Windows 11 is adding built-in settings to move the taskbar to the top, left, or right of your screen, shrink the entire taskbar, resize and declutter the Start menu, and turn off Bing web and Microsoft Store results in search. These options currently live in Windows 11 preview builds behind feature flags, and they replace customizations that previously required third-party tools like StartAllBack or my own app, Winhance.

Applies to: Windows 11 preview builds (Insider channels) | Last updated: July 6, 2026

Key Takeaways

• The taskbar can move again — Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors now has a position option for bottom, top, left, or right, and the Start menu and notifications finally open aligned with it
• You can shrink the whole taskbar — a new Default/Small size option makes the entire taskbar smaller, not just the icons, and folds in the old “small taskbar buttons” setting automatically
• The Start menu is fully adjustable — set its size (Small, Automatic, or Large) and toggle the All, Recent, and Pinned sections, including finally removing the Recommended section without a group policy hack
• Search can stay local — Settings > Privacy & security > Search lets you switch off web (Bing) results and Microsoft Store suggestions so search only returns your own apps, settings, and files
• This is preview-only for now — the features are hidden behind feature flags in Windows 11 preview builds (currently enabled with ViVeTool) and are not on the stable channel yet, so they may still change

Quick Steps:

1. Move the taskbar: Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors, then choose bottom, top, left, or right
2. Shrink it: in the same Taskbar behaviors area, set the taskbar size to Small
3. Align icons: set Taskbar alignment to Left if you prefer icons at the edge
4. Resize the Start menu: Settings > Personalization > Start and set the size to Small, Automatic, or Large
5. Declutter Start: turn off the Recent section and the Recommended items, and switch off Pinned if you only want an app list
6. Clean up search: Settings > Privacy & security > Search and turn off web results and Microsoft Store results

What Is New in the Windows 11 Taskbar, Start Menu, and Search

Microsoft is testing a group of customization settings in Windows 11 preview builds that give you native control over three things people have complained about for years: where the taskbar sits, how the Start menu is laid out, and whether search reaches out to the web. A lot of this is the exact functionality I have asked for in older videos and even built into Winhance.

There is one important catch. At the time of writing, these features are hidden behind feature flags, so they will not appear on a normal, up-to-date Windows 11 PC yet — not even on every Insider machine. Enabling them currently requires a community tool called ViVeTool, which flips the hidden flags on. Because this is all still being tested, the exact options and labels may change before they reach the stable channel.

Note: Treat this as a preview of what is coming rather than a permanent set of features. Some options may be renamed, moved, or pulled before the final release reaches the stable channel.

I have been hard on Windows 11 plenty of times, so it is only fair to give credit where it is due. This follows the pattern I covered when Microsoft promised to fix some of Windows 11’s biggest frustrations — except this time a lot of it is actually landing.

How to Move the Windows 11 Taskbar to the Top, Left, or Right

To move the taskbar, open Settings > Personalization > Taskbar, expand Taskbar behaviors, and use the new position option to place the taskbar at the bottom, top, left, or right of your screen. The change applies instantly, so you can try each position and keep whichever one you prefer.

The important part is that Windows finally handles this correctly. When you move the taskbar to the top, the Start menu and notification popups now open at the top too, right where the taskbar is. In the early days of Windows 11 you could force the taskbar to move with a registry tweak, but the Start menu and notifications would still open down at the bottom, which made it useless. This time the whole interface follows the taskbar.

You can also change where the icons sit. In the same Taskbar behaviors section, set Taskbar alignment to Left if you would rather have your icons at the edge instead of centered. I keep my taskbar at the top with the icons on the left so they sit right next to my browser tabs, which is quicker for me to get around — but that is personal preference. The point is that you finally get to choose, which you could not do before without third-party tools.

How to Make the Windows 11 Taskbar Smaller

Windows 11 now includes a taskbar size setting with two choices: Default and Small. Set it to Small and the entire taskbar shrinks, not just the icons on it. You will find this in the same Taskbar behaviors section as the position and alignment options.

This is a real improvement over the old behavior. Microsoft previously added a “small taskbar buttons” option, but that only shrank the icons while the taskbar itself stayed the same chunky height. Now, the moment you switch to the small size, that older setting grays out and Windows tells you the smaller icons come with it automatically. It sorts the whole thing out for you.

Note: Auto-hide only works when the taskbar is at the bottom of the screen — Windows tells you this directly in the settings. If you like to move the taskbar to the top and hide it like I do, that combination is not supported right now.

The one thing still missing for me is taskbar transparency. That is the single feature I keep StartAllBack installed for, because I do not think you can make the taskbar fully transparent natively yet. It is a minor thing, though. Once these updates reach the stable channel, I will likely uninstall StartAllBack and just use the built-in Windows settings.

How to Resize and Declutter the Windows 11 Start Menu

Open Settings > Personalization > Start and you can now set the Start menu size to Small, Automatic (the default), or Large. The small size is roughly what the Start menu was before the recent redesigns, while large takes up about half the screen. Pick whichever fits how you work.

Below that, Windows now splits the Start menu into sections you can switch on or off individually:

• All — your full apps list. Turn it off to hide the complete list, or leave it on to keep every app one click away.
• Recent — recently added apps, recent files, and the tips and recommendations. A single toggle turns all of it off.
• Pinned — your pinned app tiles. You can switch these off entirely if you only want a plain list of your apps.

The biggest win here is being able to remove the Recommended section completely. Until now you could not truly get rid of it. On Pro and higher editions you could hide it with a group policy key, but that interfered with other Windows settings and did not work on Home at all. The normal “hide recommendations” toggle just left the empty section sitting there staring at you. That group policy trick is the same method Winhance uses to hide the Recommended section, so having a proper built-in switch is genuinely great to see.

If you want the redesigned Start menu that these options build on, you can already get it in Windows 11 25H2. I have a separate guide on how to download, install, and enable the new Start menu.

How to Turn Off Web and Store Results in Windows Search

By default, when you search from the Start menu, Windows mixes in Bing web results and Microsoft Store suggestions alongside your own apps and files. To stop that, open Settings > Privacy & security > Search, find the new results section, and turn off the options for showing results from the web and the Microsoft Store.

With both switched off, a search only returns the apps, settings, and files on your own PC. The web toggle is the big one — this is exactly what people have been disabling with a registry tweak for years, and it is one of the tweaks built into Winhance. Being able to also turn off the Store suggestions is a nice bonus if you would rather the Store did not keep pushing apps at you. Search ends up cleaner, and it feels faster too.

While you are cleaning up search, you can also disable File Explorer’s search suggestions, which is a separate setting that clutters the search box inside File Explorer.

My Ideal Windows 11 Setup

Putting it all together, here is how I set Windows 11 up for myself once these options are available: the taskbar at the top with the icons on the left and set to small, the search box removed, and the extras I never use turned off — Task View, Widgets, and the new Resume feature.

I also unpin Copilot, Edge, and the new Outlook, which leaves me with basically just Start and File Explorer on the taskbar, plus a clean list of apps in the Start menu. That app list is usually much shorter on my machines because I have already removed the built-in bloat with Winhance. If Microsoft keeps improving Windows 11 like this, it is not impossible that you eventually will not need a tool like Winhance at all — and honestly, that would be a good thing.

Secure Your Connection with ProtonVPN

While you are cleaning up your PC, it is worth securing your internet connection too. I personally use ProtonVPN because it has a genuinely free tier with unlimited bandwidth and no logs, which is rare for a VPN provider. The free version automatically connects you to the fastest available server, so it is great for everyday private browsing or getting around basic blocks.

If you need to manually pick a specific country, for example for streaming, you will need their paid plan.

• ProtonVPN Free (Unlimited Data)
• ProtonVPN Plus (Special Deal)

The links above are affiliate links — if you start with the free version and later decide to upgrade, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you, and it helps support the channel.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I move the Windows 11 taskbar to the top of the screen?

Yes. In Windows 11 preview builds, open Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors and choose a position — bottom, top, left, or right. Unlike the old registry method, the Start menu and notifications now open aligned with the taskbar. This option is not on the stable channel yet.

Why can I not find these taskbar and Start menu options on my PC?

These settings are currently hidden behind feature flags in Windows 11 preview builds, so they do not appear on standard installs — or even on every Insider PC. Enabling them right now requires the community tool ViVeTool. Expect them to roll out more widely once Microsoft finishes testing.

How do I stop Windows search from showing web results?

Go to Settings > Privacy & security > Search and turn off the option to show results from the web, plus the Microsoft Store option if you want. Your searches will then only return apps, settings, and files on your own PC. On current stable builds, Winhance can apply the equivalent registry tweak for you.

Can I finally remove the Recommended section from the Start menu?

Yes. The new Start settings include a toggle that removes the Recommended section entirely, without the group policy workaround that previously only worked on Pro and higher editions. On current stable Windows, Winhance can hide it using that same policy method.

Do I still need StartAllBack or Winhance after these updates?

For most taskbar and Start menu layout changes, these built-in options cover what StartAllBack and Winhance were used for. The main thing still missing natively is full taskbar transparency. Winhance also does far more than layout tweaks — debloating, optimizing, and customizing Windows — so it stays useful well beyond these particular settings.

This post Microsoft Is FINALLY Fixing Windows 11 (Some of This Stuff I Built Winhance For) first appeared on Memory's Tech Tips and is written by memory

Winhance lets you configure Windows one time and reuse that exact setup on any machine. Apply your changes to a live PC in normal mode, save them as a config file to import onto another running Windows install, or bake them into a custom autounattend ISO so a fresh installation arrives already configured. One setup, every machine.

Applies to: Windows 10 (22H2) and Windows 11 (23H2, 24H2, 25H2) | Last updated: June 18, 2026

Key Takeaways

• One configuration, three deployment paths — Winhance applies the same setup to a live PC (normal mode), to another running Windows install (config file), or to a fresh install (autounattend ISO).
• Normal mode applies changes instantly — app installs and removals, optimizations, and customizations take effect immediately on the PC you are using.
• Builder mode creates a config file — a portable snapshot of your settings and app choices that you can import and apply to any other Windows machine in minutes.
• The Windows Installation Media Utility (WIMUtil) bakes your setup into a custom Windows ISO using an autounattend.xml file, so the PC is configured the moment it reaches the desktop.
• Config review mode is optional — inspect every change a config file will make before applying it, or skip the review and apply immediately if you authored the config yourself.

Quick Steps:

1. Open Winhance in normal mode and configure your apps, optimizations, and customizations on a live PC.
2. To reuse that setup, enter builder mode, select the apps to include, and save a config file.
3. On another running PC, open config review mode, import the config file, and apply it — review first, or skip the review if you authored it.
4. For machines that need a fresh Windows install, open Advanced Tools > Windows Installation Media Utility.
5. Select your Windows ISO, extract it, then generate and add a Winhance XML (or add an XML you built in builder mode).
6. Optionally extract and add drivers, download the oscdimage package, then create your custom ISO.
7. Install Windows with that ISO — it boots to the desktop already configured.

The Winhance Ecosystem: One Setup for Every Machine

The idea behind Winhance that I do not think gets explained enough is this: you configure Windows the way you like it once, and then you apply that same setup wherever you need it. Everything starts from a live system — the PC in front of you — and from there it splits into the routes that fit your situation.

There are three ways to apply a configuration. You can change a running PC directly, you can save your setup to a config file and apply it to another machine that already boots Windows, or you can bake your setup into a custom Windows ISO for a machine that still needs Windows installed. Watch the full walkthrough above, or follow each method below.

Support Winhance’s Development

Winhance is free and always will be. If the ecosystem saves you time setting up machines, the best way to give back is on the store — you can support its development directly, or grab the Supporter Pack below and get a set of premium wallpapers along with it.

Winhance Supporter Pack

Winhance is free, forever. The Supporter Pack is a way to back its development and get something in return — 6 premium Winhance wallpapers, the latest installer, and a personal thank-you from me. It is a digital product, delivered instantly.

Get the Supporter Pack

Method 1: Configure a Running PC in Normal Mode

Normal mode is where it all starts, and it applies your changes to the current PC immediately. This is the standard way to use Winhance: open the app on a running system and start making changes that take effect right away.

In this mode you can uninstall the Windows apps you do not want, install external software that you do want, and work through the optimize and customize sections to set each feature to the state you prefer. Every change you make here applies to your live system as you make it. If configuring the PC in front of you is your only goal, you can stop right there — but Winhance can do much more.

Method 2: Save Your Setup as a Config File (Builder Mode)

A Winhance config file is a snapshot of all your settings and app choices that you can apply to another running Windows machine in minutes. Instead of spending an afternoon clicking through everything manually, you import the file and apply it. You create config files in builder mode, which was introduced in Winhance Release 27.

When you enter builder mode, the optimize and customize sections are already populated with the current states of the system you are on. If your computer already detects dark mode or specific transparency settings, Winhance reflects that automatically. What is not selected yet are the items in the software and apps section — that is where you choose which apps to save into the config file.

For example, you might choose to remove Bing Search and Microsoft News and to install a browser of your choice for your clients. You select those items so they are saved to the config file, and any setting changes you make in builder mode do not touch your live system. Once you are happy, give the config a name and save it to a location of your choice.

Config Review Mode vs. Skip and Apply

Config review mode exists so you can inspect every change a config file wants to make before it touches your computer. You import the config, and the optimize and customize sections show as complete while the software and apps section lists the items waiting on your decision — install or uninstall. Reviewing does not run anything yet; it only shows you what will happen.

This is useful when someone else hands you a config file, or when you want to see exactly what the Winhance recommended config will change before applying it. But if you work in IT and authored the config yourself, you already know what it does — so you can choose the import-my-own-config option, skip the review, and apply it immediately.

Tip: When you apply a config that removes apps, Winhance can save a removal script for continuous removal. If a removed app is ever reinstalled by Windows Update or another process, it will be uninstalled again the next time the computer starts up.

