Why did things change in setup and context menus?

GracieAllen · Dec 25, 2023

This is one of those dumb things that sits in the back of your mind and periodically comes out and makes you ask "WHY would this change..." OR, it's just a Christmas morning whine 'cause the Corvette I asked for for Christmas won't be delivered until tomorrow - I THINK she's messing with me!

I have 2 computers, desktop and laptop. Both run Windows 11 Pro. Both are currently running 23H2.

Not TOO long ago, on my desktop the "This PC" button, when right clicked, STOPPED showing "Manage" in that context menu. Instead, you have to wade THROUGH the thing that pops up go to the bottom, to "More options", go into ANOTHER popup, and "Manage" is there. WHY did this move? But stranger to me, it ONLY changed on the desktop. On the LAPTOP, it's the way it's been for at least the last decade, and "Manage" is still on that first popup.

SAME question about "Pin to Taskbar". The way I view my world is the desktop. I despise having to go into the "Start" and fumble around that popup, or WORSE, have to hit "All apps" and lumber through that ridiculously long, bizarrely configured list. So everything I use 95% of the time (about 15 or so things) is pinned to the taskbar. Everything I use 99.9% of the time is on the desktop so I VERY rarely NEED to use the dreadful "Start" thing. Actually, I dislike the setup enough that I've been using a 3rd party menu system for years 'cause "Start" is so unproductive (not looking for flames or anything, I prefer this, y'all do you).

BUT, again, sometime in the not too distant past, the option to "Pin to Taskbar" disappeared from some things on the desktop. I've found that SOMETIMES if I RUN the program, I can go down to the Taskbar and from THERE, tell it to "Pin to Taskbar".

This came up because when I installed 23H2 (and this isn't a question, I'm not looking for a reason or a cure or a urination festival) it screwed up Office 2019, Word and Outlook - possibly other stuff but those were the two that were most obvious - suddenly typing was glitchy and screwed up. My "fix", after trying a bunch of other stuff, was to move from Office 2019 to Microsoft 365 this morning.

I didn't WANT to change anything, but it turns out that about at least a few (4?) years or so ago, we had 3 office licenses for 2010 (or 2016 or something) that we'd found online at a reasonable cost. And they worked fine until 1 day, her license was disabled by Microsoft because it was something it shouldn't have been - volume license or some such.

There was MUCH weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth and general hysteria, and I suggested she switch to Office 365, figuring she'd use the free, online-only version OR get a single user license or something simple..... But, NO, she got the FAMILY version. And, and I have no idea how she accomplished this, but she managed to have all her communication from Microsoft go to whatever account it uses when she goes to outlook.com online. So for at last "X" years, all the billing statements and whatever MS wanted to tell her, just SAT THERE. And once a year she'd get a thing on her credit card that showed a $100 charge from Microsoft, which she happily IGNORED, presuming it was something I'd purchased (with a credit card I don't have or ever use, so I'm not sure how I was supposed to do this)...

And then one day, MY Office license (from the same source at the same time) stopped working, and after speaking to MS (at best, NEVER a pleasant or productive thing) I was told I was SOL 'cause it wasn't a valid license any more, so I went out and bought a fer-real Office 2019 license and have been using it ever since.

Fast forward to now, when things composted after 23H2 (btw: the desktop NEVER INSTALLED 22H2, so I had to make the jump directly from 21H2 to 23H2), so this could be something that's been screwed up on other systems for a while that I didn't know about. And BTW: Office on the laptop is screwed up exactly the same way.

Anyhow, to make a long story even longer, I had her send me the "join my family" thing several days ago, and this morning put my big-boy pants on and uninstalled 2019 and installed Microsoft 365. And very shortly found that I couldn't do "Pin to Taskbar" from the shortcut's context menu...

