This Windows 11 Start menu change is now coming to Windows 10

According to the latest Statcounter figures for Windows desktop market share by version, Windows 10 is still the most widely used by a long shot. Over 64 percent of Windows users are still on Windows 10, with Windows 11 users lagging behind at around 31 percent.

So, even though Microsoft clearly wants to push Windows 10 users to Windows 11, the company still has great incentive to keep working on the older version (despite ending official support soon).

A lot of that work seems focused on the Windows 10 Start menu. It’s where Microsoft keeps placing ads for their other products and services, to the point where the Start menu is starting to feel like a billboard.

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But it’s not all ads. In fact, Microsoft does make useful changes from time to time — including this latest one.

As reported by Windows Latest, Microsoft is now testing new layouts for the Windows 10 Start menu, particularly with regard to the Microsoft 365 account manager: there’s a new icon in the Start menu’s sidebar (a similar change to one that Windows 11 users spotted a few updates ago).

If you click on this new icon for the Microsoft 365 account manager, you can easily switch back and forth between different Microsoft 365 accounts and local Windows accounts. You also have immediate access to options like Change account settings, Lock, and Sign out, plus access to Microsoft 365 and OneDrive.

There’s no apparent way to disable the Microsoft 365 account manager in the Start menu, and there’s no option to deactivate the constant nagging to upgrade to a paid Microsoft 365 subscription.

Ultimately, Microsoft’s aim with this change is to put their various products and services at the forefront in prominent spots, to hopefully persuade you (or wear you down enough) to buy and upgrade.

While these Windows 10 Start menu changes are currently still in testing, Windows Latest expects that the general Windows 10 public will get the new Microsoft 365 account manager integration soon enough.

Further reading: Hey everyone, it’s time to upgrade to Windows 11

This article originally appeared on our sister publication PC-WELT and was translated and localized from German.

Author: Hans-Christian Dirscherl, Managing Editor, PC-WELT

Hans-Christian Dirscherl began his IT life with Autoexec.bat and config.sys, Turbo-Pascal and C, Sinix and Wordperfect. He has been writing on almost all IT topics for around 25 years, covering everything from news to reviews and buying guides.

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