This method is best for a machine that already boots Windows — a new laptop a client brings into your shop, a pre-installed PC you just bought, or a second home computer you want set up exactly like the first. You can almost treat the config file like a deployment file for any already-running Windows system.

Method 3: Bake Your Setup into a Custom Windows ISO (Autounattend)

If you have a bare machine with no Windows installed yet — or a PC that crashed and needs a clean reinstall — you can bake your setup straight into the Windows installer. This is the autounattend route, and you do it with the Windows Installation Media Utility (WIMUtil for short), found under Advanced Tools in Winhance.

Select a Windows 11 ISO, then extract its files so Winhance can modify them. Extracting unlocks the rest of the steps in the utility. From here you have two ways to add your configuration as an autounattend.xml file, and you can only add one XML at a time.

• Generate and add a Winhance XML — this snapshots your current selections in Winhance. Whatever you have set in optimize and customize right now (for example, User Account Control set to “Never notify”) gets baked into the new install, and you choose which Windows apps to remove.
• Select an XML file you built in builder mode — author an autounattend file with different settings than your own system, save it, then add it to the ISO. This is how you set, say, “Always notify” for your clients while keeping “Never notify” on your own PC.

The utility can also extract and add drivers from your current operating system, which is handy if you always install Windows on the same hardware. If you plan to install on machines with different hardware, skip the driver extraction so mismatched drivers do not clash. To finish, download the official Microsoft oscdimage package with one click, choose where to save your ISO, and create it.

Install Windows with that custom ISO and everything is configured the moment you reach the desktop — one ISO file for every PC you build, with nothing to do afterward except maybe install a little extra software. If you hit a Windows edition prompt during setup, I have covered the edition selection autounattend fix separately, and here is how to create a Windows installation USB from your finished ISO.

Which Method Should You Use?

Pick the method based on where the machine is starting from. Each path leads to the same result: a Windows PC configured exactly the way you want it.

• Configuring the PC in front of you — use normal mode and apply changes instantly.
• A machine that already boots Windows and needs to match your setup — save a config file and import it.
• A bare machine or one that needs a fresh install — build a custom autounattend ISO with the Windows Installation Media Utility.

If you set up multiple Windows machines the same way — in a business, a repair shop, or any IT role — config files and autounattend ISOs save a real amount of time. For even deeper control over answer files, my UnattendedWinstall project goes further than the built-in generator.

Closing the Loop: Back to a Live System

Once Windows is installed from your custom ISO, you are back to a live system — a configured PC that is ready to use. And the loop closes here, because you can run Winhance again on that running PC in normal mode whenever you want to change a setting, install software, or uninstall something.

That is the whole idea behind the Winhance ecosystem. No matter where you are starting from — a live system, a machine that needs Windows installed, or a second PC you want configured like the first — all of these scenarios are already covered by what is available in Winhance today.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use the same Winhance config file on multiple computers?

Yes. A config file is a portable snapshot of your settings and app choices, so you can import and apply it to as many running Windows machines as you like. This is what makes it useful for IT work or for setting up a second home PC exactly like the first.

What is the difference between a Winhance config file and an autounattend ISO?

A config file applies your setup to a machine that already has Windows installed and running. An autounattend ISO bakes your setup into the Windows installer itself, so a fresh installation arrives already configured. Use a config file for booting machines and an autounattend ISO for bare machines or clean reinstalls.

Do I have to review a config file every time before applying it?

No. Config review mode is optional. It lets you inspect every change before it happens, which is helpful for a config someone else gave you. If you authored the config yourself, you can choose the import-my-own-config option, skip the review, and apply it immediately.

Does Winhance work on both Windows 10 and Windows 11?

Yes. Winhance supports Windows 10 (22H2) and Windows 11 (23H2, 24H2, 25H2). The normal mode, config file, and autounattend ISO workflows all apply across these versions.

Will removed apps come back after a Windows update?

They can, since Windows Update sometimes reinstalls apps. When you apply a config, Winhance gives you the option to save a removal script for continuous removal. With that enabled, any app that gets reinstalled is uninstalled again automatically the next time the computer starts up.

This post Configure Windows ONCE, Then Deploy It to EVERY PC (Winhance) first appeared on Memory's Tech Tips and is written by memory

Winhance never changes Windows settings on its own. Changes only happen when you apply recommended settings, reset a feature to defaults, or import and apply a config file. It uses the WinGet and Chocolatey package managers to install software, detects most existing settings through registry and system checks, and keeps changes reversible. Below are answers to the biggest questions and concerns I get about it.

Applies to: Windows 10 (22H2) and Windows 11 (23H2, 24H2, 25H2) | Last updated: June 18, 2026

Key Takeaways

• Winhance does not apply settings automatically — changes happen only when you apply recommended settings, reset to defaults, or import and apply a config file.
• Every setting is reversible — toggle it back, use “apply Windows defaults” on a card, or use a feature’s quick actions to reset it; Winhance also prompts you to create a System Restore point on first launch.
• Software installs use WinGet (with Chocolatey as a fallback), which is why you cannot choose the install location and why installs occasionally fail when a package manifest hash is out of date.
• Setting detection is built on registry values, power config, and scheduled-task checks, shown in the Technical Details banner under each setting card — but detecting every third-party installer is hard and can cause occasional false positives.
• The Windows Installation Media Utility (WIMUtil) builds a custom Windows 11 ISO that can bundle your drivers and skips the Windows 11 hardware requirement checks by default.

Questions answered in this guide:

• Does Winhance detect my current settings correctly?
• How do I report a bug or send logs?
• Can it build a Windows 11 ISO with my drivers and skip the hardware checks?
• Does Winhance change settings automatically?
• Can I disable Windows updates, choose install locations, or create presets?
• Will Windows 11 activate with my old Windows 10 license?
• Why does Winhance use package managers instead of direct downloads?

Does Winhance Correctly Detect My Current Windows Settings?

Yes. Winhance detects the current state of your settings based on what it finds on your system. For the software and apps section it uses multiple methods to check whether an item is installed, and for the optimize and customize sections the settings are mostly registry entries, power config commands, or scheduled tasks depending on the feature.

This is what the Technical Details banner below each setting card is for. Turn it on from the View menu at the top, then click the banner under any card to see the exact registry path and value Winhance reads to determine that setting’s state. For example, if you change the User Account Control level in Windows to “Never notify,” Winhance reads the registry value and reflects “Never notify” the next time you open that section.

Detection runs on every navigation between features — when you open a section, Winhance queries the system for what each toggle or combo box should show. If you find a specific setting that detects incorrectly, please report it with logs so I can look into it.

Support Winhance’s Development

Winhance is free and always will be. If it has saved you time, the best way to give back is on the store — you can support its development directly, or grab the Supporter Pack below and get a set of premium wallpapers along with it.

Winhance Supporter Pack

Winhance is free, forever. The Supporter Pack is a way to back its development and get something in return — 6 premium Winhance wallpapers, the latest installer, and a personal thank-you from me. It is a digital product, delivered instantly.

Get the Supporter Pack

How Do I Report a Bug or Send Logs?

Use the Bug Report button in the main Winhance window. It opens the Winhance GitHub issues page, where you can click New Issue to report a bug or suggest an improvement. You will need a free GitHub account to post.

Screenshots and logs make a report far more useful. To find your logs, click the More navigation button in Winhance and select Winhance Logs — this opens the folder containing your log files. Sort by Date Modified to grab the latest, then drag the log files straight into the screenshots/logs box on the GitHub issue to attach them.

Tip: If an app refused to uninstall, the log I need is the bloat removal log — that file records every app uninstall Winhance attempts, so it shows exactly why a removal failed on your system.

Can Winhance Build a Windows 11 ISO with My Drivers and Skip the Hardware Checks?

Yes to both. In Advanced Tools, open the Windows Installation Media Utility, select a Windows ISO, and extract it. Once extraction completes, you can add an autounattend.xml file to the image — and that file is what skips the Windows 11 hardware requirement checks. Whether you generate the autounattend with Winhance or use the UnattendedWinstall answer file, both skip the Windows 11 checks by default as of this recording.

For drivers, use the “extract and add drivers” option to pull the drivers from your current operating system into the image. This is recommended when you are reinstalling Windows on the same hardware, since it saves you redownloading everything. Once that is done, create the new ISO and use it to install Windows.

Does Winhance Change Settings Automatically?

No. Under no circumstances does Winhance change settings on your computer on its own. This matters, because one of the most common concerns is that the app “applied tweaks without prompting” and broke something. That is not how it works — a setting only changes when you click to change it.

What usually happened in those reports is one of two things. Either the user imported the recommended Winhance config file and applied it (which intentionally changes many settings at once), or they used a feature’s quick action to “apply all recommended settings.” For example, applying the recommended power and start menu settings will hide the Sleep and Lock options from the power menu, because those are recommended for performance.

If recommended settings are not to your liking, just change them back. Toggle the setting again, pick a different combo box option, or use “apply Windows defaults” on the card. You can also use a feature’s quick actions to reset everything in that section to Windows defaults. And because Winhance prompts you to create a System Restore point on first launch (and you can create one anytime from the Settings page), you always have a way back. If a setting genuinely does not return to its Windows default, report it on GitHub with logs.

Can I Disable Windows Updates or Store App Updates?

Yes. In the Optimize section, open Updates to find the Windows Update Policy. You can fully disable Windows updates, but that option is clearly labeled as not recommended because it is a security risk. The safer choices are to install security updates only, or to pause updates for a long period — both stop the aggressive update behavior without leaving you exposed.

If you specifically meant Microsoft Store apps updating themselves, there is a separate “Auto update Microsoft Store apps” setting in the same Updates section that you can turn off.

Will Windows 11 Activate with My Existing Windows 10 License?

In most cases, yes. A Windows 10 digital license activates Windows 11 as long as you install the same edition — so a Windows 10 Pro key should activate Windows 11 Pro. Because the license is tied to your motherboard (stored in the UEFI), it activates automatically once you connect to the internet on the same hardware.

If it does not activate on its own, sign in with the Microsoft account your license is linked to and it should activate. Since you are installing on the same motherboard, it should not ask you for a new key. If you need a hand confirming activation, see my guide on activating Windows 10/11.

Can I Choose the Install Location or Install Portable Apps?

When installing software, Winhance primarily uses the WinGet package manager (with Chocolatey as a fallback), and it disables the interactive setup prompts on purpose. That is the entire point: you select the apps you want, click install, walk away, and come back to everything installed — no clicking through Next, Next, Next on each one. If you specifically want those step-through installers, it is better to download those apps directly from their websites.

You cannot choose a custom install location for these apps, but that is a WinGet limitation, not a Winhance one — WinGet installs either to your AppData folder or system-wide to the C: drive, with no per-app destination. The developer who publishes the package to WinGet also decides whether it ships as an installer or a portable package, so that choice is out of Winhance’s hands too.

Winhance itself does offer both, though. When you download it from the Winhance website or run the PowerShell install command, you can choose a normal installation or a portable installation.

Can I Create Presets Like Gaming, Office, or Daily Use?

There are no preset buttons in the UI, and I do not currently plan to add gaming/office/home preset buttons. But you can already build your own presets using config files in builder mode, which is more flexible than a fixed set of presets.

To make a gaming preset, enter builder mode (nothing here applies to your live system), open Gaming and Performance, and apply the recommended gaming settings. For a settings-only preset, skip the software and apps section. Save the config with a name like “gaming.” Then, from normal mode, use config review, choose “import my own config,” skip the review, and apply it — only the gaming and performance settings change, because that is all the preset captured. Save as many config files as you want for different scenarios.

When Building an Autounattend ISO, Do I Select Apps to Keep or to Remove?

You select the apps you want to remove. In builder mode, the ribbon above the Windows apps section states it clearly: the checked apps will be removed from the Windows image during installation. So if you check MS 365 Copilot, that app ends up in the autounattend file for removal. Microsoft Edge has its own dedicated removal script that gets added separately.

One limitation to know: you cannot currently pick and choose which optimizations and customizations go into the autounattend file. All of the optimize and customize settings are included by default — you only control which state each one is in when it is written to the file.

If you are worried about side effects from debloating, use the search bar in the Optimize and Customize sections. Each setting card documents its side effects. For example, searching “emoji” surfaces the Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service, whose description warns that disabling it breaks the Windows + Period emoji panel and other virtual keyboard input. I made it a recommended setting anyway because that service is a resource hog once the emoji panel is opened — I covered exactly how much it uses in my Winhance Release 24 walkthrough. Read each card’s description, and if a setting is not to your liking, change it — Winhance never locks you out of reverting.

Will Winhance Conflict with Other Tools Like Chris Titus Tech’s WinUtil?

You can use both at the same time without issues, as far as I know — I have not had any reports of conflicts between Winhance and Chris Titus Tech’s WinUtil. They are separate tools doing similar jobs, and running one does not break the other.

Can I Set a Dark Start Menu with Light File Explorer?

Not yet. In Windows, the “Choose your mode” setting has a Custom option that lets you set the Windows mode (taskbar, Start menu) and the app mode (File Explorer and apps) independently. In Winhance, those two are currently lumped into a single dark/light choice. I get the request for more granular control to match Windows behavior, and I will look at improving it in a future update.

Will Winhance Add Windows Defender Removal? And Where Did the UnattendedWinstall File Go?

The preset answer file is part of UnattendedWinstall, a separate project of mine. It was temporarily removed from GitHub, and I will be releasing an updated version in the near future.

On adding Windows Defender removal: I am not planning to add it to Winhance for live systems. The code that strips or disables Defender tends to get flagged by antivirus software, which gives Winhance a bad reputation and gets it falsely reported as a virus — that already happened with an early version that included those tweaks. There are plenty of open-source scripts on GitHub that can do this if you really want to, though I do not recommend it. If I ever include the option, it would only be when creating a fresh Windows ISO with an autounattend file, so the choice is deliberate rather than something a millions-of-users live system does silently.