So, having put y'all through this long, winding narrative of stupid human tricks, WHY did they change these things? Does Microsoft not WANT me to pin things to the taskbar? Do they not WANT me to easily be able to do "Manage" from "This PC"? Why are they screwing with things that have worked PERFECTLY for YEARS? Is this like Adobe, where as near as I can tell, with every release the developers HAVE TO CHANGE STUFF so we know they're doing SOMETHING? And usually the stuff they change is stuff that's been there, and been working fine for a decade, and is now slower, less productive, and generally more annoying!

I'm gonna go away now and see how much stuff that worked perfectly fine in Office 2019, Microsoft 365 broke or is going to force me to do in some bizarre new way!

Berton · Dec 25, 2023

Most times the changes made with succeeding versions of Windows are suggestions or ideas from the many/millions users that provide feedback about what they would like, hence the Feedback Hub item on the Start, All Apps menu. I've been using Windows since version 3.1 on my first computer in '92, retired in '94 and got a job offered by a computer store/shop and started a new career. I've had a computer with every version since 3.1 even with the Windows NT line from 3.51 to 2000. Never actually had one with Millenium Edition/ME or Vista but worked on plenty. And since we only buy the license to use Windows we get changes until the versions reach EOL/End of Life or EOS/End of Support, when those times are reached the computers don't just die but one takes changes with security in continuing. There may be pay-for extensions for Windows 10 but costly.

Wynona · Dec 25, 2023

OK, first of all, from the above post, it looks like you're male and are using your "wife's/significant other's" account to post.

Secondly, are the computers listed in "My Computers" the ones you're talking about, or do they belong to her?

The experts need to know which computer(s) you're talking about. So, if they're different than the ones showing . . .

There are some of your problems I can help with, and some I can't. Also, since it's Christmas day, the real gurus here may be awhile in checking out ElevenForum, since family comes first with most of us. I will be going to my daughter's for Christmas dinner later, so I will try to help with what I can.

I'll read your post again and be back later with what I can help with.

Wynona · Dec 25, 2023

GracieAllen said:
This is one of those dumb things that sits in the back of your mind and periodically comes out and makes you ask "WHY would this change..." OR, it's just a Christmas morning whine 'cause the Corvette I asked for for Christmas won't be delivered until tomorrow - I THINK she's messing with me!

I have 2 computers, desktop and laptop. Both run Windows 11 Pro. Both are currently running 23H2.

Not TOO long ago, on my desktop the "This PC" button, when right clicked, STOPPED showing "Manage" in that context menu. Instead, you have to wade THROUGH the thing that pops up go to the bottom, to "More options", go into ANOTHER popup, and "Manage" is there. WHY did this move? But stranger to me, it ONLY changed on the desktop. On the LAPTOP, it's the way it's been for at least the last decade, and "Manage" is still on that first popup.

SAME question about "Pin to Taskbar". The way I view my world is the desktop. I despise having to go into the "Start" and fumble around that popup, or WORSE, have to hit "All apps" and lumber through that ridiculously long, bizarrely configured list. So everything I use 95% of the time (about 15 or so things) is pinned to the taskbar. Everything I use 99.9% of the time is on the desktop so I VERY rarely NEED to use the dreadful "Start" thing. Actually, I dislike the setup enough that I've been using a 3rd party menu system for years 'cause "Start" is so unproductive (not looking for flames or anything, I prefer this, y'all do you).

BUT, again, sometime in the not too distant past, the option to "Pin to Taskbar" disappeared from some things on the desktop. I've found that SOMETIMES if I RUN the program, I can go down to the Taskbar and from THERE, tell it to "Pin to Taskbar".

This came up because when I installed 23H2 (and this isn't a question, I'm not looking for a reason or a cure or a urination festival) it screwed up Office 2019, Word and Outlook - possibly other stuff but those were the two that were most obvious - suddenly typing was glitchy and screwed up. My "fix", after trying a bunch of other stuff, was to move from Office 2019 to Microsoft 365 this morning.

