Windows 11 is getting taskbar improvements and Copilot recommendations in Start menu

Microsoft is preparing more improvements and upgrades for Windows 11's Start menu and taskbar, some of which might not be welcomed by the community.

Broken taskbar in Windows 11

Windows 11 will soon turn four, but its taskbar and Start menu remain highly controversial elements, which force many users to stay on Windows 10 for longer. While Microsoft has already announced a big Start menu redesign with plenty of user feedback addressed, there are still areas that could benefit from additional upgrades. The good news is that those upgrades are on their way.

Today, Microsoft announced two new Windows 11 preview builds, both of which contain some enhancements for the taskbar and Start menu. Microsoft is working on improving the taskbar's reliability when it is in auto-hide mode, giving users smoother and more enjoyable animations. Additionally, Microsoft fixed a bug with Windows 11 not recognizing actions in apps or on the desktop right above the taskbar.

Here is how Microsoft describes these changes:

Did some work to help improve reliability of taskbar hiding and unhiding when the setting “automatically hide the taskbar” is enabled. As part of this work, the animation may be smoother for you now. As a reminder – if an app has an alert (the orange highlight on the app icon) then the taskbar will show.

Fixed a couple issues which could lead to you not being able to interact with apps or the desktop in the area directly above the taskbar.

As for the Start menu, it is also getting a new feature, albeit this one is unlikely to cause a round of applause from Windows 11 users. Microsoft wants the Start menu's Recommended section to display various prompts that you can use in the Copilot app. The idea is to increase awareness and help users better understand what they can do with Microsoft's AI:

We are trying out a small change in the Recommended section of the Start menu where we will show examples of prompts that you can try using in the Copilot app such as creating an image with Copilot.

Luckily, it is now possible to turn off the Recommended section in the new Start menu, so if you are not a fan of what Microsoft is doing, you can keep the Start menu free from any ads or upsells from the company. One might still catch you in the form of a new full-screen Microsoft 365 nag, but that one is also easy to turn off.