Why Does Winhance Use Package Managers Instead of Direct Downloads?

This is the root of two common issues: apps that are not detected as installed, and installs that occasionally fail. Both Winhance and tools like UniGetUI rely on WinGet and Chocolatey to install software, and package providers like Mozilla publish packages to those managers. The catch is that the installer on a vendor’s website is not always the exact same build the package manager serves.

Take Firefox: running winget search Firefox returns many packages — the standard Mozilla Firefox, a Microsoft Store version with a different ID, an MSIX build, language variants, ESR, and beta. Winhance hard-codes the IDs it uses (the standard en-US build and the Store version as a fallback) and tries to catch every install method with multiple detection checks. But covering every possible installer for every app is a big task, and it can lead to the occasional false positive in the interface.

Installs sometimes fail when a new app version ships before WinGet updates its manifest. Each installer has a security hash, and the package manager refuses the download if the hash does not match the manifest — which protects you, but means the install fails until the manifest is updated, usually within a few days. The official WinGet packages repository routinely has over a thousand open pull requests for new versions, so this lag is common.

So why not just hard-code direct download links? Because those URLs are usually versioned. If I hard-code a Firefox 152 link today, it breaks the moment Firefox 153 ships — users either get an error or an outdated version until I manually update the link, and that is not realistic across 200-plus handpicked apps. Package managers exist precisely to handle versioning and to add the hash and manifest security checks. The system is not perfect, but it is the right trade-off.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Winhance change my settings without asking?

No. Winhance only changes a setting when you click to apply it — whether that is toggling a single setting, using a quick action to apply recommended settings, or importing and applying a config file. It does not modify your system in the background.

Are Winhance changes reversible?

Yes. You can toggle any setting back, apply Windows defaults on an individual card, or reset an entire feature to Windows defaults with its quick actions. Winhance also prompts you to create a System Restore point on first launch, and you can create one anytime from the Settings page before making changes.

Does Winhance work on Windows 10?

Yes. Winhance works on Windows 10 (22H2) and Windows 11 (23H2, 24H2, 25H2). Features like disabling app updates, building config files, and creating a custom ISO all apply on Windows 10 as well as Windows 11.

This post You Asked, I Answered Your BIGGEST Winhance Questions & Concerns first appeared on Memory's Tech Tips and is written by memory

Winhance Release 27 adds a new Builder Mode that lets you create a Winhance config file or an autounattend.xml from the app’s interface without changing anything on the PC you are using. The same release adds a Sponsors & Supporters page, a Change History file that records every change Winhance makes, and a fix for startup crashes on older Windows builds. You can download Winhance Release 27 free from winhance.net.

Applies to: Winhance Release 27 (v26.06.12) on Windows 10 (22H2) and Windows 11 (23H2, 24H2, 25H2) | Last updated: June 12, 2026

Key Takeaways

• Builder Mode creates Winhance config files and autounattend.xml files from the settings in the UI without applying anything to your live system.
• A startup crash that mostly hit older Windows builds like Windows 10 LTSC — a window that never appears, a fail fast exception, or a KERNELBASE.dll error in Event Viewer — is worked around in Release 27.
• The new Sponsors & Supporters page replaces the old exit donation dialog and shows business sponsors and individual supporters, fetched live from the Winhance GitHub repo.
• A new ChangeHistory.txt file (More > Change History) records every change Winhance makes on your computer from Release 27 onward.
• App icons now come from a single GitHub repository instead of multiple Microsoft servers, and the status icons are colored Fluent UI icons that are much easier to read.

Quick Steps: Build a Config Without Touching Your PC

1. Download and run Winhance Release 27 from winhance.net.
2. Click the Builder button at the top of the main window and read the explainer dialog.
3. Pick Config or Autounattend with the radio buttons in the Builder Mode ribbon.
4. Change any settings in Optimize and Customize, and tick the checkboxes for the apps you want included — nothing is applied to the PC you are on.
5. Click Save Config (or Save Autounattend) and use the file on any other computer or Windows image.

Winhance Would Not Launch for You Before? Try Release 27

Before getting into the new features, this one matters if Winhance simply did not work for you in the past. Some users would start the app and nothing would appear, or Event Viewer showed a fail fast exception or a KERNELBASE.dll error. That was a Windows bug, and Release 27 ships a workaround for it.

The crash mostly hit older Windows builds, like LTSC installations that have not received recent updates. If that was your experience, give Winhance another go — the affected systems should launch normally on Release 27.

Winhance Now Has Modes: Normal, Builder, and Config Review

Release 27 introduces a mode switcher at the top of the main window with three modes. Normal mode is how Winhance has always worked — changes apply to the PC you are working on immediately. Builder Mode and Config Review Mode are where it gets interesting.

With these mode buttons in place, the old Save Config and Import Config buttons next to the Windows version filter are gone. The Builder and Config Review buttons replace them.

How Builder Mode Works

Builder Mode lets you create a Winhance config or an autounattend file from the settings in the UI without changing anything on the PC you are using. When you enter Builder Mode, a dialog explains the feature, and a ribbon confirms the app is in Builder Mode with two radio buttons: Config and Autounattend.

Your current Optimize and Customize settings are pre-filled with the state of the PC you are on. From there, anything you change only changes the file you are building. For example, if I switch the Windows theme from dark mode to light mode in Builder Mode, my PC stays in dark mode — but the saved config will apply light mode wherever it is imported.

Apps are not included automatically. In Config mode, you tick the checkboxes for the apps you want in the file under Windows Apps & Features and External Software, and you decide whether to install or uninstall them at import time. The normal app actions are turned off while Builder Mode is active, so you cannot accidentally modify the system you are sitting at.

Note: Builder Mode was requested by a user on GitHub a long time ago. If you deploy or service multiple Windows machines, this is the feature that turns Winhance from a tweak session into a deployment tool.

Why Config and Autounattend Are Separate

In Autounattend mode, selected apps can only be removed from the Windows image during installation — you cannot install apps that way, which is why the choice does not exist there. The External Software tab is locked in Autounattend mode for now; including external apps in an autounattend file is a planned feature that has not shipped yet.

The split also leaves room for what is coming. Some options only make sense for unattended installs — settings from the Windows onboarding phase, or automating partition creation and deletion during setup. Those do not fit the Optimize and Customize catalog, so a dedicated autounattend page with more generation options is planned for a future release.

Once you save your autounattend.xml, exit Builder Mode and open Advanced Tools > Windows Installation Media Utility to add the XML to a Windows ISO, so it runs during Windows installation. If you want to go deeper into unattended installs, my UnattendedWinstall answer files cover the same territory with pre-built configurations.

Config Review Mode

Config Review Mode is not new, but it now has its own button at the top of the main window. It shows the import window where you select a config file, then walks you through every change that config wants to make before anything is applied. That review matters when someone shared a config with you, or when you want to inspect what the recommended Winhance config does.

For config files you created yourself, skip the review and apply immediately — you still choose what happens with software and apps (install, uninstall, or just select them in the UI), whether the theme’s default wallpaper is applied, and whether to clean the taskbar and Start menu.

The New Sponsors & Supporters Page

Winhance is free, and I want it to stay free — no paywalls, no locked features. What keeps it that way is the people and businesses that support the project, and Release 27 finally gives them proper recognition. Clicking the Support Winhance button opens a dedicated Sponsors & Supporters page inside the app, which also replaces the old exit donation dialog.

Businesses and individual supporters are shown separately. Business sponsors have tiers with different perks — company logo and name in the app, contact details, and an outbound link to their website on the higher tiers. Individual supporters who give $5 or more and tick the supporters box at checkout get listed on the supporters wall. The data is fetched live from the Winhance GitHub repo when there is an internet connection, with an offline fallback bundled into each release.

The Support Winhance button takes you to the Winhance sponsors page on my new store. It is a ladder that starts with individual supporters and moves up through business tiers, with a PDF invoice on every payment — for businesses, sponsorship is typically tax-deductible as a marketing expense, which was never possible with the old Ko-fi donations. Business sponsor cards also appear in a new section on the winhance.net download page.

Support unlocks nothing. Winhance stays identical for everyone — recognition is the only perk.

The Winhance Supporter Pack

Separate from the supporter and business tiers, there is a new Winhance Supporter Pack on the store. It does not change the application at all — you get the latest Winhance installer, a personally signed thank-you PDF from me, and the real value: a six-design Winhance wallpaper pack in 4K and ultrawide.

The designs range from the Winhance rocket on a grid to a white logo with a gold halo, and my personal favorite — the WINHANCE wordmark with the A replaced by the rocket icon. These wallpapers are exclusive to the pack and are not available anywhere else. It is a one-time purchase that directly helps the development of Winhance.

Change History: A Record of Everything Winhance Does

Click the More button at the bottom of the window and you will find a new Change History option. It opens a text file saved on your computer that records every change Winhance has made on that machine since Release 27 — every setting change and every app install or removal.

If you ran Winhance before Release 27, history starts now — earlier changes were not recorded. This was another GitHub user request: an easy way to keep track of exactly what you have done with Winhance on a specific computer.

Faster App Icons and Clearer Status Indicators

All the app icons for Windows optional features and external software now come from a single package-icons GitHub repository. Winhance no longer contacts the Microsoft Store or individual app websites to fetch icons — it reads them from your system or downloads them from that one repo, so it only contacts one server. Windows capabilities and optional features that have real icons, like legacy Notepad, Windows Media Player, and legacy Paint, now show them too.

The status icons got a rework as well, after a user reported it was hard to tell whether an app was installed. They are now colored Fluent UI icons: a green check mark for installed, a red cross for not installed, a blue-green check for items that can be reinstalled after removal, and a red flag for removals that are permanent. The feature icons in the sidebar — Software & Apps, Optimize, Customize, Advanced Tools, and the More menu — are colored now too.

If you want the full story on how the icons system started, the Release 26 post covers the card view and the first round of app icons.

Quality-of-Life Changes in Release 27

• UI zoom — hold Ctrl and scroll, or press Ctrl and + / – on the main keyboard (not the numpad), to zoom the Winhance UI like a browser.
• Explorer customizations — new settings for showing desktop icons, icon cache size, automatic thumbnail cache cleanup, and showing folders like Documents and Downloads inside This PC (the Windows 10 default that Windows 11 removed).
• Start menu — a new setting for the Windows 11 Start menu’s All apps view: list, grid, or category.
• New external apps — additions in the Gaming section, PowerShell 7 under Development, and the Helium browser in Browsers, all by user request.
• Alphabetical sort — a new sort dropdown in Software & Apps lets you sort items alphabetically regardless of installation status.

There are more changes than these — the complete changelog is in the Winhance Release 27 release notes on GitHub. The two biggest by far are the new modes and the sponsor and supporter recognition. To everyone who has supported Winhance and my work so far, and everyone who uses the app and shares it — thank you. More updates are coming.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Winhance still free?

Yes. Winhance is free with no paywalls and no locked features, and supporting the project unlocks nothing extra — the app is identical for everyone. Sponsorships and the Supporter Pack exist to fund development, not to gate features.

Does Builder Mode change anything on my PC?

No. In Builder Mode, every change you make is recorded into the config or autounattend file you are building, and the normal app actions are disabled. Your live system is only modified if you later import and apply that config on it.

Winhance never launched on my PC — will Release 27 fix it?

If the window never appeared, or Event Viewer showed a fail fast exception or a KERNELBASE.dll error, then very likely yes. Release 27 works around the Windows bug behind those crashes, which mostly affected older builds like Windows 10 LTSC. Download the new version and try again.

How do I get listed on the supporters wall?

Support Winhance with $5 or more on the store and tick the supporters box at checkout. Your name appears on the supporters wall, which the app fetches live from the Winhance GitHub repo. Listing is opt-in only and amounts are never shown.

Can I use my autounattend file from Builder Mode on a Windows ISO?

Yes. Save the autounattend.xml in Builder Mode, then open Advanced Tools > Windows Installation Media Utility and add the XML to your Windows ISO. The file then runs automatically during Windows installation, removing the apps you selected from the image.

This post Build Your Perfect Windows Setup WITHOUT Touching Your PC (Winhance Release 27) first appeared on Memory's Tech Tips and is written by memory

Winhance Release 26 rebuilds the Software & Apps section around a new card view that gives every app a real icon, so you can see exactly what you are removing at a glance. This release also adds system instability warnings for risky removals, a system restore point toggle, an App Installer entry for updating WinGet, and a fix for the refresh button that used to hang.

Applies to: Windows 10 (22H2) and Windows 11 (23H2, 24H2, 25H2) | Last updated: May 22, 2026

Key Takeaways

• The Software & Apps section now has three view modes — card, table, and compact — and the new card view is the default in Release 26.
• Every app now shows its real icon, sourced from your installed apps, the Microsoft Store, or the app’s official site, and cached to disk after a one-time download.
• Microsoft Edge and the App Installer now show an instability warning before removal, because a small number of systems can become unstable without them.
• A new system restore point toggle in the Optimize section lets Windows create automatic restore points for the C drive, so you can roll back changes if something goes wrong.
• The refresh button bug is fixed — it no longer hangs indefinitely on “refreshing installation status.”

Quick Steps — Get Release 26:

1. Download the latest installer from winhance.net, or run the install command below in PowerShell.
2. Run Winhance.Installer.exe and pick the Installable or Portable version during setup.
3. Open the Software & Apps section to see the new card view.
4. Switch between card, table, and compact views at any time using the view buttons.
5. Check the GitHub release page for the complete list of fixes.

The New Card View: Three Ways to See Your Apps

Release 26 adds a card view to both the Windows Apps & Features list and the External Software list in Winhance, my free Windows enhancement utility. The Software & Apps section now has three layouts in total: card view, table view, and compact view. The card view is the default going forward.

