Even tapping to summon right-click menus will bring a clean-looking context menu that flows through with your wallpaper. Moving around an open window brings up a glasslike pane. Opening and minimizing an app makes the icon bounce. As you log in to Windows 11, your Taskbar icons float in from the bottom. Microsoft says that this change should bring you closer to the things on the PC that you love.Įven the animations have changed in Windows 11. The change feels natural, as my eyes tend to go to the center of the screen when looking for an app. Its icons are now centered, and it now matches both MacOS and Chrome OS. That design carries over to the Taskbar, too. Microsoft is taking a simpler approach to the Start Menu that feels fresh. At a time when we’re familiar with tapping app icons on mobile phones, this feels like a natural fit for Windows. You’ll even see the files that matter most to you, no matter what device you have Windows on, as the files list is powered by Microsoft’s cloud. With Windows 11, Microsoft is taking a simpler approach to the Start Menu that feels fresh, just like it did when it invented the concept in Windows 95.Īll the pinned apps you need are right upfront, along with your most recent files and a search box. With that move, Microsoft is leaving behind the Windows of the past - and I, for one, am delighted. And yes, it no longer features the Windows 8-era Live Tiles, which usually show previews of app notifications at a glance. Marking a shift from Windows 10, the Start Menu is centered, rounded, and in the middle of the screen by default. The place where you’ll see that the most is with the Start Menu. Gone are flat squared edges, and in its place are more rounded corners and beautiful, glasslike effects that Microsoft says are designed to give you a sense of “calm and ease.” Whether or not that’s true, the new accents and softer edges feel like a change Windows needs. The biggest change to Windows 11 comes down to the way it looks and feels.

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