No start menu or taskbar shortcuts menu

Hi
I have been running Windows 11 Pro on Surface Go for 2 months and is ok in a limited sense.

I have now tried same on main PC but cannot overcome the problem of running start menu program ( such as Open shell ) and taskbar shortcuts program (such as Truelaunchbar etc ) which I have been using since XP.

To get these to work requires a taskbar registry entry to re enable drag and drop.

This taskbar entry removes the "widget" icon and also disables "search" on taskbar in Windows 11.

Without this one cannot see any programs or shortcuts on the system, so I have reverted back to Windows 10 !
Alternative suggestions would be much appreciated .

For the start menu, there are a few threads right here in personalization section that will get oyu going:



As for pinned items on the taskbar, we have a very comprehensive tutorial written by our MVP Brink that should cover about every aspect of it that you can currently do in Windows 11:


As for moving the taskbar - yeah, Microsoft has limited it to center and left at the bottom only. But there are some interesting hacks on the taskbar itself for various purposes that you can check out in this thread:


HTH

Thanks JLG

Had not seen Stardock Start menu 11, although I have used their programs for years !
Works well.

Open Shell is a bit better although is outdated and does not seem to load without taskbar problem hack .

Will keep trying , but toolbar loaders on taskbar such as Truelaunchbar dont seem to work based on Shawns file and folder loading suggestions.

Perhaps new ideas will arrive soon .

Maybe its me !

More likely it's Windows 11 - they restructured a lot of the coding that went into the taskbar in and of itself when compared to Windows 10, and the stat menu as well, and those threads show that a lot of new hacks are only just now being developed to make things work more like some users want them to, not to mention new apps to restore old functionality.

johnlgalt said:

More likely it's Windows 11 - they restructured a lot of the coding that went into the taskbar in and of itself when compared to Windows 10, and the stat menu as well, and those threads show that a lot of new hacks are only just now being developed to make things work more like some users want them to, not to mention new apps to restore old functionality.

Click to expand...

I wonder when those hacks will no longer work? Yes.. they can keep changing them to keep up with 11 but is there a chance that MS will lock them out?

Probably not. I mean look at all the hacks for Windows 10 that still work.

As long as it's not a major security issue, it shouldn't really be a problem. People have been hacking the Windows interface since Windows 95, and sometimes Microsoft has even adopted a hack or three in the next version of an OS.

One of my faves was a beautiful glass look for XP. Sure enough, Microsoft started toying with Glassy Aero on Win 7. Still not as nice as what you could achieve with 3rd party hacks, but it was a step in the right direction IMO.