If you have used Winhance before, you will recognize the compact view — the dense text-row layout from earlier releases. That layout is still available, so nothing is taken away from you. If you prefer the compact rows or the table, switch to them with the view buttons and Winhance will keep showing them.

The reason for the change is readability. The compact view identified each item by name only, which made it harder to tell at a glance what you were about to remove. The card view gives each app room for an icon, a short description, and its status badges, so the whole list is easier to scan. Whichever view you pick, every item shows the same information — the choice is purely personal preference.

App Icons: A Real Picture for Every App

Every app in the Software & Apps section now shows its real icon. This applies to both the Windows Apps & Features list and the External Software list. A visual cue like the actual app icon makes it much faster to recognize what an item is, instead of reading down a column of names.

Winhance gets these icons from a few different sources depending on the app:

• Installed apps — the icon is read from the app already installed on your PC. These items also show an Installed badge.
• Apps that are not installed — for items like the 3D Viewer or Copilot that are not present on your system, the icon is downloaded once from the Microsoft Store, which stores that information.
• External software — icons come from Wikimedia or from the app’s own website or distribution platform.

These downloads only ever happen once. After the first fetch, each icon is saved to disk as part of the Winhance program data. The next time you launch Winhance, it loads the icons straight from your disk instead of downloading them again.

The App Installer Entry: Update WinGet From Inside Winhance

Release 26 adds a new App Installer item to the Windows Apps & Features list. The App Installer is Microsoft’s MSIX/AppX installer, and WinGet — the Windows package manager — is part of it. Adding it to Winhance gives you a way to install or update the App Installer package on both Windows 10 and Windows 11.

If you ever need to update WinGet itself, you can now do that through Winhance. Select the App Installer item and choose to install it. In most cases you would not want to uninstall the App Installer, but it remains possible to do so if you have a specific reason.

Instability Warnings and the New “Permanent” Badge

Some packages are riskier to remove than others. In Release 26, the App Installer and Microsoft Edge both display a warning label stating that removing the package may cause system instability. This was requested by people in the community.

To be clear about what the warning means: the majority of people will not see any instability after removing Microsoft Edge. But it is true that some systems do experience problems, so the warning exists to let you make that decision with the full picture before you click. Most other apps in the list do not need a warning, because they can simply be reinstalled if you change your mind.

Warning: If you remove Microsoft Edge or the App Installer, do it knowing that a small number of systems can become unstable. If you are setting up a machine for someone else, weigh that risk before you ship it.

Some items genuinely cannot be brought back. Those now carry a Permanent badge. In earlier releases this badge said “not reinstallable,” but that wording did not fit on a badge, so it is now a single word. If an item has the Permanent removal badge, you cannot reinstall it once it has been uninstalled — the only way to get it back is a clean install of Windows.

Updated Status Indicators Across Every View

The installation status indicator has changed. The old green ellipse is now a desktop tower icon — green when an item is installed, and grayed out when it is not. The warning icon and the installable-versus-permanent indicators also appear in the table view and the compact view, not just the card view.

The point of that consistency is simple: it does not matter which view you use. Card, table, or compact, you get the same information for every item — whether it is installed, whether it carries a warning, and whether removal is permanent.

Optimize and Customize: Restore Points, Graphics, DNS, and AutoPlay

Release 26 also brings several changes to the Optimize and Customize sections, and most of them came directly from requests on GitHub.

System Restore Point Toggle

The Gaming and Performance area of the Optimize section now has a system protection toggle for restore points. When enabled, it allows Windows to automatically create restore points for the C drive, which makes it possible to undo system changes if something goes wrong. The toggle applies to the C drive specifically, and all it does is enable or disable system restore on that drive.

Tip: Turn this toggle on before you make a batch of system changes. If a tweak causes a problem, a restore point gives you a clean way back.

MPO and Hardware Overlay Settings Split

In the Graphics part of the Optimize section, the Multi-Plane Overlay (MPO) and hardware overlay settings used to share combined registry entries. Release 26 splits them into two separate settings so you have more granular control over each one. These settings are the ones people often disable when they run into flickering or black-screen issues on certain multi-monitor setups, and separating them means you can target the exact one you need.

DNS over HTTPS Entries

The DNS server selection setting in the Network section now includes DNS over HTTPS entries. These were missing in earlier releases, so if you want an encrypted DNS option, you can now select it directly in Winhance.

AutoPlay Toggle

Over in the Customize section, under Explorer and the Devices and Peripherals area, there is a new AutoPlay toggle. AutoPlay is the Windows feature that opens a dialog or runs programs automatically when you insert a USB drive, DVD, or SD card. It is on by default in Windows, and I recommend leaving it on for most people.

Someone requested a way to turn it off, usually for security reasons — disabling AutoPlay stops a program from running automatically off an untrusted USB drive. If that is you, you can now disable AutoPlay from inside Winhance.

Bug Fixes in Release 26

A few visible bugs are fixed in this release. In the Windows Apps & Features section, the refresh button used to hang indefinitely — it would get stuck on “refreshing installation status” and never finish. In my testing, that is fixed, and the refresh now completes the task properly.

There were also fixes behind the scenes. One bug affected external software: some items were not detected as installed even though they were. This happened specifically when you installed an item from the Microsoft Store and then launched Winhance — it would not show as installed. That is fixed, along with a number of smaller inconsistencies.

If you want the exact, complete list of what changed, the Winhance GitHub releases page has the full changelog for every release. For context on how the project has grown, you can also look back at the previous Winhance update and the Release 24 settings update.

How to Update to Winhance Release 26

Winhance is free, and updating is the same as installing it. Download the latest Winhance.Installer.exe from winhance.net, or paste this command into PowerShell to download and run the installer automatically:

irm "https://get.winhance.net" | iex

The installer lets you choose between an Installable version and a Portable version during setup. Once it is done, open the Software & Apps section and you will land straight in the new card view. Watch the full walkthrough above to see every change in action.

Almost every change in Release 26 came from a GitHub request or a bug report — the warnings, the restore point toggle, the DNS over HTTPS entries, and the AutoPlay toggle were all community asks. If there is something you would like to see in Winhance, reporting a bug or suggesting a feature on GitHub is the way it gets onto the list.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Winhance free?

Yes. Winhance is completely free to download and use. You can get it from winhance.net or install it through the PowerShell command above. If you find it useful, there is an optional support dialog inside the app, but nothing is locked behind it.

How do I update to Winhance Release 26?

Updating Winhance means running the latest installer. Download Winhance.Installer.exe from winhance.net, or run irm "https://get.winhance.net" | iex in PowerShell. There is no separate update step — installing the new version replaces the old one.

Can I still use the old compact view?

Yes. The compact view and the table view are both still available in Release 26. The card view is the new default, but you can switch back to either of the other layouts at any time using the view buttons, and Winhance will keep your choice.

Is it safe to remove Microsoft Edge with Winhance?

For most systems, removing Microsoft Edge causes no problems. A small number of systems can experience instability without it, which is why Release 26 adds a warning label on Edge before you remove it. If you are unsure, leave Edge in place — and remember that Edge can be reinstalled, unlike items that carry the Permanent badge.

Does Winhance work on Windows 10?

Yes. Winhance works on both Windows 10 and Windows 11. The new App Installer entry in Release 26 also lets you install or update the App Installer package and WinGet on either version of Windows.

This post What’s NEW in Winhance Release 26 — Card View, App Icons & More first appeared on Memory's Tech Tips and is written by memory

Rufus 4.14 (currently in beta) adds new built-in customizations that let you remove Windows 11 bloat, disable Copilot and OneDrive, and skip the Microsoft account requirement during installation — all from a single screen when creating a bootable USB drive. Download the beta from the official Rufus downloads page, select your Windows 11 ISO, and check the new “Quality of Life Enhancements” box to apply the customizations automatically.

Applies to: Windows 11 (23H2, 24H2, 25H2) | Last updated: April 30, 2026

Key Takeaways

• Rufus 4.14 beta adds new “Quality of Life Enhancements” — a single checkbox that removes Copilot, OneDrive, the new Outlook app, fast startup, and other unwanted Windows 11 features during installation
• Existing options still work — bypass Windows 11 hardware requirements, skip the Microsoft account requirement, disable telemetry, and disable BitLocker automatic device encryption
• You must be disconnected from the internet during the first-boot setup for the local account bypass to actually take effect, even with Rufus’s customization enabled
• Rufus works by injecting an unattend.xml file into the sources\$OEM$\$$\Panther folder of the USB drive — this is what applies the registry tweaks and removes the apps during Windows setup
• For deeper, fully-automated Windows installations, use Winhance‘s built-in autounattend.xml generator — it produces a roughly 2,000-line setup file with every debloat and customization applied before you reach the desktop

Quick Steps:

1. Download Rufus 4.14 beta from rufus.ie
2. Select your USB flash drive under Device
3. Click SELECT and choose your Windows 11 ISO file
4. Set a recognizable volume label, then click START
5. On the Windows User Experience screen, check Quality of Life Enhancements along with the other customizations you want
6. Click OK to flash the drive, then boot from it on the target PC
7. During the first-boot setup, disconnect from the internet so the local account screen appears

What’s New in Rufus 4.14 for Windows 11

Rufus is the most popular tool for creating bootable Windows USB drives, and the 4.14 beta release adds a meaningful set of Windows 11 customization options that previously required a separate unattended setup file. The headline addition is a checkbox called Quality of Life Enhancements, which according to the Rufus team “disables most of the unwanted features Microsoft is trying to force onto end users.”

That single checkbox covers a lot of ground. When enabled, the resulting Windows 11 install will have Copilot, OneDrive, the new Outlook app, Microsoft Teams, fast startup, the Bing search box in the taskbar, news and interests, and several other annoyances either removed or disabled by default. It is a sensible debloat — not aggressive, just the most commonly removed items.

The previously-existing options are still there too: bypass Windows 11 hardware requirements, remove the Microsoft account requirement during setup, disable data collection, and disable BitLocker automatic device encryption. Combined with the new quality-of-life option, you can get a much cleaner Windows 11 install without touching a single registry key yourself.

How to Create a Customized Windows 11 USB with Rufus

The flashing process is the same as it has always been — only the customization options at the end are new. Open Rufus 4.14 and you will see four main fields to fill in.

1. Device: Select the USB flash drive you want to flash. A 16 GB drive is plenty for a Windows 11 ISO.
2. Boot selection: Click SELECT and choose the Windows 11 ISO file from your computer.
3. Partition scheme and target system: The defaults work for almost everyone — leave them alone unless you know you need a specific configuration.
4. Volume label: Change this to something recognizable (for example, Windows 11 25H2). It is what the drive will be called once flashed.

Click START, and Rufus will display the Windows User Experience screen. This is where the new customization options live.

Windows User Experience: Every Customization Option Explained

The Windows User Experience screen is where you choose what gets stripped out of the Windows 11 installation. Each checkbox writes a corresponding entry into the unattend.xml file that Rufus injects into your USB drive.

• Remove requirement for Windows 11 hardware checks — bypasses the TPM 2.0, Secure Boot, and CPU compatibility checks. Useful for older PCs that are otherwise capable.
• Remove requirement for an online Microsoft account — lets you create a local account during setup, but you must be disconnected from the internet during the first-boot screens for it to work.
• Disable data collection (Skip privacy questions) — sets diagnostic data to “required only” and turns off the advertising ID.
• Disable BitLocker automatic device encryption — prevents Windows 11 from auto-encrypting your drive with BitLocker after install.
• Quality of Life Enhancements (NEW) — disables Copilot, OneDrive, the new Outlook app, Teams, fast startup, the search box, Bing search, news and interests, the widgets, and the Microsoft Edge first-run experience.
• Silently erase disk and install [edition] (NEW) — skips the partition selection screen and automatically installs the chosen Windows 11 edition. This option may be greyed out depending on the ISO; in my testing it was unavailable.
• Use only fully up-to-date Secure Boot certificates — for systems with current Secure Boot certificates only.
• Revoke additional potentially unsafe Windows boot loaders — security hardening, but can prevent standard Windows media from booting. Most people should leave this unchecked.

For a cleaner Windows 11 install I would recommend checking the first five options. Skip the last two unless you specifically know why you need them.

Note: Rufus does not currently remove Microsoft 365 Copilot, the standalone Copilot app that Microsoft bundles into newer Windows 11 builds. The “Quality of Life Enhancements” option only handles the integrated Copilot. A future update will likely add the M365 Copilot package to the removal list.

Why You Must Disconnect from the Internet During Setup

Even with the “Remove requirement for an online Microsoft account” option enabled in Rufus, the local account screen will not appear if your PC is connected to the internet during the first-boot setup. I found this out the hard way during testing — I was online when Windows finished installing, and the setup process took me straight to the “Unlock Your Microsoft Experience” sign-in screen.

The fix is simple: disconnect the network cable or skip the Wi-Fi setup, then restart the PC. On the next boot, the setup process will detect that there is no connection and present the local account creation screen instead. You can enter any username, leave the password blank, and continue into a clean offline account.

Tip: If you are setting up a Windows 11 PC for someone else and want to guarantee a local account, unplug the Ethernet cable before starting the install. There is no in-OS way to force the local account screen once you have signed into a Microsoft account.

What Rufus Removes from a Fresh Windows 11 Install

Once you reach the desktop on a Rufus-customized install, you will notice immediately that the experience is cleaner than a stock Windows 11 setup. Copilot is gone from the taskbar. OneDrive does not auto-install on first launch. The new Outlook app is missing. Microsoft Teams is uninstalled. Fast startup is disabled.

Looking at Settings > Privacy & security, the advertising ID is disabled, and under Diagnostics & feedback only required diagnostic data is being sent — optional telemetry is off. The general privacy toggles for website tracking, locally-relevant info, and app-launch tracking are not all flipped off, but the most invasive telemetry pipeline is disabled.

This is a solid baseline Windows 11 install for most home users. It is not as deeply customized as what you would get from a fully unattended setup, but it removes the most commonly complained-about additions in modern Windows 11.

