- Windows 11's right-click menu has some big changes in testing
- This context menu is being streamlined and is now more responsive
- You can also customize the entries in the menu, or even switch it to be like Windows 10's version
Microsoft is finally streamlining Windows 11's context menu — the one which pops up when you right click something on the desktop — as well as bringing in more customization choices.
In a blog post for a new preview build in the Experimental channel, Microsoft announced that it's rolling out a redesigned context menu for File Explorer (meaning the files and folders on your desktop).
It's "designed to feel faster, cleaner, and easier to tailor to the way you work", and Microsoft has made two major improvements here.
Firstly, the right-click menu is a lot less cluttered, with far fewer options now appearing in the list by default (building on some previous work along these lines). On top of that, there's new functionality in Windows 11's settings, enabling you to customize what appears in the context menu.
Windows Central reports that it has tried this revamped right-click menu, and that it's not just trimmed down, but also faster to load (no doubt reducing the bloat has helped to improve performance).
You can also choose to have a Windows 10-style context menu, where the elements at the top in the horizontal panel (cut, copy, rename and so forth) are integrated into the vertical menu list (removing the top panel, essentially).
It's possible to ditch any entry you don't want from the menu, too, so gone are the days when you installed a third-party app and it annoyed you by placing itself in the context menu when you didn't want that to happen. You can now simply banish the offender.
Analysis: it's about time
In my opinion, you should have been able to tailor the right-click menu to your own preferences right from the very off in Windows 11. Or at least you should have been able to remove the likes of third-party additions to the menu, even if Microsoft kept the core defaults set in stone.
Still, Microsoft has improved the context menu immeasurably here, and the more responsive performance is great to hear about. Windows 11 users have long complained that it's ridiculous that right-clicking on something could mean a delay of a few seconds before the menu actually appears. This is a basic piece of interface functionality, and not one that should be running slowly on an average PC.
Bear in mind that this is just in testing for now, so this new layout and options may take some time to arrive in the full version of Windows 11. That'll likely happen later this year, although you can't be sure whether Microsoft will keep everything as it is now (some choices could be scrapped, changed, or more might be added, even).
For now, a good many Windows 11 users are impressed by this work, but there are some who, like me, are still a bit sore about it taking so long to happen. One Redditor said: "They had 5 years to do that. Better late than never I guess."
There are others who have already left Windows 11 behind and can't resist making it clear that they won't be coming back, no matter how far Microsoft takes its drive to fix Windows 11. This Redditor observed: "Too little too late, I will refuse to ever go back to MS," adding that: "They've lost me and everyone who listens to me for IT advice."
Others point out that the performance work to fix Windows 11's sluggishness is a decision driven by necessity and the RAM crisis. Someone else on Reddit pointed out: "Probably has a lot more to do with having to figure out how to get Windows 11 working on 8GB of memory since they can't control the price of memory."
And another Redditor replying to that agreed, saying, "This is exactly why this is happening. All the 'fixes' started after they announced 8GB Surfaces."
It's easy to be overly negative on Windows 11, yes, but responses like these are ultimately Microsoft's fault, and a result of the attitude it has shown with the development of the operating system through the years.
With that said, it does very much feel like a fresh leaf has been turned over, and I'm very happy that this is the case. Hopefully Microsoft can apply changes to Windows 11 that'll continue to surprise us, and make this desktop OS a more enticing prospect — although it's unlikely those more disgruntled Linux defectors out there will ever be tempted back.
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