After years of user requests, Microsoft is finally letting Windows 11 users eliminate the much-maligned Recommended feed from the Start menu, all while packing the operating system with AI-powered assistants that reach deep into File Explorer and cross-device workflows. The changes, part of the 25H2 feature update now rolling out through Insider previews, represent the most visible desktop overhaul since Windows 11 debuted in 2021—and they fundamentally alter how millions of people will launch apps, manage files, and interact with their PC.

Microsoft’s official Windows Experience blog frames the update as a “new generation of Windows experiences,” and early hands-on testing by Windows Latest and broader community reports confirm that the Start menu, File Explorer, and Phone Link integration have all been rethought around two principles: user control and AI-assisted productivity. The result is a scrollable, single-page Start layout that can banish recommended content entirely, three new ways to browse all installed apps, a collapsible phone companion panel, and right-click AI actions that summarize documents or edit images without launching another program.

A Start Menu That Finally Listens

The most immediately visible change is a taller, wider Start menu that consolidates previously separate sections into one smooth, scrollable view. Instead of a fixed grid of pinned apps above a Recommended feed and an “All apps” list hiding behind a separate button, everything now coexists in a continuous vertical flow. By default, 16 pinned apps sit at the top, but users can click “Show all” to expand that to 24, or—more importantly—flip a toggle in Settings to have all pinned apps displayed by default, no extra click required.

Beneath the pins, the installed apps list has been completely reimagined. Microsoft now offers three distinct layouts, selectable on the fly:

  • Name grid: Apps are arranged alphabetically in a tiled grid, making scanning faster on large screens.
  • Name list: The familiar alphabetical list, still the default for those who prefer vertical scanning.
  • Category: An automated grouping feature that sorts apps into buckets like Productivity, Games, Creativity, Social, and Utilities. Category view uses built-in algorithms to classify apps, so Microsoft Edge and Notepad land in Productivity, while Paint and Photos fall under Creativity.

This addresses a long-standing pain point for users with extensive app libraries. Instead of scrolling through dozens or hundreds of entries, the Category view surfaces logical clusters instantly. The downside: you cannot create custom categories, so the groupings are entirely determined by Microsoft’s heuristics.

Flanking the main app area is an optional phone companion panel, powered by Phone Link. When a phone is linked, a collapsible sidebar inside the Start menu shows real-time battery status, recent messages, notifications, and quick access to recent photos. This turns the Start menu into a genuine cross-device hub, reducing the friction of switching between phone and PC. The panel can be hidden entirely for those who prefer a minimal look.

The feature that will likely generate the most applause is the ability to turn off the Recommended section completely. A single toggle in Settings—labeled “Show recommended files in Start, recent files in File Explorer, and items in Jump Lists”—determines whether the Start menu displays recently opened files and apps. Flip it off, and the Start menu becomes a clean, app-only launcher with no algorithmic suggestions.

Windows Latest’s testing reveals an important catch: the toggle is currently linked to File Explorer’s Recent tab, meaning that disabling recommendations in Start also removes the Recommended/Recent section from Explorer’s Home view. This behavior is expected to change by the time the update reaches production, with separate toggles for Start and File Explorer, giving users granular control. For now, early Insider builds treat them as a single preference, which may frustrate those who want only one or the other.

The deletion of the Recommended feed marks a significant reversal from Microsoft’s post‑Windows 11 launch stance, where the feed was a non‑negotiable part of the Start experience. By offering an explicit opt‑out, Microsoft acknowledges that many users prefer a deterministic, app‑centric launcher over an algorithmically populated one. Combined with the expandable pinned app grid, the Start menu now feels more like the Windows 10 version many power users have missed.

File Explorer Turns Into an AI Assistant

While the Start menu gets the headlines, File Explorer’s transformation may prove more consequential for daily productivity. Microsoft is surfacing a set of AI‑powered actions directly in the right‑click context menu. When you right‑click a text file, you’ll see an option to “Summarize”—which uses cloud or on‑device AI to generate a brief abstract without opening the file. Right‑clicking an image can trigger alt‑text generation or open the file directly in Photos or Paint with AI‑assisted editing suggestions. The goal is to eliminate context‑switching: instead of launching an application to perform a simple task, you stay in Explorer and let the AI do the heavy lifting.

