There are certain things I like about Windows 11, but there are also certain things I truly hate. One of them is the inability to move the taskbar. While that’s something not coming anytime soon, another feature I am not a big fan of is the recommendations feature in the Start menu. Microsoft won’t remove the recommended feed, but it will get better.
Recommendations in the Start menu suggest apps, websites and files based on your usage. For example, if you open Telegram often, the Start menu might list it under recommendations as “frequently opened”. Similarly, the Start menu can also recommend websites based on your usage.
However, the catch with these recommendations is that they’re not accurate and often not reliable. The Start menu fails to recommend apps or websites that you might actually want to open, and Microsoft is very well aware of Windows 11’s shortcomings. Starting with KB5048753 in the beta channel, the recommendations are much better.
Windows Latest was able to test the feature, and we observed that the Start menu is now able to correctly identify the file or website I might be looking to visit. It looks like Microsoft is now filtering the content correctly, and Start menu is now able to show the highest quality recommendations for sites based on your browsing.
Microsoft says it’s looking for feedback from everyone to further refine the Start menu’s recommendations feature. Microsoft also told me that it has no plans to remove the recommendations feature as it continues to work on improving its quality so you can find items that matter to you more easily.
More Start menu-related changes are in pipeline,
Bing-free Search is coming. It’s not strictly a Start menu-related update, but it’s sorta related.
As Windows Latest recently reported, Microsoft is planning to separate Search experience into local and search results powered by Bing instead of mixing both together. This is part of the company’s efforts to meet the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA).
This will allow you to search only the local storage and it could make search experience significantly better, and it doesn’t matter how you open Search.
Whether you open it through the Start menu or directly via the search button/shortcut, you’ll view local results by default, but you can always click on the “Bing” tab to see content from the web.
Windows Latest understands that this is one of the most significant changes to how search works in Windows 11, but sadly, it will be limited to those in the EU.
It will not arrive in the US because the country doesn’t have strict anti-competitive laws.