#You Can Bring the Windows 10 Start Menu to Windows 11, But Should You? – Review Geek

Those who haven’t tried the Windows 11 Insider build are already arguing about the redesigned Taskbar. But when Windows 11 is officially released, its new Start menu may prove to be a bit more controversial—it’s such a divisive topic that enthusiasts have already found a way to bring back the Windows 10 Start menu. But is it worth the trouble?

With a design that’s reminiscent of Chrome OS, the new Windows 11 Start menu ditches Live Tiles, moves around your Profile and Power controls, and only shows you a handful of recently used apps. Your full app list is hidden behind a menu, and advanced controls like Folder shortcuts need to be enabled through Settings. All in all, it’s the least cluttered and most straightforward Start menu design yet, but it’s a bit too simple for some people.

That’s why some Windows Insiders are cracking open their registry and forcing the Start menu to run in “classic mode,” better known as the Windows 10 Start menu. It’s a very simple process, especially if you follow Tom’s Hardware‘s step-by-step guide, but it may present a few problems further down the line.

For one, Windows 11 is still in beta, and fiddling around with the registry could lead to unexpected bugs or performance issues. There’s also a chance that future updates will overwrite any of your registry changes, or entirely remove the option for a “classic” Start menu.

Unless you really, really hate the Windows 11 Start menu, you should probably just leave it alone for now. Microsoft may give users the option to switch back to a “classic” Start menu with Windows 11’s official release, or more likely, a third-party software solution will hit the market.

Remember when Windows ditched the Start menu for the Windows 8 launch? Before public outcry forced the company to change its mind, third -party solutions like Classic Shell and ViStart came to fill in the gap. And as Windows Central notes, Stardock could easily adapt its Start10 Start Menu software to Windows 11.

Source: Tom’s Hardware via Windows Central