These features are most performant on Copilot+ devices—machines with dedicated neural processing units that can run inference locally. On older hardware, the same options will fall back to cloud processing, which may introduce latency and raises privacy considerations. Regardless, the integration marks a shift in File Explorer’s role from a passive file browser to an active productivity assistant.

Explorer’s Home view also gets smarter. A new card‑based layout surfaces recent, pinned, and shared files more prominently, and on Copilot+ PCs, semantic search can find files based on natural‑language queries like “the presentation I was working on last Tuesday” without needing to remember exact file names. Phone Link integration extends here as well: a linked phone appears as a virtual storage location, enabling drag‑and‑drop file transfers directly within Explorer.

Copilot and the AI Backbone

Underpinning these changes is an increasingly tight integration of Copilot. Microsoft has embedded Copilot prompts into Notepad, Photos, and the broader shell, and the 25H2 update refines the “Click to Do” feature—contextual actions that appear when you select text or files. Windows Search itself is being sandboxed, running search processes in isolated containers to mitigate the security risks of deeper AI queries. This is a smart hedge: as AI capabilities expand, so does the attack surface, and Microsoft is signaling that security won’t be an afterthought.

Enterprise Considerations and the Copilot+ Divide

For IT administrators and enterprise decision‑makers, the 25H2 update demands a structured pilot before broad deployment. The new Start menu and Explorer behaviors touch high‑usage code paths, and Insider reports have already flagged edge‑case issues—for example, the linked toggle between Start recommendations and File Explorer recent items. Enterprises should also verify that critical line‑of‑business applications render correctly with the new Start layout and that any custom Group Policy objects governing the Start menu still behave as expected.

The Copilot+ hardware tier introduces a distinct fragmentation. Machines with dedicated AI silicon will enjoy faster, local AI processing for File Explorer actions and semantic search, while older PCs must rely on cloud endpoints. This creates two classes of experience, and organizations with mixed fleets will need to set different expectations. Security and compliance teams, particularly in regulated industries, must review whether any file content leaves the device during AI processing and configure data‑residency settings accordingly.

Microsoft has been incrementally adding admin policies to control Copilot features and Start menu pinning, but the documentation remains a work in progress. Enterprises should push for clear telemetry disclosures: even when AI actions are local, metadata about usage patterns could be transmitted unless policies block it.

Risks and What to Watch For

  • Privacy and telemetry: AI‑driven summaries and recommendations require access to file content. Microsoft’s blog describes both local and cloud paths, but until full transparency on telemetry flows is available, privacy‑conscious users and organizations should treat the new features as opt‑in where possible.
  • Hardware fragmentation: The most compelling AI capabilities are gated behind Copilot+ devices, creating a two‑tiered ecosystem. Users on older hardware may see degraded performance or limited functionality.
  • Bug surface: Major UI overhauls historically introduce regressions. Insider testers have already reported inconsistencies with the linked Start‑Explorer toggle and occasional layout glitches on ultrawide displays. A gradual rollout with telemetry‑driven remediation will be critical.
  • Learning curve: Power users who rely on muscle memory or third‑party Start menu customizations will need time to adapt. Some legacy customization hooks may break, and alternative shell vendors will have to re‑engineer their products.

How to Get the New Features Now

Eager users can experience the redesigned Start menu and AI actions by joining the Windows Insider Program. Beta and Dev channels typically receive features first. To test the phone companion panel, link a phone via the Phone Link app and ensure the operating system build matches the Insider flight. For the full AI capabilities, a Copilot+ device is recommended, though many features will work in a cloud‑assisted mode on other hardware. Keep in mind that availability may vary across channels, and not all testers will see every feature simultaneously.

The Bottom Line

Microsoft’s 25H2 update is a pivotal moment for Windows 11. It makes the Start menu more personal and less intrusive, finally delivering the configurable, app‑focused launcher that users have demanded. Simultaneously, it plants AI deeply into File Explorer and cross‑device workflows, setting the stage for a desktop that actively assists rather than merely stores. The trade‑offs are real: privacy concerns, hardware inequality, and the inevitable first‑release instability. But by coupling radical user‑choice improvements with an AI roadmap that touches the OS’s most fundamental surfaces, Microsoft is signaling that Windows is no longer a static backdrop—it’s becoming a proactive partner in getting work done. The industry should watch closely how this plays out in enterprise adoption and whether the promised decoupling of toggles and clearer privacy controls arrive before the final public rollout.