Windows 11 shouldn't need so many third-party apps for basic functionality

Windows 11 Start Hero Surface Book Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Cardinal

Windows 11 started rolling out earlier this month. While Microsoft updated several parts of the operating system, there are strange gaps that the company left in the OS. While some of these come down to preference, Microsoft removed the ability to customize sure aspects of its operating system. For example, y'all can only show a clock on one display while running Windows 11. Want a clock on an external display? You have to grab an app like ElevenClock.

On superlative of weird omissions for options that were available on earlier versions of Windows, Microsoft likewise made desperate changes to elements that people love. Many people, including our senior editor Jez Corden, hate the new Start menu. The Windows 11 Taskbar as well has its critics. These aren't just disliked for their designs. They frustrate people because they lack functionality.

Microsoft would probable explicate these changes as a simplification of Windows that makes it easier to use. That may be truthful in some cases, but the inability to move the Taskbar to the side of the screen doesn't seem like a needed alter. The new Start card is simplified compared to its predecessor, but always showing a reminder that people turned off recommendations is just poor blueprint.

These changes and omissions accept led to third-party developers stepping in. Our list of the best apps to customize the look of Windows eleven seems to grow by the 24-hour interval. While I commend the efforts of these developers, many of these apps shouldn't be needed in the starting time place.

Stop removing options

Source: Stardock

I understand that Microsoft is going to make changes to the await and feel of Windows as it moves from version to version. Information technology's Microsoft's right to desire to simplify things, but information technology shouldn't remove toys altogether for power users — just hide them somewhere we'll know where to await.

I'm not calling for Microsoft to maintain every legacy version of Windows and so people can option a skin. I do expect some more customization options on an OS that has traditionally been customizable.

Corden illustrates the result with the lack of customization options in his slice near the Offset menu:

This new ane is then lacking in customization features to the point of frustration. You can't resize it in whatever way, shape, or form. You can't remove the Recommended Files listing. You tin turn information technology off, merely it leaves a nasty gap with an abrasive reminder telling y'all that you've turned off Recommended Files, like a vestigial limb you lot can't remove. The Recommended Files list, if you leave it on, for me but surfaces years-old documents and other random crap from my file storage that I don't really desire to encounter surfaced right there in my Outset card. Managing those files is a chore, besides, forcing me to right click and "dismiss" every time it surfaces a file I couldn't care less well-nigh.

A program similar Start11 should be for people who want to go a classic version of their Outset menu on their PC or to perform detailed customizations. People shouldn't have to buy it to move their Taskbar to the height of their screen or to get a Get-go menu without a useless recommendations list.

Microsoft tin, and should, fix this

Auto Dark Source: Windows Central

In his piece on the first-class Car Dark Mode app, our executive editor Daniel Rubino calls information technology "the app Microsoft needs to build into Windows eleven." We've seen Microsoft exercise this earlier. The Nighttime light feature in Windows ten followed the footsteps of f.lux. If Microsoft sees an implementation of a characteristic that it likes, the visitor tin just c̶o̶p̶y̶ emulate it.

Insiders don't like having to download a third-party app to go a clock on their secondary display; no one does. People shouldn't have to go through the Feedback Hub to say that when they disable the Recommendations list that they want it replaced with something functional instead of a note saying they turned it off. But if these steps are going to exist required, Microsoft needs to listen to feedback nearly them.

Microsoft shared a video thanking Insiders for shaping Windows 11. Over the next year, Microsoft needs to show that those words aren't hallow. Past the time the next major update rolls around for Windows 11, Microsoft needs to evidence a sustained effort to listen to feedback and to provide people options for their PCs.