I didn't WANT to change anything, but it turns out that about at least a few (4?) years or so ago, we had 3 office licenses for 2010 (or 2016 or something) that we'd found online at a reasonable cost. And they worked fine until 1 day, her license was disabled by Microsoft because it was something it shouldn't have been - volume license or some such.

There was MUCH weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth and general hysteria, and I suggested she switch to Office 365, figuring she'd use the free, online-only version OR get a single user license or something simple..... But, NO, she got the FAMILY version. And, and I have no idea how she accomplished this, but she managed to have all her communication from Microsoft go to whatever account it uses when she goes to outlook.com online. So for at last "X" years, all the billing statements and whatever MS wanted to tell her, just SAT THERE. And once a year she'd get a thing on her credit card that showed a $100 charge from Microsoft, which she happily IGNORED, presuming it was something I'd purchased (with a credit card I don't have or ever use, so I'm not sure how I was supposed to do this)...

And then one day, MY Office license (from the same source at the same time) stopped working, and after speaking to MS (at best, NEVER a pleasant or productive thing) I was told I was SOL 'cause it wasn't a valid license any more, so I went out and bought a fer-real Office 2019 license and have been using it ever since.

Fast forward to now, when things composted after 23H2 (btw: the desktop NEVER INSTALLED 22H2, so I had to make the jump directly from 21H2 to 23H2), so this could be something that's been screwed up on other systems for a while that I didn't know about. And BTW: Office on the laptop is screwed up exactly the same way.

Anyhow, to make a long story even longer, I had her send me the "join my family" thing several days ago, and this morning put my big-boy pants on and uninstalled 2019 and installed Microsoft 365. And very shortly found that I couldn't do "Pin to Taskbar" from the shortcut's context menu...

So, having put y'all through this long, winding narrative of stupid human tricks, WHY did they change these things? Does Microsoft not WANT me to pin things to the taskbar? Do they not WANT me to easily be able to do "Manage" from "This PC"? Why are they screwing with things that have worked PERFECTLY for YEARS? Is this like Adobe, where as near as I can tell, with every release the developers HAVE TO CHANGE STUFF so we know they're doing SOMETHING? And usually the stuff they change is stuff that's been there, and been working fine for a decade, and is now slower, less productive, and generally more annoying!

I'm gonna go away now and see how much stuff that worked perfectly fine in Office 2019, Microsoft 365 broke or is going to force me to do in some bizarre new way!

1. Not TOO long ago, on my desktop the "This PC" button, when right clicked, STOPPED showing "Manage" in that context menu. Instead, you have to wade THROUGH the thing that pops up go to the bottom, to "More options", go into ANOTHER popup, and "Manage" is there. WHY did this move? But stranger to me, it ONLY changed on the desktop. On the LAPTOP, it's the way it's been for at least the last decade, and "Manage" is still on that first popup.

When you right click on 'This PC', at the very bottom of the small window, you should see 'More Options'. Click on that and you should see 'Collapse' and then 'Manage'. I am running 23H2 Version 22631.2861. BTW

2. SAME question about "Pin to Taskbar". The way I view my world is the desktop. I despise having to go into the "Start" and fumble around that popup, or WORSE, have to hit "All apps" and lumber through that ridiculously long, bizarrely configured list. So everything I use 95% of the time (about 15 or so things) is pinned to the taskbar. Everything I use 99.9% of the time is on the desktop so I VERY rarely NEED to use the dreadful "Start" thing. Actually, I dislike the setup enough that I've been using a 3rd party menu system for years 'cause "Start" is so unproductive (not looking for flames or anything, I prefer this, y'all do you).

Start>All Apps>Click on the first letter of the alphabet you see (A)>Now click on the first letter of the app you want to pin (let's say Outlook)>right click on outlook when it shows up>hover over more>choose Pin to Taskbar and/or Pin to Start

3. I didn't WANT to change anything, but it turns out that about at least a few (4?) years or so ago, we had 3 office licenses for 2010 (or 2016 or something) that we'd found online at a reasonable cost. And they worked fine until 1 day, her license was disabled by Microsoft because it was something it shouldn't have been - volume license or some such.

