.<\/strong> When presenting or sharing a screen, the Start menu now offers a privacy mode that hides the user’s account name and profile photo. This prevents accidental exposure of personal information during demonstrations, remote meetings, or collaborative work sessions.<\/p>\n

Shared Audio Arrives for Bluetooth LE Headsets<\/h2>\n

Beyond the Widgets and Start menu changes, Windows 11 is also rolling out a shared audio feature that addresses a practical need. Starting with the May cumulative update (KB5089573<\/a>) and expanding to all PCs with the June update, the shared audio capability allows two Bluetooth LE audio headsets to connect simultaneously to a single PC.<\/p>\n

Each headset maintains independent volume control, and a dedicated indicator appears in the taskbar to show the multi-device connection status. The use case is straightforward: two people watching a video or listening to audio from the same laptop without needing external splitters or separate audio outputs. This is particularly useful in educational settings, shared workspaces, or casual co-viewing scenarios where speakers are not an option.<\/p>\n

The feature requires Bluetooth LE Audio support on both the PC and the headsets, which means older Bluetooth peripherals will not be compatible. But for users with compatible hardware, it eliminates a cumbersome workaround.<\/p>\n

Low Latency Profile and Under-the-Hood Changes<\/h2>\n

Alongside the visible interface changes, Microsoft is quietly making structural improvements to the underlying Windows 11 shell. The Low Latency Profile feature, which briefly boosts CPU clock speeds during UI launch operations, began rolling out to all PCs with the June cumulative update. The effect is subtle but measurable: interface elements such as the Start menu and taskbar context menus feel more responsive when first invoked, particularly on systems with aggressive power-saving settings.<\/p>\n

More significant is the ongoing migration of Start menu components from React Native to native WinUI controls. Microsoft confirmed at Build 2026 that the “Recommended” (now “Recently used”) section and the “All apps” list, which were previously rendered using React Native, are being rebuilt with WinUI. The WinUI 3 branding has been retired in favor of a unified modular engine simply called WinUI. This migration is expected to improve rendering performance, reduce memory overhead, and offer better integration with Windows accessibility features.<\/p>\n

The move away from React Native for these critical surface areas signals a longer-term strategy: Microsoft is consolidating its UI framework strategy around WinUI for first-party shell components, reserving cross-platform frameworks for applications where portability matters more than native integration.<\/p>\n

What These Changes Signal About Microsoft’s Direction<\/h2>\n

Looking at the full scope of the latest updates \u2014 Widgets quieting, Start menu section controls, column selection, accurate labeling, privacy mode, shared audio, and internal architectural migration \u2014 a coherent pattern emerges. Microsoft is responding to years of accumulated user feedback with changes that prioritize configurability, transparency, and performance over platform-level advertising and design dogma.<\/p>\n

The Widgets change is particularly instructive. By deprioritizing the MSN feed and disabling hover activation, Microsoft is implicitly acknowledging that the previous design overstepped user comfort boundaries in service of engagement metrics. The Start menu section toggles address a criticism that has been voiced since Windows 11 launched: that the operating system treated the Start menu as a canvas for Microsoft’s content rather than a tool for the user’s applications.<\/p>\n

None of these changes are revolutionary on their own. But taken together, they represent a meaningful course correction. Windows 11 is becoming more malleable, more respectful of user preferences, and less insistent on its own defaults. For a platform that has sometimes been accused of treating its desktop as a billboard, that is a welcome shift.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After years of incremental adjustments and user feedback, Microsoft is finally addressing two of the most persistent friction points in Windows 11: the overly eager Widgets panel and the inflexible Start menu layout. A new wave of settings rolling out through Insider channels gives users unprecedented control over how these interface elements behave and appear. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":73697,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/iili.io\/CqNSCbf.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Windows 11 Quiets Widgets and Start Menu with New Settings","footnotes":""},"categories":[349],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-articles"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/iili.io\/CqNSCbf.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Windows 11 Quiets Widgets and Start Menu with New Settings","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/overcentral.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/overcentral.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/overcentral.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/overcentral.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/overcentral.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/overcentral.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/overcentral.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/overcentral.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/overcentral.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/overcentral.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}