I hate almost everything that they have done to the taskbar in 11, and I know about the workarounds so kindly provided by Shawn. I have depended on the
Taskbar's Desktop Toolbar since Windows 7 Starter (on a netbook, with its tiny screen) thru 8 & 8.x and on to 10. I never liked the start menu, or a cluttered desktop, which was the way that XP eventually had me working. I avoided the Windows 8 Start, and Charms fiasco with it, almost entirely, and during Windows 10 reign, I had little use for the Start Menu, using the desktop toolbar and Win+x almost exclusively for almost all functions, with a few pinned programs on the taskbar. Here's my Eightforums post on it:
I don't miss Start Menu at all: Here's Why, with my favourite screenshot from the post showing access to a file (not using Windows Explorer, within a zipped folder, 6 levels deep, with a single click on the desktop toolbar, and mouseover to the target, another 7 levels deeper, where another click would open it, if possible:
I will really miss this functionality, not seeing all my desktop free of icons, or if I want a clear desktop, not having instant access to those items, having again my taskbar full of pinned apps overflowing into two rows, taking up screen real estate. Even the action center pop-up (or is it now Quick settings?) in the bottom right part of the taskbar has lost its screen snip feature). Ho hum, I may be staying with 10 for the next few years., and PowerShell has been relegated from Win+x menu to Windows Tools in Control Panel!