Yeah, there are unscrupulous jerks out there taking advantage of those who don't know better. That's why we have these forums (all the way from Vista to now) to help us stay out of trouble.

The beauty of Microsoft 365 (office) Family is that you get six copies. You can use one for yourself, one for wife, one for kid(s) and if any are left over, you can even give one to your neighbor.

In addition, each person can put their copy on five of their own computers. I'm gonna try it after the holidays.

Microsoft 365 is a subscription; you pay $99.99 each year and get what I discussed above. With the subscription, you will get updates when Microsoft 365 gets new features. MS 365 also includes Outlook that's not an online one. Here's a link that shows what you get with your subscription. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/mic...f3c73ed1ce39cd8dd&activetab=pivot:overviewtab

4. So, having put y'all through this long, winding narrative of stupid human tricks, WHY did they change these things? Does Microsoft not WANT me to pin things to the taskbar? Do they not WANT me to easily be able to do "Manage" from "This PC"? Why are they screwing with things that have worked PERFECTLY for YEARS? Is this like Adobe, where as near as I can tell, with every release the developers HAVE TO CHANGE STUFF so we know they're doing SOMETHING? And usually the stuff they change is stuff that's been there, and been working fine for a decade, and is now slower, less productive, and generally more annoying!

Alls I can tell ya . . . it's progress! Or so they say. I don't like all the changes they've made either, but some are more acceptable than others.

Because the Control Panel will be deprecated at some point, I would advise you to learn to use Settings to the exclusion of Control Panel. When the Settings app first came out, I decided I would stick to that and learn all I could about it. For the most part, I can find what I want in Settings, although I do have to ask "How do I . . . quite often." That's what ElevenForum is for!

Ghot · Dec 25, 2023

@GracieAllen

Most of the "set things back to normal" tweaks are in here...

Windows 11 Tweaks - Leader Board.

These are tweaks I've seen asked for... many times. They are collected here for easy access. All of these and more can be found in the Eleven Forum Tutorials Classic context menus... https://www.elevenforum.com/t/disable-show-more-options-context-menu-in-windows-11.1589/ Change...

www.elevenforum.com

After going through these, post back with whatever is left over.

If you watch and wait... MS Office 2021 Professional (lifetime license), will go on sale here, fairly often.
Generally the best price will be $25-$30.

Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows: Lifetime License | StackSocial

<p>Say hello to a lifetime of productivity! Secure all the MS Office 2021 apps with just one smart purchase from a Microsoft-verified partner.</p>

www.stacksocial.com

Wynona · Dec 25, 2023

Ghot said:
@GracieAllen

Most of the "set things back to normal" tweaks are in here.

Windows 11 Tweaks - Leader Board.

These are tweaks I've seen asked for... many times. They are collected here for easy access. All of these and more can be found in the Eleven Forum Tutorials Classic context menus... https://www.elevenforum.com/t/disable-show-more-options-context-menu-in-windows-11.1589/ Change...

www.elevenforum.com

I don't use those, so he's got two ways to go now.

GracieAllen · Dec 25, 2023

Thanks for the replies... Actually, GracieAllen is the cat. She does most of the online shopping and such, and receives a surprising amount of spam and special offers. Unfortunately, I've never been able to get the bank to give her a credit card...

I'll have to look at the tweaks... As I said originally, I'm mostly just whining 'cause some of the changes don't make sense. I"m sure there are lots of people that started with Windows late enough that they think the Start menu is great. I started using computers in 1980, like the TRS-80, and worked for DEC for a number of years, so I've been using PCs since 1985 and Windows since 3.1 or even earlier. So I'm a crotchety old codger that's not big on "change for the sake of change". If there's no demonstrable productivity improvement in a change (makes it faster and/or easier to use), don't screw with it.

