Windows 10 Start Menu Changes – New Look for 2021

The Start menu is one of the most useful and widely used tools in the operating system, although Microsoft has already tried to kill it once. Thanks to it, we can quickly access the entire list of programs installed on our PC, as well as a series of basic options on our computer, such as, for example, to turn off or restart the computer. The Windows 10 Start menu changed a lot compared to Windows 7, and users did not like that much. Now, after more than 5 years, Microsoft is still looking for how to improve it and, in 2021, we will see a series of small changes that will seek to improve its appearance and the order of all programs.

How the Start menu order currently works

To this day, the start menu uses the ” ProgramData ” directory as a kind of database. Thanks to it, in this menu we can only find the accesses to the programs, and not other types of files or executables that would cause more disorder.

Windows 10 Start Menu Changes

Inside this directory are all the programs, and it creates a series of hot folders using a Shell logic function called ” Folder logic “.

The problem is that, the malpractice of many developers, causes folders to be created within this start menu, within which there is only one executable, which should be in the list of programs. The same goes for configuration files or uninstallers, items that should not be on startup.

Now, facing the 2021 versions , Microsoft is already thinking about how to give a twist to the organization of this system.

Small fixes to the start menu

The first of the changes Microsoft is working on will do away with many of the unnecessary folders that are created within this Windows start menu. What the operating system will do is detect all those startup folders that only have one executable inside them and will automatically remove said access from the folder. In this way, the application will become available within the list of applications, along with the others.

Carpetas inicio build 21227

There will still be folders between the list of programs, since those that have two items (for example, a program and an uninstaller) will still be there. Personally, we think that these folders should also disappear, leaving only the accesses to the programs. But at least it is a first step towards it.

But this is not the only change Microsoft is working on. The company is also testing a new startup concept that swaps the square corners of the startup for new rounded corners . These corners will give this menu a much more modern touch, and we will probably see them in other elements of the operating system as well, such as the task bar and the search bar.

When will these changes arrive

At the moment, this is nothing more than testing by Microsoft. We do not know when these changes will reach all users. For now, only Insider users of the operating system can test these developments in the latest builds released by Microsoft this December.

However, since right now the builds do not point to specific versions of the operating system, we cannot know if we will see them in the first update of 2021 (21H1), or we will have to wait for the second update, 21H2 , to enjoy these changes . And we would bet on the latter.