Windows 11 users want these five features back

When Windows 11 was first released, many long-time users felt features they loved had been taken away overnight.

Three and a half years later, the same complaints still rise to the top of the Feedback Hub with tens of thousands of votes.

Below are the five most wanted Windows 11 features on the Microsoft Feedback Hub.

The most wanted requests in Windows 11

“Bring back the ability to move the taskbar to the top and sides of the screen on Windows 11”

Right now, the taskbar is glued to the bottom edge, and users want the freedom to move the taskbar to the top or sides of the screen.

Feedback Hub’s post on the topic has racked up 24,046 votes and 2,086 comments, but the feedback is not fresh.

Users posted this feedback immediately when Windows 11 shipped to testers, and Microsoft has maintained a radio silence about its plans to upgrade the taskbar.

“The move taskbar feature is missing now for years. Why has this not been changed yet?” writes a user, who also begs Microsoft to “please replace whoever is responsible for the current design.”

One user wonders if Microsoft’s stock phrase “We’ve got it” really means “We’re ignoring it.” 

Microsoft’s Feedback Hub has an automated reply to the post that just says “We’ll be continuing to evolve Windows 11 and its features based on feedback like this, so thank you so much for taking the time to give us your feedback.”

“I would like to be able to turn off the Recommended section in the Start menu and have the whole area disappear in Windows 11.”

The second most-voted request sits at 17,479 votes and 794 comments.

Three years after Windows 11’s launch, Microsoft still doesn’t understand that users do not want a Start menu with the recommended menu.

I personally hate it, too, because it just clogs up the Start menu with recent app or file activities, which are already exposed via the File Explorer.

“No, I don’t want to reduce the size, I want to hide it, forever, for good,” a user wrote.

Another poster calls the pane “a useless, empty space” that wastes screen real estate, and the rest of the users fear it will become an “Advertising space.”

In reply to the Feedback, Microsoft noted that full removal is not available but lists half a dozen toggles inside Settings > Personalization > Start at least reduce the content.

The company recently added a More pins layout in Windows 11 23H2 that lets you shrink the pane to one row, but you can’t get rid of the Recommended feed for now.

“Add an option for Windows search to use my preferred search provider”

Windows search still funnels web queries into Bing and opens them in Edge unless you live in the European Economic Area, where new regulations force Microsoft to respect the default browser.

The proposal for a global switch has 11,007 votes and 101 comments.

One user says the EU rule “should apply in the United States, heck, everywhere in the world.”  Another user is bothered by “sparkles next to the search bar” and wants to disable them.

European Insiders have already seen test builds that unlock the choice, but Microsoft has no plans to bring it outside the EU.

“The CPU/Processor requirements for Windows 11 are too high and I think you should lower them”

This feedback was first published in 2021, and it now holds 8,483 votes and 1,025 comments.

Users are upset that their fully capable PCs cannot run Windows 11.

One user says they own a gaming rig with “near best hardware” but an unsupported processor, calling the situation another “Vista/8.1” moment.

Another user agrees and notes that “millions of PCs are going to end up in the landfill for no good reason,” as we approach Windows 10’s doomsday.

“Update the Windows 11 taskbar to support never combining app icons and hiding labels”

In Windows 10, you could set your taskbar so each window stayed separate and labels stayed hidden.

Windows 11 now has an option to set “never-combine” mode, but it still feels unfinished.

Open enough apps, and the bar collapses icons into a “…” block. Icons change width whenever, say, your Spotify song title updates, which makes everything jump around.

Similarly, labels are forced on by default and can’t be turned off, so you lose precious space at the bottom of the screen.

In a Feedback Hub post, one tester even called it “horrible” and begged Microsoft to “please finally fix this,” while another asked why labels are forced at all when choosing never-combine, as “it eats too much space.” 

If you visit the Feedback Hub, you’ll see dozens of similar posts.

BleepingComputer observed that these five feedback posts account for over 75,000 votes alone, and each still pulls in fresh comments weekly.

It’s crystal clear that users want Microsoft to improve Windows 11, but is the Redmond giant listening?

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