And yeah, killing the control panel is going to be a major PITA. 'Cause when you want to change pagefile settings it's a lot easier to remember Windows/R and typing "systempropertiesadvanced" than to click on "System" in the control panel then press the "Advanced" button... Or worse, trying to search for it.

As far as computers, I'll have to see what's listed. Because I'm processing large-ish images, I regularly have to update hardware, and software is very frequently changing.

Wynona · Dec 25, 2023

GracieAllen said:
Thanks for the replies... Actually, GracieAllen is the cat. She does most of the online shopping and such, and receives a surprising amount of spam and special offers. Unfortunately, I've never been able to get the bank to give her a credit card...

I love it! My chihuahua/terrier mix is Gracie and my cat is Lucy. Neither of whom I can trust with an ElevenForum account. Or a computer for that matter!

GracieAllen said:
I'll have to look at the tweaks... As I said originally, I'm mostly just whining 'cause some of the changes don't make sense. I"m sure there are lots of people that started with Windows late enough that they think the Start menu is great. I started using computers in 1980, like the TRS-80, and worked for DEC for a number of years, so I've been using PCs since 1985 and Windows since 3.1 or even earlier. So I'm a crotchety old codger that's not big on "change for the sake of change". If there's no demonstrable productivity improvement in a change (makes it faster and/or easier to use), don't screw with it.

Same here. I've been with Windows since 3.1 and have been beta testing Microsoft product since around 1985 when I got my first Windows computer. I started out with a Tandy Color Computer. Never used a DEC, but did use a dedicated Xerox word processor.

GracieAllen said:
And yeah, killing the control panel is going to be a major PITA. 'Cause when you want to change pagefile settings it's a lot easier to remember Windows/R and typing "systempropertiesadvanced" than to click on "System" in the control panel then press the "Advanced" button... Or worse, trying to search for it.

As far as computers, I'll have to see what's listed. Because I'm processing large-ish images, I regularly have to update hardware, and software is very frequently changing.

Quite frankly, I think the Settings app is an improvement; there's more information to be had once you learn how to get around in Windows 11.

GracieAllen · Dec 25, 2023

I don't have any problems getting around in the Windows 11 setup, as long as you're doing trivial stuff like shoving a different profile onto a display or something like that, but every time I need to do something important, like use the Device Manager, I have to go into the Control Panel 'cause the Windows setup is so clunky.

I figure it's going to be like Windows 11. They did stuff to make it better, so millions of computers can't easily use it. When 2025 gets here and they stop support for Windows 10, there'll STILL be millions of computers that don't upgrade. For those of you old enough to have been around for Windows XP, there were many computers still running it LONG after MS tried to force everybody onto new "supported" O/S.

I also figure somebody will create a Control Panel clone that does what the current one does, and a whole bunch of people that don't want to spend their time wading through multiple screens and searching, and going out to the Internet to find the place where somebody tell you "OH, yeah, that's SUPER easy to get to, you just do Win/R and type in systempropertiesadvanced", or whatever the equivalent thing is for what you're trying to do.

AndreTen · Dec 25, 2023

You'll get to other tweaks later, but for the first issue...
You can disable the new context menu (and clicking show more options..) and get back "manage this PC" and "pin to taskbar"

Disable "Show more options" context menu in Windows 11 Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable having to click on "Show more options" to see the full context menu for your account or all users in Windows 11. When you right click on an item in Windows 11, you will see a new modern condensed context menu with Show more options...

www.elevenforum.com

hdmi · Dec 25, 2023

GracieAllen said:
Or worse, trying to search for it.

Searching for those specific settings that don't appear in the Windows Settings app nor can easily be found through Windows Search (Win + S) is a solid piece of Christmas cake with the Search bar that belongs to the (Windows 7 style) Start Menu of Open-Shell.

As for your questions, why does Microsoft do this... why does Microsoft do that... the answer to those questions is even much easier than cake. It's... well, because money.