How Rufus Customizes Windows: The unattend.xml File

If you have followed my channel for any length of time, you know I am into the autounattend.xml world for fully-automated Windows installations. Rufus uses the same underlying mechanism, just with a smaller scope. The customizations are applied via an unattend.xml file that gets written to the USB drive during the flashing process.

The file location is slightly different from the standard approach. Tools like Winhance and the Schneegans autounattend.xml generator place the file in the root of the USB drive as autounattend.xml. Rufus instead places it inside sources\$OEM$\$$\Panther\unattend.xml.

Both autounattend.xml and unattend.xml do exactly the same thing — they are different filenames for the same Windows answer file format. Windows Setup picks them up automatically during installation and applies their contents.

Inspecting the unattend.xml that Rufus generates, the file is roughly 150 lines of XML. It contains:

• Registry entries that bypass the Windows 11 hardware requirements
• The BypassNRO registry key to skip the online Microsoft account requirement
• Removal commands for OneDrive, Outlook, and Teams
• Toggles to disable Windows Copilot, fast startup, the search box taskbar mode, Bing search, news and interests, and widgets
• Settings to hide the Microsoft Edge first-run experience and define a default Start menu layout
• Locale settings matched to the system you used to flash the drive

If you want a more comprehensive answer file with deeper customization, the Schneegans unattended answer file generator is a great browser-based tool I have covered before.

Rufus vs. Winhance: Which One Should You Use?

The new Rufus customization options are great for removing the most annoying defaults from Windows 11, but if you want a fully-automated installation with every debloat, every optimization, and every customization applied before you reach the desktop, Winhance is built specifically for that.

I created Winhance to give people a simple way to enhance their Windows experience by debloating, optimizing, and customizing the system, with full control over how Windows performs. At the time of writing, Winhance has been downloaded more than 1.1 million times — a huge thank you to everyone who has been using it. It has also been featured by tech outlets like PCWorld and XDA Developers.

Inside Winhance, under Advanced Tools, there is an autounattend.xml generator that writes a complete answer file based on your current Winhance selections. The generated file is roughly 2,000 lines and includes every setting Winhance can apply — registry tweaks, app removals, service tweaks, telemetry toggles, and customization defaults.

The result is a Windows 11 install that arrives at the desktop already configured exactly the way you want it. No post-install scripting, no manual settings tweaking — your custom configuration is applied during Windows Setup itself.

• Use Rufus 4.14 if you want a quick, mostly-clean Windows 11 install with the most annoying defaults removed and zero configuration time.
• Use Winhance if you want full control over every setting and a one-click setup where Windows boots ready-to-use with your exact configuration.

For a complete walkthrough of the Winhance autounattend.xml generator, watch my dedicated tutorial:

You can also read the full written guide on UnattendedWinstall and customizing Windows installations.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Rufus 4.14 stable enough to use right now?

Rufus 4.14 is currently in beta, which means there may be small bugs that have not been ironed out yet. The core flashing process is rock solid (Rufus has been mature for years), and the new customization options worked correctly in my testing aside from one greyed-out option. If you need the new Windows 11 customization features today, the beta is fine to use — just keep an eye on the Rufus releases page for the stable 4.14 release.

Will Rufus’s customizations work on the official Windows 11 ISO?

Yes. Rufus customizations work with the standard Windows 11 ISO downloaded directly from Microsoft. You do not need a modified or custom ISO — Rufus injects the unattend.xml file into the bootable USB drive itself, so the source ISO can be any official Windows 11 build (23H2, 24H2, or 25H2).

Why is the “Silently erase disk” option greyed out for me?

This option was unavailable in my testing as well, and at the time of recording it was not clear why. It may be tied to specific ISO versions, or it may be a beta-stage limitation that will be resolved in the stable 4.14 release. If the option is greyed out, you can still flash the drive normally and will only need to click through the standard Windows partition selection screen during install.

Does Rufus remove Microsoft 365 Copilot too?

Not currently. Rufus 4.14’s “Quality of Life Enhancements” option removes the integrated Windows Copilot, but the separate Microsoft 365 Copilot app that ships with newer Windows 11 builds is left in place. A future Rufus release will likely add it to the removal list. If you need to remove Microsoft 365 Copilot today, Winhance handles it as part of its standard debloat.

Can I still get a local account if I am connected to the internet during setup?

No. Even with Rufus’s “Remove requirement for an online Microsoft account” option enabled, modern Windows 11 builds will still try to force a Microsoft sign-in if the PC has internet access during first-boot setup. The cleanest fix is to disconnect the network cable or skip Wi-Fi during the install, then restart — the local account screen will appear automatically once Windows detects there is no connection.

This post Rufus Just Got a HUGE Update for Windows 11 (FREE Customizations) first appeared on Memory's Tech Tips and is written by memory

Microsoft has pushed a new Windows 11 build to the Release Preview channel for Windows Insiders, and it introduces a full-screen Xbox mode, several File Explorer fixes, Copilot agents on the taskbar, tighter driver trust rules, and a handful of performance improvements. These changes are still in testing — they are not yet rolling out through regular Windows Update — but they give a clear picture of where Windows 11 is heading next.

Applies to: Windows 11 (25H2 Release Preview channel) | Last updated: April 24, 2026

Key Takeaways

• A new full-screen Xbox mode is being added to all Windows 11 PCs — laptops, desktops, and tablets — giving the system a console-style home screen.
• File Explorer gets real fixes, including the long-standing white flash in dark mode when launching to This PC, faster launch performance, and consistent folder view settings across apps.
• Copilot agents are coming to the taskbar, starting with the Microsoft 365 Copilot researcher agent — Windows will show live progress on the taskbar while an agent is working.
• Dynamic app removal lists are being added to the existing “Remove default Microsoft Store packages” policy, but this remains an Enterprise and Education feature only.
• Cross-signed drivers lose default trust, and a new registry mode prevents batch files from being modified during execution — both are aimed at closing common malware paths.

Quick Summary of What’s New:

1. Full-screen Xbox mode for all Windows 11 devices
2. File Explorer dark mode flash fix, faster launch, and consistent folder views
3. “Preview anyway” button for files downloaded from the internet
4. Expanded archive format support in File Explorer
5. Copilot agents displayed on the taskbar with live progress
6. Dynamic app removal list for Enterprise and Education
7. Default trust removed for cross-signed drivers
8. Security mode that blocks batch files from changing during execution
9. Memory and reliability improvements for the taskbar and startup apps

A Quick Note on the Release Preview Channel

Everything covered here is currently locked to the Release Preview channel of the Windows Insider Program. That means these features are still being tested, and they can change or be pulled before they reach the version of Windows 11 most people are running. If you are not enrolled as a Windows Insider, you will not see any of these changes yet through normal Windows Update.

I treat release preview builds as a preview of intent rather than a guarantee. Some of these features will ship more or less as-is, others will get reworked, and a few may disappear entirely. I will update this post as these changes move into the mainstream Windows 11 release.

Full-Screen Xbox Mode on Every Windows 11 PC

The first thing in this build is a new Xbox mode that gives Windows 11 a full-screen, console-style interface. Microsoft is rolling it out to all PCs — laptops, desktops, and tablets — not just handhelds. The home screen picks up where you left off with recent games and surfaces featured titles, similar to the Xbox console dashboard.

I personally do not use the Xbox app on Windows, so I cannot say how much of an improvement this is over what was already there. If you do a lot of gaming on your PC and want the Xbox app without going through the Microsoft Store, I covered that in a separate guide on installing the Xbox app on Windows without the Microsoft Store.

File Explorer Changes (The Ones I’m Actually Excited About)

The File Explorer changes are the part of this build I care about the most. There are five notable improvements, and most of them target long-standing annoyances rather than new features.

Consistent Folder View Settings Across Apps

Custom folder settings — like sorting files by name — now persist across every way you open that folder. If you set a folder to sort by name in File Explorer, then open the same folder from a web browser or another app, the sort order carries over automatically. This has been a small but persistent inconsistency for years.

Faster File Explorer Launch

Microsoft says they have improved the speed and performance of launching File Explorer. This covers both the general launch time and the specific case of opening to This PC or resizing the details pane. On systems where File Explorer sometimes takes a second or two to appear, this should feel noticeably snappier.

The Dark Mode White Flash Is Fixed

If you run Windows in dark mode and have File Explorer set to launch to This PC, you have almost certainly seen the white flash when File Explorer opens. It is a brief but genuinely annoying flash of bright white before the dark theme kicks in. Microsoft has finally fixed that in this build. For anyone who sets File Explorer to open directly to This PC, I have a separate guide on setting File Explorer to launch to This PC via the registry.

“Preview Anyway” Button for Downloaded Files

For files downloaded from the internet, the preview pane in File Explorer now shows a viewing warning first. Once you acknowledge it, a “Preview anyway” button lets you see the file contents. It is a small usability improvement on top of the existing Mark of the Web (MOTW) protection, which already restricts downloaded files from running without a prompt.

Expanded Archive Format Support

File Explorer now recognises and works with a wider list of archive formats natively. This is a continuation of the archive handling Microsoft started adding in Windows 11 — you get more formats supported without needing a third-party tool for common extracts. For power users, I still recommend using a dedicated archive tool for heavy work, but for one-off extracts, the built-in support is now much more complete.

Explorer.exe Process Cleanup

Microsoft has also improved the reliability of explorer.exe processes stopping after you close File Explorer windows. There was a bug where these processes were not being cleaned up, which left background processes running and eating system resources for no reason. If you have ever noticed Task Manager showing multiple Windows Explorer entries after closing all your File Explorer windows, this is the fix for that.

Copilot Agents on the Taskbar

This is the one that is going to be controversial. Windows is adding a new way to monitor AI agents directly from the taskbar. The feature supports agents across both first-party and third-party apps, with the researcher agent in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app as the first adopter.

Here is how it works in practice. When the researcher agent is working on a report, Windows shows the progress on the taskbar, so you can glance down and see where it is at. Hovering over the Microsoft 365 Copilot icon displays real-time progress, and when the report finishes, Windows notifies you. The mechanism itself is not limited to Microsoft — third-party apps can plug into the same taskbar progress surface for their own agents.

My take: I am not anti-AI. I use Claude and Claude Code every day for my work, and I am actively setting up a personal AI assistant — just on a separate machine on my network, not on my main PC where all my personal data lives. My concern is not AI itself, it is Microsoft bundling Copilot into the operating system in a way that is hard to opt out of. If you feel the same way, you may want to disable Copilot in Windows 11 and 10, or remove AI apps from Windows 11 entirely.

Microsoft has also said in a previous post that they want to change the way AI is integrated into Windows. How that actually plays out with the taskbar agents feature will tell us a lot. I will update this post once it is clearer whether this stays opt-in or quietly becomes default behaviour.

Policy-Based Removal of Preinstalled Microsoft Apps

Microsoft has updated the existing policy that lets administrators remove default Microsoft Store packages. The update adds support for a dynamic app removal list, meaning administrators can add an AppX package name and have it removed automatically when the policy is applied. In practice, this makes it easier to remove default Microsoft Store bloatware across a managed fleet of PCs.

The catch is that this is still limited to Windows 11 Enterprise and Education. Pro and Home users do not get this policy. I would genuinely like to see Microsoft extend it to Pro — there is no good reason an advanced home user or small business on Pro should have fewer tools to manage bloatware than an Enterprise admin. I covered the original version of this policy in my guide on the official bloatware removal method in Windows 11 25H2.

If you are on Home or Pro: you do not need to wait for Microsoft. Winhance, the customization utility I built, already lets you remove preinstalled Microsoft Store apps, disable telemetry, and customize Windows 11 without needing Enterprise policies or the command line.

Driver Trust and Security Changes

There are two security-focused changes worth knowing about: a driver policy update and a new batch file protection mode.

Cross-Signed Drivers Lose Default Trust

Windows 11 is removing the default trust for cross-signed drivers. Drivers from the Windows Hardware Compatibility Program and an allow-list of trusted legacy drivers are still permitted, but the blanket acceptance of cross-signed drivers is going away. This is a straightforward security hardening — cross-signed drivers have been a common vector for malicious or abusable kernel code for years.

Batch File Execution Protection

There is a new registry-based mode that prevents batch files from being modified during execution. If a batch file tries to change itself mid-run — for example, to call another script that gets swapped in at runtime — it will be blocked. This closes off a known technique used by some malware that rewrites scripts on the fly to evade detection.

Note: This is an opt-in mode set via a registry key. It is not enabled by default, and most everyday scripts will not be affected, but administrators running hardened environments will want to turn it on.

Microsoft Store, Taskbar, and Performance Fixes

The rest of the build is a collection of smaller reliability and performance improvements. They are not headline features, but a few are worth noting:

• Fewer unexpected Microsoft Store download errors — Microsoft has cleaned up a set of common failure cases when pulling apps from the Store.
• Taskbar system tray reliability — the system tray area now loads more consistently for Windows Update when Delivery Optimization is in use.
• Lower taskbar memory usage — reducing the likelihood of the taskbar allocating an unexpectedly large chunk of RAM.
• Faster startup app launches — the apps that load when Windows boots should start up faster after login.
• General reliability work on Explorer, taskbar flyouts, and File Explorer’s Quick Access.

I personally disable Delivery Optimization on every machine I set up, so the taskbar system tray fix does not affect me. If you do use Delivery Optimization, this should at least make the experience lighter on memory.

What This Build Tells Us About Windows 11’s Direction

A lot of this build is Microsoft delivering — or starting to deliver — on things they promised in earlier Windows 11 posts. Some of that delivery is solid: the File Explorer fixes, the driver trust changes, the batch file protection. Other parts feel off-direction: Copilot agents on the taskbar is not what most of the people I talk to are asking for in Windows. It is an early release preview build, so things will change before anything reaches production, but it is a useful signal for where Microsoft’s focus currently sits.

