Windows 11 Start menu moves toward Windows 10 with Categories view

If you’ve resisted moving to Windows 11 because you hate the Start menu…well, it appears that it may get slightly better.

Keen-eyed code hounds digging into recent Windows betas have unearthed a “category” view that organizes Start apps in a way that looks somewhat like the Windows 10 Start menu of old. The category view isn’t totally customizable — for example, you can’t create your own category of “awesome stuff” — but it appears that the apps will self-organize into categories like “entertainment,” “music,” and so on.

The latest revision was unearthed by Twitter/X user @phantomofearth, who dug up the changes inside the most recent Windows 11 beta, Build 22635.4082 to the Beta Channel. That’s a good thing, since it implies that these beta features will eventually see the light of day on your PC.

The catch is that, well, for now, they won’t. The new category view is apparently still enabled through special tools that can turn on hidden registry entries. It hasn’t even been acknowledged by Microsoft yet, as Neowin notes. But one of the criticisms levied at the Windows 11 Start menu is that it’s been so dang rigid, in that you haven’t been able to organize things as you’d like. Categories is a step forward.

The most recent beta also places media controls on the lock screen, so if you’re sitting in front of a PC without a Windows Hello camera, you can still access the controls without unlocking your PC. (Naturally, if you do have a Windows Hello camera, it will likely recognize you and unlock your PC, so…)

Windows continues to march towards a more general release of Windows 11 24H2 sometime this fall. Maybe Start’s Categories will end up as a feature?

Author: Mark Hachman, Senior Editor, PCWorld

Mark has written for PCWorld for the last decade, with 30 years of experience covering technology. He has authored over 3,500 articles for PCWorld alone, covering PC microprocessors, peripherals, and Microsoft Windows, among other topics. Mark has written for publications including PC Magazine, Byte, eWEEK, Popular Science and Electronic Buyers’ News, where he shared a Jesse H. Neal Award for breaking news. He recently handed over a collection of several dozen Thunderbolt docks and USB-C hubs because his office simply has no more room.

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