GracieAllen · Dec 26, 2023

True, though you're missing the point - I don't WANT to have to go searching for things that are sitting right in the open in the Control Panel. I've been using the Open-Shell Menu since Windows 10 showed up.

And yes, I KNOW it's money, but is there SOMEBODY that's the adult in the room and looks at the changes the eager developers come up with and asks "What functionality or productivity improvement will this change to an already working <whatever> provide?" Or is that "OLD" thinking, where somebody looks at such things, makes sure new software is actually regression tested, and boring things like efficiency?

hdmi · Dec 26, 2023

GracieAllen said:
True, though you're missing the point - I don't WANT to have to go searching for things that are sitting right in the open in the Control Panel. I've been using the Open-Shell Menu since Windows 10 showed up.

And yes, I KNOW it's money, but is there SOMEBODY that's the adult in the room and looks at the changes the eager developers come up with and asks "What functionality or productivity improvement will this change to an already working <whatever> provide?" Or is that "OLD" thinking, where somebody looks at such things, makes sure new software is actually regression tested, and boring things like efficiency?

Dung

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12620-dung-i-had-to-be-the-first-to-submit-a-screenshot-of-dung.jpg

Wynona · Dec 26, 2023

Welp, it looks like I was kinda duped into "helping" someone who didn't actually need my (or anyone's) help, but just wanted to rant.

Oh, well, I don't feel badly about my attempt to help, nor do I regret my attempts to help.

It just kinda sux that I could have been helping someone else who actually needed help.

Se la vie . . .

Winuser · Dec 26, 2023

Wynona said:
Welp, it looks like I was kinda duped into "helping" someone who didn't actually need my (or anyone's) help, but just wanted to rant.

Oh, well, I don't feel badly about my attempt to help, nor do I regret my attempts to help.

It just kinda sux that I could have been helping someone else who actually needed help.

Se la vie . . .

What really gets to me is when trying to help someone and instead of them paying attention to any of the helpful post, they will keep repeating the same question over and over again. Sometimes in the same thread and sometimes in a new or different threads.

GracieAllen · Dec 26, 2023

If you mean poor Gracie, she's very appreciative! You guy knew about the Tweaks, which I hadn't seen... They'll come in handy I suspect. And I did warn you it was just a long narrative of stupid human tricks!

So, Wynona, you were a big hit with her royal highness!

glasskuter · Dec 26, 2023

If my 2 cents is worth anything, I look at it this way. With each OS as far back as I can remember, we've all grumbled and griped some. We're all creatures of habit and it's sometimes hard to accept this or that change MS throws our way. But Windows does not belong to you or me. Whatever MS chooses to do with it, is on them because Windows belongs to them. They are not forcing me or you to use it.

As users, we have 3 choices.
#1 We can be bitter, complaining, and unhappy the entire time we use Windows.
#2 We can move to another OS
#3 We can seek out ways to change what we can to make it more to our liking and gracefully adapt to and accept everything else

Personally, only one of those options works for me and it's not #1 or #2.

hdmi · Dec 27, 2023

I much prefer choice #4. Seek out ways to change what I can to make it more productive for how I need/want to use it and gracefully keep making cynical jokes about everything else so ppl can maybe have a good laugh about it... all simply because crying about it adds productivity only in the particular sense that it produces more tears, which are salty so as a result are electrically conductive and might therefore lead to short circuiting their computer... and whatnot.

GracieAllen · Dec 27, 2023

I'd be with #4, though I'm not sure about the tears and short-circuited computers. Fortunately, there are 3rd party tools that help with some of the more unproductive things.

Bubba · Jan 2, 2024

Ghot said:
If you watch and wait... MS Office 2021 Professional (lifetime license), will go on sale here, fairly often.
Generally the best price will be $25-$30.

Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows: Lifetime License | StackSocial

<p>Say hello to a lifetime of productivity! Secure all the MS Office 2021 apps with just one smart purchase from a Microsoft-verified partner.</p>

www.stacksocial.com