If you want full control over how much of Microsoft’s ecosystem is active on your PC, I would strongly recommend checking out Winhance. It is free, open source, and built specifically to give Windows users the removal and customization options Microsoft does not ship by default.

Frequently Asked Questions

When will these Windows 11 features reach the public?

There is no fixed date. Features in the Release Preview channel typically ship to the public within a few weeks to a few months, but Microsoft can pull, delay, or rework any feature before general release. Cumulative quality updates from the Release Preview channel usually roll out fastest; larger feature additions like Xbox mode or Copilot agents tend to be tied to broader Windows 11 feature updates.

How do I join the Release Preview channel to try these features now?

Open Settings, go to Windows Update, then Windows Insider Program. Sign in with a Microsoft account, pick the Release Preview channel, and reboot. Release Preview is the most stable of the Insider channels and only receives builds close to production, so it is generally safe on a daily-driver PC. I still recommend a full backup before enrolling any machine.

Can I disable Copilot agents on the taskbar?

The exact opt-out controls are not fully documented in this preview build yet, so the final answer depends on what ships. If you want to remove Copilot entirely today, follow my guide on enabling or disabling Copilot in Windows 10 and 11. For broader AI and bloat removal, Winhance is the cleanest path.

Does the dynamic app removal policy work on Windows 11 Home or Pro?

No. The “Remove default Microsoft Store packages” policy — including the new dynamic list — is limited to Windows 11 Enterprise and Education. Home and Pro users need to remove preinstalled apps another way. Winhance does this cleanly, or you can follow my written guide on the official bloatware removal method in Windows 11 25H2.

Is the batch file execution protection enabled by default?

No. The new mode that blocks batch files from changing during execution is opt-in through a registry key, so existing scripts and automation will continue to work as they do today. It is intended for hardened and managed environments, not general consumer use.

This post Windows 11 Is Getting THESE NEW Features! (Release Preview) first appeared on Memory's Tech Tips and is written by memory

Winhance Release 24 adds over 50 new settings across Optimizations and Customize, makes system restore optional on first launch, and introduces a new badge system so you can see at a glance which settings are recommended, at Windows defaults, or customized. Major additions include dedicated controls for Windows AI, Microsoft Edge AI, Microsoft Office AI, expanded taskbar behaviors, and new File Explorer context menu tools for SFC, DISM, and Check Disk.

Applies to: Windows 10 (22H2) and Windows 11 (23H2, 24H2, 25H2) | Last updated: April 17, 2026

Key Takeaways

• System restore is now optional on first launch — a prompt lets you skip it, and you can still create a restore point later from the Settings page
• A new badge system shows whether each setting is at its Recommended, Default, Custom, or Personal Preference value, and a NEW badge highlights settings added in this release
• Privacy & Security gained 45 new settings, including dedicated Windows AI, Microsoft Edge AI, and Microsoft Office AI subgroups for controlling Copilot, Recall, Click to Do, and more
• File Explorer gained 21 new settings, including context menu entries for SFC, DISM, and Check Disk, plus a legacy Notepad file association toggle and expanded navigation pane controls
• Release 24 is available now at winhance.net, and the full changelog lives on the Winhance Release 24 GitHub page

Quick Summary of What’s New:

1. System restore point creation is now optional on first launch
2. New Quick Actions menu for applying all recommended or default values per page
3. New View menu to toggle technical details, info badges, and NEW badges
4. 45 new settings in Privacy & Security (with three AI subgroups)
5. 13 new settings in Gaming & Performance (DNS, VBS, MPO, SVCHost split threshold, and more)
6. 1 new setting in Windows Update (block driver co-installers)
7. 15 new settings in Taskbar customization
8. 21 new settings in File Explorer (context menu tools, file associations, navigation pane)
9. Quality of life improvements to Config Review Mode

System Restore Points Are Now Optional on First Launch

In earlier releases, Winhance would automatically enable System Restore and create a restore point the first time you launched the app. A lot of people gave me feedback asking for this to be optional rather than forced, so from Release 24 onward, you now get a prompt on first launch asking whether you want to create a system restore point or skip it.

Winhance still automatically creates a backup config file with all of your current Winhance settings the first time you run it, so you can use that as a backup and restore function regardless of whether you create a system restore point.

If you skip the restore point on first launch, you can create one later by navigating to Settings inside Winhance. That said, I still recommend creating a restore point the first time you use Winhance — it gives you a known-good rollback point before any changes are applied to your system.

The New Badge System, Quick Actions, and View Menu

The Optimize and Customize pages now have two new buttons at the top: Quick Actions and View. Quick Actions lets you apply all recommended settings — or reset everything to Windows defaults — for the page you are currently on. The View menu lets you toggle technical details, info badges, and the new badges added in Release 24.

Every setting card now shows up to four info badges so you can see its current state at a glance:

• Recommended — the setting is at the value Winhance recommends
• Default — the setting is at its Windows factory value
• Custom — the setting has been changed to something other than Recommended or Default
• Personal Preference — Winhance may suggest a value, but there is no objectively correct answer for this setting

There is overlap between Recommended and Default, because some Windows defaults are also what Winhance recommends. In those cases, both badges are lit up at the same time. A good example of a Personal Preference setting is User Account Control — I recommend Never Notify because I do not want a UAC prompt every time I run an application, but that is a personal call, and the setting makes that clear.

Each setting card also has individual Recommended and Default buttons next to it, so you can apply either value to just that one setting without affecting the whole page. If the badge clutter is too much, open the View menu and toggle the info badges and NEW badges off — the UI returns to a cleaner layout with just the settings themselves.

Tip: The NEW badges are how you can quickly find every setting added in Release 24. Open the View menu, make sure NEW badges are on, and scan each feature for the red NEW markers — the landing page of every feature also shows a count of how many new settings are in that section.

45 New Settings in Privacy, Security, and AI Controls

Privacy & Security received the largest expansion in Release 24, with 45 new settings. The first batch covers core Windows security toggles: Smart App Control, Developer Mode (allows app installation from any source), and a PowerShell Execution Policy setting that lets you pick any of the standard Windows execution policies.

Windows AI Subgroup

A new Windows AI subgroup consolidates every AI feature baked into Windows into one place. This includes Windows Copilot toggles, AI data analysis, Recall enablement, Recall saving snapshots, Click to Do, and more. Most of these are only relevant if you are running a Copilot+ PC or a system where Recall can be enabled, but the toggles work for Copilot, Bing Chat, and generative AI access regardless of hardware.

The Windows AI subgroup also covers AI features baked into Microsoft Paint — the AI image creator, co-creator, and generative fill — so you can disable those from Winhance without opening Paint. Microsoft appears to be rolling out native controls for these in a future Windows update, but at the time of this writing they are not available in stable Windows.

Microsoft Edge AI and Microsoft Office AI Subgroups

There is a dedicated Microsoft Edge AI subgroup for all of the AI integrated into the Edge browser, and a Microsoft Office AI subgroup for Copilot and AI features baked into the Microsoft Office suite. If you do not use Edge or Office, you can ignore these subgroups — they only apply when those applications are installed.

13 New Gaming and Performance Tweaks

Gaming & Performance picked up 13 new settings, covering input responsiveness, background process management, networking, and security-performance trade-offs. The most notable additions:

• Mouse Hover Time — controls how long you must hover over a UI element before it activates. Setting this to 1 millisecond makes tooltips, menus, and hover effects appear faster. Requires a restart.
• Background App Permissions — previously a simple toggle, now a three-option combo box: User in Control, Force Allow, or Force Deny. Force Deny removes background permissions from Windows Settings entirely, which also disables background activity for apps that depend on it (Teams, Zoom, WhatsApp, etc.). Set it back to User in Control if you need those apps to run normally.
• WebView 2 in Windows Search — disables Windows Search using WebView 2 or Edge for rendering results. This removes Edge processes spawned by SearchHost.exe and reduces resource usage, but it uses an undocumented Windows feature management override that may change in future updates.
• SVCHost Split Threshold — sets the memory threshold Windows uses to decide when to split services into separate SVCHost.exe processes. Match this to your system RAM for the safest result (check Task Manager > Performance > Memory to confirm how much RAM you have). The setting also allows values above your physical RAM by request, but use that with caution.
• Multi-Plane Overlay (MPO) — composites display layers in hardware using the GPU. Recommended on, but disabling it can fix screen flickering, black screens, and stuttering on multi-monitor setups.
• MPO Minimum Frame Rate Requirement — related to MPO. Disabling this can resolve stuttering in browsers and Discord without fully disabling MPO itself.
• DNS Server — previously not configurable from Winhance. You can now pick Automatic (DHCP) or presets for Cloudflare, Cloudflare Malware Blocking, Google, Quad9, or OpenDNS. The setting applies to every network adapter on the system — Wi-Fi and Ethernet both.

Security Subgroup for Gaming Performance

A Security subgroup was added inside Gaming & Performance because these specific security features have a direct impact on gaming performance on some systems. This subgroup lets you toggle Virtualization-Based Security (VBS) and Memory Integrity.

The recommended values here are off, because the context is gaming performance — not security. Disabling VBS and Memory Integrity has been known to improve gaming frame rates on some systems, but it does reduce overall system security. If you do not play games on the machine and you are security-conscious, leave these enabled.

Services and Input Management

The Connected Devices Platform Service can now be disabled or set to manual from Winhance, which reduces background activity and device interaction logging. The Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service setting was also updated — this service handles the Windows Input Experience, including the touch keyboard, pen and stylus input, handwriting panel, and the emoji panel.

On a normal Windows 11 desktop, opening the emoji panel (Windows key + period) spawns a background process that can use up to 20% of the CPU briefly and 80 MB of RAM, and that process stays running even after you close the panel. Disabling this service kills the process for good, and the emoji panel stops working — but the on-screen keyboard continues to function. If you never use the emoji panel or a touch input method, this is safe to disable.

One New Setting in Windows Update: Block Driver Co-Installers

The Windows Update section picked up one new setting: Block Driver Co-Installers. When this is on (the default behavior), Windows allows hardware vendors to install companion software alongside device drivers — things like Razer Synapse, printer utilities, and other bundled vendor applications.

Disabling this prevents that bloatware from installing automatically when you plug in a peripheral. Your hardware continues to work normally with the standard drivers — you just do not get the extra vendor software pushed in through Windows Update.

15 New Taskbar Settings and 21 New File Explorer Settings

Over in Customize, the Taskbar feature gained 15 new settings and File Explorer gained 21. Many of these were requested directly through issues on the Winhance GitHub page, and the goal is the same as always — let you pre-configure every setting in Winhance, then deploy it to new systems using a Winhance config file or an autounattend XML.

Taskbar: Copilot Pins, Behaviors, and System Tray

The Taskbar section now includes controls for the Copilot companion button, Copilot WPA pin, and Recall pin (most relevant on Copilot+ PCs). Toggling these off removes the associated pins from the taskbar. On a regular Windows 11 Pro installation, the Copilot button may still appear — to fully remove it from the taskbar on those systems, you have to uninstall Copilot itself from Apps & Features.

Every Windows taskbar behavior is now mirrored in Winhance: auto-hide, taskbar auto-hover delay, show badges, show on all displays, end task in taskbar, show all system tray icons, and more. This makes it possible to pre-configure the exact taskbar behavior you want in a config file or autounattend XML, so the setting is already in the right state on a fresh install. If you are new to deploying Windows with an answer file, I have a full guide on how to create an unattended answer file for Windows 10 and 11.

File Explorer: Shortcut Arrows and Context Menu Tools

The File Explorer section starts with a setting many of you requested: Remove Shortcut Arrow Icon. Turning this on writes a transparent icon file to Windows and hides the arrow overlay on every desktop shortcut, which makes the desktop look cleaner without changing the underlying shortcut behavior.

The bigger addition is a context menu subgroup with the following new entries:

• SFC Scan Now — adds a right-click option to run sfc /scannow in an elevated terminal
• DISM (Repair Windows Image) — adds a right-click option to run DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
• Check Disk — adds a right-click option with three variants: scan only, fix errors, or locate bad sectors. Prompts for a drive letter when you run it.
• Edit or Run with PS1 — adds right-click options on PowerShell files for opening with Windows PowerShell, PowerShell 7, PowerShell ISE, or Notepad. Each target must be installed on the system for that menu entry to work.
• Compressed To — adds right-click compression options for any file or folder (ZIP, 7Z, and other formats). This one is based on ThioJoe’s Compressed To tweak — full credit to him for the original script.

These context menu entries only appear in the classic Windows context menu, not the Windows 11 default menu. If you have not already switched, see how to enable the classic context menu in Windows 11 — Winhance can also make that change for you.

Note: I originally considered adding SFC, DISM, and Check Disk as action buttons inside the Optimizations feature, but that does not fit my vision for the app. Winhance is an enhancement and deployment tool, not a system repair utility. Adding the same commands as context menu entries keeps them accessible to IT professionals without turning Winhance into something it is not.

File Associations, Navigation Pane, and Regional Settings

A new Use Legacy Notepad for Text Files setting changes the default handler for .txt files from the new Windows 11 Notepad to the legacy Notepad. This requires the Notepad Legacy optional feature to be installed on the system (it still ships by default on Windows 11 at the time of writing, but Microsoft may remove it in a future release).

The Navigation Pane settings expand on the existing Show All Folders toggle — you can now individually control which folders appear in the navigation pane (Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, Videos), hide libraries, and disable the duplicate removable drives behavior that shows each USB drive twice in This PC.

There is also a Show Auto Login Option in User Accounts setting that restores the classic “Users must enter a username and password to use this computer” checkbox in netplwiz. Windows removed this by default, so enabling this setting is the only way to get that checkbox back without manual registry edits.

Finally, a Regional Settings group lets you pre-configure date format, first day of the week, number format, currency symbol, and measurement system. These have no recommended values — they are entirely preference or locale-based — but they are very useful in deployment scenarios. I used to spend real time in my repair shop setting these manually on every client machine, and having them in Winhance means you can bake them into a config file and never touch them again.

