Windows 11 refreshes the beginning menu and taskbar with a new look, and while it looks more contemporary, it's vital that you understand how to change the Start menu and taskbar for future use. The centered position is simpler and fewer overwhelming, especially for first-time Windows users. But if you've been a Windows PC owner for a long time and were content with how things worked before, it is simple to change the Windows 11 Start menu and taskbar.

Because of built-in personalization options and third-party apps, it's possible to alter the new Windows 11 Start menu and taskbar's appearance just the way you want. Whether you'd prefer to restore Start to its original corner or hide new taskbar additions, like the widgets shortcut, we've got your back in this Windows 11 guide.

Edit the taskbar's alignment and shortcuts

The Windows 11 taskbar aligns your open and pinned apps' icons within the center and features a number of new shortcuts, including one for Microsoft Teams. But if you've got no use of these additions, you can switch to the Windows 10 design in the settings.

Right-click the taskbar and select Taskbar settings. In the Taskbar items section, you can select which buttons should be the dock. Similarly, you will find the choice to pick the shortcuts that are available from the corner overflow menu.

Under Taskbar behaviours, you can move back your icons left corner and edit whether apps on the taskbar should display unread count badges.

Resize the Windows 11 taskbar

Unlike macOS, Windows 11 doesn't let you resize the dock, and you're limited to the size that the software deems right for your screen's resolution. That might leave you with a taskbar that's either too small or large to your liking. Fortunately, an easy registry hack enables you to work through this limitation and modify the Windows 11 taskbar size.

Hit the Windows and R keys together, punch in regedit, and press enter.

Navigate to "HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Explorer > Advanced" from the listing of folders around the left.

Right-click Advanced in the left pane and choose New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name the brand new entry TaskbarSi.

The TaskbarSi item's value determines your taskbar's size. You've three sizes to select from: 0 for small, 1 for medium, and 2 for large. Double-click TaskbarSi and punch in one of these numbers to contract or enlarge the Windows 11 dock. Reboot your computer to apply the brand new changes.

Please be aware that since this is not an official method, some of your dock's icons may seem pixelated around the largest size mode because they're not optimized for it.

Theme the Windows 11 Start menu and taskbar

Automatically, the beginning menu and taskbar backgrounds on Windows 11 are either light or dark, based on your system preferences. If that's too dull for you personally, Windows 11 enables you to extend your system's theme and colours towards the taskbar.

Visit Settings > Personalization > Colors and toggle on Show accent color on Start and taskbar. The beginning menu and taskbar's backdrops will now feature your computer theme's dominant color.

Edit the Windows 11 Start menu's content

Aside from your installed programs, Windows 11's Start menu offers quick access to the apps you open the most and the ones you recently downloaded. Because of the Start menu's only a little space, this could, however, allow it to be more crowded than necessary and hard for you to find your pinned apps.

To edit exactly what the Start menu shows, check out Settings > Personalization > Start. Toggle from the sections you don't need and leave the rest as is.

In addition, you can unpin the apps you don't actively require for a cleaner Start. Simply right-click an app's icon in Start striking the Unpin from taskbar choice to do that.

Obtain the classic Start menu back with Start11

Microsoft only lets you personalize Windows 11's Start menu and taskbar to an extent. For more customization tools, you'll have to use a third-party app called Start11.

With Start11, you can swap the Windows 11 Start menu for a bunch of classic looks, such as the one from Windows 7. Additionally, it allows you to adjust the Start menu's layout precisely, fine-tune its transparency in addition to colors, add shortcuts to settings you access the most, relocate it towards the corner or even the top, and much more.

Start11 also brings back some taskbar functionality Windows 11 has removed. You are able to, for example, add some context menu, which previously you could access by right-clicking the taskbar. Plus, with Start11, it is simple to adjust the taskbar's size without diving in to the registry.

Start11 happens to be in beta and requires a one-time $4.99 fee.