Config Review Mode — Quality of Life Improvements

Config Review Mode is not new — it is what Winhance enters when you import a config file, so you can review each setting change before applying it. Release 24 makes two clarifications that were requested by users who ran into confusion here:

• The Advanced Tools section is now fully disabled during Config Review Mode. You cannot build a custom ISO or toggle settings from scratch while reviewing a config — Config Review Mode is specifically for reviewing and accepting or rejecting changes, not for normal editing. The disabled state makes this explicit.
• Quick Actions in Config Review Mode now offers Accept All Changes and Reject All Changes on the current page, and the View menu gains a Show Only Changes toggle so you do not have to scroll through settings the config is not touching.

Once you accept or reject every change, the final Apply Config button pushes the reviewed changes to your live system. If you decide not to continue, Cancel exits Config Review Mode without applying anything.

How to Get Winhance Release 24

Release 24 is available now. The fastest way to install or update is the PowerShell one-liner on the Winhance website:

irm "https://get.winhance.net" | iex

Run that in an elevated PowerShell window and it handles the install or update automatically. You can also download installable or portable builds directly from the Winhance Release 24 GitHub page, which is also where the complete changelog lives — I did not cover every single change in this walkthrough, so check the release notes for the full list.

If you are brand new to Winhance, start with the main Winhance guide — it walks through the full app, what each feature does, and the recommended workflow. And if your end goal is a clean, pre-configured Windows install rather than tweaking an existing system, UnattendedWinstall and the Winhance WIMUtil both let you bake these settings into a bootable ISO from the start.

Coming next: I have more updates planned for the Autounattend feature, plus a Config Creation Mode and Autounattend Creation Mode — modes where you can configure settings in the Winhance UI without applying them to your live system, so you can build a config or answer file cleanly. No release date yet, but it is on the list.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Winhance still free?

Yes. Winhance is completely free and open source, and I rely on community support to keep building it. If you have found it useful, sharing it or supporting development helps a lot. The download counter is sitting at nearly 1 million downloads at the time of Release 24.

Will my existing Winhance config file still work in Release 24?

Yes. Existing config files continue to work — the new settings simply will not be present in an older config, so they will stay at their current values on your system. If you want to include the new settings, open the config in Release 24, configure the new options, and export a fresh config file.

Do I need a Copilot+ PC to use the Windows AI settings?

No. Many of the Windows AI toggles — Copilot, Bing Chat, generative AI access, Paint AI — apply to any Windows 11 system where those features are installed. Recall and Click to Do are primarily aimed at Copilot+ PCs, but the settings in Winhance still work safely on non-Copilot+ systems; they just have no effect if the feature is not available on that hardware.

Why are some security settings inside the Gaming & Performance section?

Because disabling features like Virtualization-Based Security and Memory Integrity has been shown to improve gaming performance on some systems. They live in Gaming & Performance with a recommended off value for that reason. If you do not game on the machine, it is safer to leave both enabled — they are there for users who have prioritized frame rate over the small security cost.

What is the difference between Winhance and the autounattend XML?

Winhance configures settings on a live, already-installed Windows system. An autounattend XML is an answer file that configures settings during the Windows installation process — before you even reach the desktop. Winhance’s WIMUtil can generate an autounattend XML based on your current selections, so you can use the same settings both ways: on existing installs through the app, and on fresh installs through a custom ISO. See my unattended answer file guide for the full walkthrough of that workflow.

This post I Added 50+ NEW Settings to Winhance — Full Walkthrough! first appeared on Memory's Tech Tips and is written by memory

Microsoft PowerToys ships a feature called the Command Palette Dock — a fully customizable second taskbar you can place on any edge of your screen, with built-in transparency, live CPU, RAM, GPU and network monitors, and free extensions from the Microsoft Store. Introduced in PowerToys 0.98 as a preview, the dock can replace most of what the Windows 11 taskbar does and pairs with auto-hiding the standard taskbar for a cleaner desktop.

Applies to: Windows 10 (22H2) and Windows 11 (23H2, 24H2, 25H2) | Last updated: May 18, 2026

Key Takeaways

• The Command Palette Dock is a free, built-in PowerToys feature — no third-party taskbar replacement needed. It was added in PowerToys 0.98 and lives under Command Palette > Settings > Dock.
• It works as a full second taskbar — position it on the top, bottom, left, or right edge of the screen, with live CPU, memory, GPU, and network monitors, plus a date and time widget that copies to your clipboard.
• Transparency is built in — you do not need TranslucentTB or any other third-party transparency tool to see your wallpaper through the bar.
• Free extensions extend what the dock can do — install media controls, clipboard tools, and more from the Microsoft Store by searching for “Command Palette.”
• The feature is still in preview, so occasional crashes are expected. End the PowerToys processes in Task Manager and relaunch — the dock comes back instantly.

Quick Steps

1. Install or update Microsoft PowerToys to version 0.98 or later from the Microsoft Store.
2. Open PowerToys and click Command Palette in the left menu, then click Settings.
3. Open the Dock tab and toggle Enable Dock on.
4. Set the dock position (top, bottom, left, right) and switch the theme mode to Transparent.
5. Optionally hide the Windows 11 taskbar so the dock takes over.
6. Open the Microsoft Store, search for “Command Palette”, and install any extensions you want.
7. Right-click the dock, choose Edit Dock, click the + sign, pick the extension, and click Save.

In This Guide

This guide walks through everything from installing PowerToys to building out a personalized dock:

• Why use the Command Palette Dock — what it actually replaces on the standard taskbar.
• How to set up the dock — install PowerToys 0.98+ and enable the dock in three clicks.
• What is on the dock by default — the built-in buttons, monitors, and widgets.
• Customize the dock — position, transparency, and hiding the Windows taskbar.
• Using the Command Palette itself — launching apps, calculator, clipboard history, and search.
• Adding extensions from the Microsoft Store — example walkthrough with Media Controls.
• Troubleshooting crashes — the one-minute fix when the dock disappears.

Why Use the PowerToys Command Palette Dock?

The default Windows 11 taskbar gets the job done, but it has always been limited when it comes to real customization. You cannot easily add system monitors to it, freely move it to different sides of the screen, or make it properly transparent without reaching for a third-party app. I have covered how to get a transparent taskbar and translucent Start menu on Windows 11 using a tool called TranslucentTB, and while that works great, the new Command Palette Dock has transparency built right in — no extra app needed.

On top of that, the dock doubles as a launcher, a calculator, a clipboard manager, a file searcher, and a live system monitor all rolled into one bar. If you have ever wanted a cleaner and more powerful alternative to the standard taskbar — or you have tried other replacements like RetroBar, ExplorerPatcher, or StartAllBack — this is worth trying. You can auto-hide the regular Windows taskbar completely and just run the dock instead.

How to Set Up the Command Palette Dock in PowerToys

Step 1: Download and Install PowerToys 0.98 or Later

You will need PowerToys version 0.98 or later installed on your PC. If you do not have it yet, open the Microsoft Store and search for Microsoft PowerToys. It is a normal download and installation. If you already have PowerToys, just make sure it is updated to the latest version — the Dock tab does not appear in versions older than 0.98.

Step 2: Open the Command Palette in PowerToys

Once PowerToys is open, find and click on the Command Palette option in the left-hand menu. This opens the Command Palette interface. From there, click on Settings to get into the configuration options.

Step 3: Enable the Dock

Inside Command Palette Settings, click the Dock tab on the left side. You will see a note that this feature is still in preview — meaning bugs are to be expected. Flip the Enable Dock toggle to turn it on.

The dock appears on your screen right away. By default mine was positioned at the top, which is where I kept it. When you first enable it you might notice a white line at the bottom of the bar — just click on it and it disappears once the dock repositions itself.

Note: Because the dock is in preview, crashes can happen. If it crashes, open Task Manager with Ctrl + Shift + Esc, end all PowerToys-related tasks, then relaunch PowerToys. The dock comes back up automatically.

What Is on the Command Palette Dock by Default

Right out of the box, the dock already comes with some useful tools on it. Here is what you get straight away:

• Command Palette button — opens the full Command Palette, which works almost like a replacement for the Start menu.
• WinGet search — lets you search for apps using WinGet, Microsoft’s built-in package manager.
• System resource monitors on the right — showing live CPU usage, memory usage, GPU usage, and your network upload and download speeds.
• Date and time — clicking on it lets you copy the current time or date directly from the dock.

Customizing the Command Palette Dock

Change the Dock Position

You can position the dock on any edge of your screen — top, bottom, left, or right. Go into the dock settings and pick wherever suits your workflow best. I keep mine at the top of the screen.

Make the Dock Transparent

One of my favorite things about the new dock is the built-in transparency option. I have used third-party apps in the past to get a transparent taskbar on Windows 11, but with the Command Palette Dock you do not need anything extra. In the dock settings, switch the theme mode to Transparent and you will see your full desktop wallpaper through the bar. It looks clean.

You can also set a custom background color or even use an image as the dock background. Keep in mind though — if the dock is set to transparent, a background image will not show through anyway, so I would just stick with transparent.

Auto-Hide the Windows Taskbar

Since the dock handles most of what the standard taskbar does — and then some — you might want to hide the Windows 11 taskbar to free up screen space and let the dock take center stage. This gives you a noticeably cleaner desktop.

Using the Command Palette

The Command Palette itself is where a lot of the power is. You can set a keyboard shortcut to open it quickly — I changed mine to Ctrl + Enter because it just felt more natural. Here is what you can do with it:

• Search for and launch installed apps
• Run commands (works like the Run dialog box)
• Use it as a calculator — type an equal sign (=) to enter calculator mode, do math on the fly, then copy the result to your clipboard
• Search for files on your computer
• Search the web
• Add and open bookmarks
• View and paste from your clipboard history

Each function in the Command Palette shows its shortcut key on the right side. Once you learn these shortcuts, it becomes a very fast way to get things done. The Extensions tab in the settings shows you everything that is enabled by default.

Tip: For the Command Palette’s own appearance, set it to the Mica Alt option. This lets your wallpaper colors bleed through the Command Palette window, which looks a lot better than a plain opaque background.

Adding Command Palette Extensions from the Microsoft Store

This is where it gets really interesting. You can expand what the Command Palette and the dock can do by downloading free extensions from the Microsoft Store. There are already quite a few available, and more are being added over time. You can even build your own — Microsoft has a page on Microsoft Learn explaining exactly how to register a custom extension — but for most people, the Store has everything you will need.

Note: I tried searching for Command Palette extensions using the WinGet search function on the dock itself and did not get useful results. Go straight to the Microsoft Store and search for “Command Palette” — that is the easiest and most reliable way to find and install extensions.

Example: Installing the Media Controls Extension

As an example, I downloaded the Media Controls for Command Palette extension from the Microsoft Store. Here is how to install it and get it on the dock:

1. Open the Microsoft Store and search for “Command Palette.”
2. Find the Media Controls for Command Palette extension and download it. It installs just like a normal app.
3. Once installed, open the Command Palette with your keyboard shortcut. The media controls extension will already be active, showing you the currently playing song and giving you controls to pause, play, or skip tracks.

Pinning the Extension to the Dock

Installing the extension makes it available in the Command Palette, but to pin it permanently on the dock itself you need one extra step:

1. Right-click on the dock and select Edit Dock.
2. Click the plus (+) sign to see everything you can add to the dock.
3. Select the extension you want — in this case, the Media Player — from the list.
4. Click Save and it will now appear permanently on your dock.

To reorder items on the dock, right-click the dock again, choose Edit Dock, click and drag the item to the position you want, then click Save.

Troubleshooting Command Palette Dock Crashes

I experienced a crash myself when I right-clicked the dock to edit it — the whole Command Palette just quit. This kind of thing is to be expected since it is still in preview. Here is exactly what to do if it crashes on you:

1. Open Task Manager with Ctrl + Shift + Esc.
2. Find and end all PowerToys-related tasks that are still running.
3. Relaunch PowerToys from the Start menu or your desktop shortcut.

As soon as PowerToys starts back up, the dock reappears automatically and everything is back to normal. It is a minor inconvenience, not a dealbreaker — and it will only get more stable as Microsoft continues to develop the feature.

Take Your Windows Customization Further with Winhance

If tweaking and improving your Windows setup is something you enjoy, check out Winhance — the free, open-source Windows Enhancement Utility I created. It gives you hands-on control over Windows privacy settings, taskbar customization, bloatware removal, startup optimization, and more, all from one clean interface. It pairs really well with PowerToys if your goal is a fully optimized Windows experience. And if you want a debloated, optimized Windows install from the very first boot, my UnattendedWinstall answer files automate the whole installation.

Is the PowerToys Dock Worth Using Right Now?

The PowerToys Command Palette Dock is one of those features that, once you use it for a few days, you do not want to go back. Yes, it is in preview and yes, there are some rough edges — but the core of it is genuinely useful. Having a transparent dock at the top of my screen with live system monitors, a quick launcher, and media controls all in one place has changed how I interact with Windows on a daily basis.

If you are after more PowerToys ideas while you are setting this up, take a look at 5 PowerToys every Windows user should know about — a few of those pair really well with the new dock.

Frequently Asked Questions

What version of PowerToys do I need for the Command Palette Dock?

You need at least Microsoft PowerToys version 0.98. You can download or update PowerToys for free from the Microsoft Store. The Dock tab does not appear in earlier versions, so older installs will not see the option until they update.

Is the Command Palette Dock stable enough to use every day?

It is usable daily, but since it is still in preview you should expect the occasional crash. The fix is quick — end the PowerToys processes in Task Manager and relaunch. Everything comes back right away, so it is more of a minor annoyance than anything serious.

Can the Command Palette Dock fully replace the Windows 11 taskbar?

For most workflows, yes. Once the dock is set up the way you want, you can auto-hide the standard Windows taskbar and use the dock as your main bar. It covers app launching, file searching, system monitoring, and more — everything the taskbar does, plus extra functionality the taskbar never had.

Does the Command Palette Dock work on Windows 10?

PowerToys supports Windows 10 (22H2) and Windows 11, so the dock will run on either. Windows 11 gives you the best experience, especially with the transparency features that take advantage of Mica and acrylic styling. On Windows 10 the dock still works — it just looks a bit flatter.

Where do I find extensions for the Command Palette Dock?

The best place is the Microsoft Store. Search for “Command Palette” and you will find a growing list of free extensions you can install. I would avoid using the WinGet search on the dock itself to find extensions — the Microsoft Store search gives much better results.

Can I create my own extension for the Command Palette?

Yes. Microsoft has a dedicated page on Microsoft Learn that walks through how to register and build your own Command Palette extension. It is an advanced option aimed at developers, but it is a great option if you want to build something fully custom for your workflow.

This post PowerToys Command Palette Dock: A Free Windows 11 Taskbar Replacement first appeared on Memory's Tech Tips and is written by memory

Microsoft has officially committed to fixing some of the biggest complaints about Windows 11 — bringing back taskbar repositioning (vertical and top), scaling back Copilot integration in apps like Notepad and Snipping Tool, giving users more control over when Windows Updates install, and quieting the widgets panel by default. The Windows Insider Program team laid these changes out in a March 2026 blog post titled “Our Commitment to Windows Quality,” with rollouts starting in Insider preview builds across March and April 2026 before reaching the stable channel later in the year.

Applies to: Windows 11 (current versions) | Last updated: May 18, 2026

Key Takeaways

• Microsoft has acknowledged Windows 11 quality issues in an official Windows Insider Program blog post and committed to specific changes across the taskbar, Copilot, Windows Update, File Explorer, and widgets.
• Taskbar repositioning is coming back — vertical and top positions will be selectable natively, restoring something Windows 10 always supported and early Windows 11 builds allowed via registry edits.
• Copilot entry points are being reduced in apps like Notepad, Snipping Tool, Photos, and Widgets — though Microsoft has not committed to a full disable toggle.
• Windows Update gets new controls: skip updates during initial setup, restart or shut down without installing pending updates, pause for longer periods, and fewer forced reboots.
• Rollout starts in Insider preview builds across March and April 2026, with stable releases expected later in 2026. None of these changes have shipped to the stable channel yet.

Why This Microsoft Windows 11 Quality Commitment Matters

If you have ever wondered why third-party tools like Winhance even exist — tools that let you disable widgets, remove Copilot, control Windows updates, and customize your taskbar — it is because Microsoft was not giving users those options natively. For years, people have had to rely on registry hacks, third-party apps, and workarounds just to make Windows behave the way they wanted. That should not be the case for a modern operating system.

So when the EVP of Windows publishes a blog post saying the team has spent months analyzing user feedback and is committed to doing better, that is a real acknowledgment. I am not saying take it all at face value — actions speak louder than words. But the changes outlined are genuinely things users have been asking for, and the fact that they are being addressed at all is a shift from where Microsoft has been for the last few years.

What Microsoft Is Promising for Windows 11

Taskbar Customization Is Coming Back to Windows 11

Microsoft is officially bringing back the ability to move the Windows 11 taskbar, including vertical and top positions. If you have watched my channel for a while, you know I currently use a third-party app called Start Allback to move my taskbar to the top of the screen. The fact that a third-party tool is required just to do something Windows 10 could do natively says a lot about where Windows 11 has been.

In the very first versions of Windows 11, you could at least edit the registry to reposition the taskbar. Microsoft removed that capability in a later update, which frustrated a lot of people including myself. Getting this back as a built-in option is a huge win, and this change alone makes me genuinely excited about what else they have planned.

Note: Taskbar repositioning has not rolled out to the stable channel yet. It will appear in Windows Insider preview builds first before reaching general release.

Microsoft Is Scaling Back Copilot Integration in Windows 11 Apps

Microsoft says it will be more intentional about how and where Copilot integrates across Windows. As part of this, they are reducing what they call “unnecessary Copilot entry points” — starting with apps like Snipping Tool, Photos, Widgets, and Notepad. If you have been annoyed by Copilot buttons showing up in places you never asked for, this is a step in the right direction.

That said, the wording is vague. There is a real difference between being “more intentional” about where Copilot shows up and actually giving users the choice to disable Copilot in Windows 11 entirely. A lot of people do not want any AI features in their operating system at all. This is a good starting point, but what I would really like to see is a proper toggle — enable or disable these AI features, your choice. We will have to wait for the Insider builds to see exactly what this looks like in practice.

Reducing the Disruption From Windows Updates

This one hits close to home. I made a video a while back specifically complaining about being stuck on the Windows Update screen during the initial setup process when getting a new PC up and running. Depending on your internet speed, that can take hours — and there was no way to skip it. Microsoft is now saying they are adding the ability to skip updates during device setup so you can get straight to the desktop. It would be funny if they happened to see that video.

Beyond the setup experience, Microsoft is also promising:

• An option to restart or shut down without installing any updates that have already been downloaded
• The ability to pause updates for a longer period when needed
• Fewer automatic restarts and less update-related notification noise

If you have ever been mid-game or working on something important and had Windows force a restart to install an update, you know exactly how frustrating that is. I have had a Windows Update policy setting in Winhance for a while now that gives you control over this — but honestly, a setting like that should not have to exist in a third-party tool. It should be built into Windows. Seeing Microsoft finally add this natively is really good to see, especially after the rough patch of buggy releases like the January 2026 cumulative update that broke a lot of computers.

In the meantime, if you are dealing with a problematic update right now, my guide on how to uninstall Windows 11 updates and clear the update cache walks you through removing a bad update and stopping it from reinstalling automatically. You can also lock your Windows version to stop automatic feature updates if you want to stay on a specific build.

A Faster and More Reliable File Explorer

Microsoft is focusing on making File Explorer launch more quickly and reducing the flicker when it opens. If you use Windows in dark mode, you have almost certainly noticed that flash of white when File Explorer first loads before it fully renders. It is one of those small annoyances that adds up over time. Smoother navigation and more reliable overall performance for File Explorer might not be the most exciting item on this list, but it is a welcome improvement that will make using Windows feel more polished day to day.

More Control Over Windows 11 Widgets

Microsoft says widgets should feel helpful and relevant, not distracting or overwhelming. They are introducing quieter defaults and giving users more control over when and how widgets appear, along with improved personalization for the Discover feed. That sounds decent, but personally, what I actually want is the option to turn widgets off completely — not just make them less intrusive or personalize what shows up.

In Winhance, I have had a simple toggle to fully disable widgets on both Windows 10 and Windows 11 for a while now. More personalization is better than nothing, but it does not go far enough for users who just want a clean taskbar with no widgets button in sight. Hopefully the ability to fully disable widgets comes along with these changes.

An Improved Feedback Hub

Microsoft has also updated the Feedback Hub — the built-in Windows app that lets you report problems and submit suggestions directly to Microsoft. This update is already available now. The idea is that user feedback should be easy to share, and easy to see what other users are saying too.

The Windows Insider program and the Feedback Hub are not new, but what is different here is the commitment behind them. Microsoft is actively asking users to help shape the future of Windows. If you want to have a say in what gets built, now is a good time to use the Feedback Hub to submit suggestions — or sign up for the Windows Insider program to test these new features before they hit the stable release channel.

What This Actually Means for Windows 11 Users

The biggest signal in this blog post is not any individual change — it is that Microsoft is publicly acknowledging Windows 11 has had quality problems. That is a shift. For the last few years, the official narrative has been “Windows 11 is great, here is more Copilot,” while users have been complaining about removed features, intrusive AI, broken updates, and a taskbar that locked them out of basic customization.

Whether the actual implementation lives up to the commitment is the open question. Microsoft has a habit of announcing user-friendly changes that quietly get watered down by the time they reach the stable channel. Reducing Copilot “entry points” is not the same as letting you disable Copilot. Pausing updates for longer is not the same as choosing which updates to install. A lot will come down to the specifics of what ships in the Insider preview builds over the next few months.

The taskbar repositioning is the change I am most confident about — it is concrete, it is binary (either you can move the taskbar or you cannot), and Microsoft has explicitly said vertical and top positions are coming back. The other commitments are vaguer and will need to be judged by the actual implementation.

What I Would Still Like to See Microsoft Add

The blog post is a great start. But specifically on the Windows Update front — which has been a serious topic given how rough 2026 has been for buggy cumulative updates breaking people’s computers — more work needs to be done. Here is what I would personally still like to see.

Granular Control Over Which Updates Get Installed

If you remember Windows 7, opening Windows Update through the Control Panel gave you a full list of available updates, each one categorized — security, optional, driver. You could pick exactly which ones to install, and you could tell Windows Update not to show you a specific update again if you did not want it. That level of control has been completely stripped away in Windows 11.

Right now Microsoft is saying you will be able to pause updates for longer. But pausing just delays the same updates — including ones you might not want at all. Being able to choose individual updates the way Windows 7 let you do is what I would really like to see come back. Just add a checkbox next to each item in the update list and let users decide.

Separating Security Updates From Feature Updates

The other thing I would love to see is a clean separation between security updates and feature updates. Right now Microsoft bundles everything into one large cumulative update. If a new feature ships with a bug — which has happened plenty of times recently — you are stuck with that bug because the security patches you actually need are in the same package. You cannot take one without the other.

A feature update should be completely separate from a security update. Give me the choice to install new taskbar changes or Copilot tweaks when I am ready for them. But the actual security vulnerability patches? Those should be small, focused, and separate — so they can be pushed without dragging along new features that might break something.

Note: Even when Windows updates are paused, the Windows Update service continues running in the background using system resources. Pausing updates does not give you the full control that many users are actually looking for — it just delays the inevitable.

What You Can Do Today While You Wait for Microsoft

None of the changes Microsoft is promising have shipped to the stable channel yet, and based on the rollout timeline you are looking at preview builds for most of 2026 before any of this lands for regular users. If you want the kind of control over Windows 11 that Microsoft is only just now talking about, you do not have to wait — these tools exist today.

• Winhance — my free, open-source enhancement utility. Disable widgets, remove Copilot, manage Windows Update behavior, and customize the taskbar and Start menu. Works on Windows 10 and Windows 11. Most of what Microsoft is promising natively is already a toggle in Winhance.
• UnattendedWinstall — start from a clean, debloated Windows install in the first place. The answer files strip out telemetry, ads, and pre-installed apps before you ever reach the desktop.
• Official Windows 11 bloatware removal (25H2) — Microsoft did quietly add a built-in bloatware removal option in 25H2. If you are already on the latest version, this is a no-extra-tools option.
• Disable Copilot today — if you want Copilot gone now and not just “reduced entry points,” this guide walks you through removing it entirely.
• Windows 11 25H2 — what’s new — for context on what shipped most recently and what is already in your hands today.

My Take on the Windows 11 Quality Commitment

I am genuinely excited about what Microsoft is promising. The taskbar repositioning alone is something I have wanted for a long time. The fact that they are addressing Windows Update disruptions, pulling back on Copilot integration, and talking about better widget control tells me the feedback from the community is actually getting through — whether that is from the Windows Insider program, from YouTubers who have been vocal about Windows 11’s shortcomings, or maybe even a video or two complaining about the same things they are now promising to fix.

That said, I am taking the “Windows is as much yours as it is ours” line with a grain of salt. Up until this point, that has not really been the case. But actions speak louder than words, and we will see what these changes actually look like when they hit the Insider builds throughout March and April 2026 and beyond. I will be covering each one as it rolls out.

Frequently Asked Questions

When will the new Windows 11 taskbar customization options be available?

Microsoft says these improvements will begin rolling out through Windows Insider preview builds in March and April 2026. After testing in the Insider program, they will make their way to the stable release channel later in 2026. If you want early access, you can join the Windows Insider program and opt into a preview build to try the changes before they are finalized.

Can I move the Windows 11 taskbar to the top or side of the screen right now?

Not through official Windows settings yet — that is one of the changes Microsoft is actively working on. In the meantime, a third-party app called Start Allback lets you reposition your taskbar to the top of the screen. Microsoft’s native support for vertical and top taskbar positions is coming but has not landed in the stable release channel as of May 2026.

Will these changes break my current Windows 11 setup?

These are user-facing customization and control improvements, not deep system changes, so they should not break existing setups. That said, every major Windows update carries some risk — especially during the Insider preview phase. If you are running a production machine, I would wait for these features to reach the stable release channel rather than opting into Insider builds.

How can I disable Copilot in Windows 11 right now without waiting for Microsoft?

You can follow the step-by-step guide on how to enable or disable Copilot in Windows 11 to remove it from your system today. Microsoft’s upcoming changes aim to reduce Copilot’s presence in apps like Notepad and Snipping Tool, but if you want it fully removed right now, that guide walks you through the process. Winhance also includes a one-click Copilot removal toggle.

What should I do if a Windows 11 update breaks my computer?

If a Windows update causes problems on your system, you can uninstall the problematic update and clear the Windows update cache to stop it from automatically reinstalling. Keep in mind that not every update can be removed — security patches are typically protected — but most feature-related cumulative updates can be rolled back through Windows Settings under Update History. The January 2026 update issue guide covers a recent real-world example.

Is there a tool that gives me better control over Windows 11 right now?

Yes. Winhance is a free, open-source Windows enhancement utility that I built to give users control over things Microsoft does not natively offer — like disabling widgets, managing update behavior, removing Copilot, adjusting privacy settings, and customizing the taskbar and Start menu. It works on both Windows 10 and Windows 11, and it gives you the kind of control that Microsoft is only just starting to add natively with these upcoming changes.

This post Microsoft Just Promised to FIX Windows 11 first appeared on Memory's Tech Tips and is written by memory