Microsoft delivered a Windows 11 Beta build this week that gives users something they’ve been asking for since October 2021: genuine control over what the Start menu shows, how big it is, and whether it broadcasts your identity. Build 26220.8925, now rolling out to Insiders in the Beta channel, adds independent visibility toggles for the Pinned, Recent, and All apps sections, a three-way size setting (Small, Large, or Automatic), the option to hide the account name and profile picture, and a redesigned settings page. The same build also fixes File Explorer’s annoying habit of displaying every file size in kilobytes.

For anyone who has ever stared at a mostly empty “Recommended” section or wished the Start menu would just get out of the way, this update is a significant course correction. It doesn’t revert to Windows 10’s drag-to-resize freedom, but it marks a structural shift away from a one-size-fits-all launcher toward a modular surface that users can actually shape.

What’s new in build 26220.8925

The Start menu changes fall into five concrete additions:

  • Section toggles for Pinned, Recent, and All. You can now independently hide any of these three sections. Want a pins-only dashboard? Hide Recent and All. Prefer a classic app list? Hide Pinned and Recent. The toggles live in Settings > Personalization > Start, alongside a redesigned page that groups controls logically.
  • Renamed “Recommended” to “Recent.” The label now more honestly reflects what the section typically contains—recently opened files and newly installed apps—rather than implying the OS is making suggestions on your behalf. The underlying content and settings remain similar, but the language choice matters for user trust.
  • Start menu sizing: Small, Large, and Automatic. The default “Automatic” lets Windows decide based on your display, but you can now force a compact launcher (Small) or an expanded view with more visible pins (Large). This is especially useful for users who dock and undock laptops, as a fixed size prevents the menu from reshuffling itself based on monitor changes.
  • Hide account name and profile picture. A small but significant privacy addition. If you share your screen during meetings, streams, or presentations, you can now open Start without flashing your full name and photo.
  • Redesigned Start settings page. The settings page now mirrors the actual menu structure, making it easier to understand which switches affect which areas. It’s a cleaner, more visual experience.

Beyond the Start menu, the build also addresses a long-standing paper cut: File Explorer now displays file sizes in appropriate units (KB, MB, GB) instead of always using kilobytes. A 6.2 GB disk image will appear as “6.2 GB” rather than a brain-bending “6,200,000 KB.” The touchpad and Narrator also receive refinements, though Microsoft hasn’t detailed them as extensively.

What it means for you

The impact of these changes splits neatly along audience lines.

For home users and power users: The immediate win is clutter reduction. If you launch everything through Windows Search or the taskbar, you can now strip Start down to almost nothing. If you prefer a dense grid of pins, you can enlarge the menu and hide the rest. Combined with the ability to mask your identity, Start becomes less of a rigid portal and more of a personal workspace. The file size fix also makes day-to-day cleanup and file management less annoying.

For IT professionals and admins: The real prize will be policy support. Once Microsoft offers Group Policy or MDM controls for these settings, organizations can deploy role-specific Start layouts: a clean, identity-hidden menu for conference-room PCs; a full app browser for developers; a locked-down pin grid for task workers. Without manageability, the consumer toggles are just a tease. The Beta appearance suggests the feature is stabilizing, but admins should wait for explicit policy documentation before planning deployment.

For developers and third-party utility creators: The expanded customization may reduce demand for Start menu replacements, at least among mainstream users. But power-user tools that offer cascading menus, classic layouts, or deep theming will retain an audience. Microsoft should document stable extension points to avoid breaking these tools with future updates.

How we got here: The Start menu’s journey

When Windows 11 launched in October 2021, the Start menu was deliberately simplified. Live Tiles vanished, the alphabetical app list moved behind an extra click, and a fixed-size “Recommended” area took up substantial real estate. The design was cleaner, but it removed user agency. Windows 10’s ability to resize, group, and customize was gone.

The backlash was immediate. Over the next few years, Microsoft slowly added back some flexibility: folders for pinned apps, the ability to change the pin-to-recommended ratio, alternative All apps views, and a few folder shortcuts. But these were tweaks, not structural fixes. The menu remained a fixed collection of sections with limited hide options.

In May 2026, Microsoft published a blog post titled “Improving Windows quality: Making Taskbar and Start more personal,” acknowledging that Start and the taskbar are primary interfaces and promising more control. That post outlined movable taskbar positions, compact taskbar sizing, and more predictable Start layouts. Build 26220.8925 is the first substantial delivery on that promise for the Start side.

The changes also reflect a broader shift in Windows development away from constantly pushing Microsoft services and toward addressing long-standing quality-of-life complaints. File Explorer’s unit fix and touchpad refinements reinforce that theme.

What to do now

If you’re an Insider in the Beta channel, here’s how to engage with build 26220.8925 safely and productively:

  1. Enable the latest updates. Features often arrive via controlled rollout. In Settings > Windows Update, toggle “Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available” to increase your chances of receiving them early.
  2. After installing, check Settings > Personalization > Start. If the new options aren’t there, the feature might not have rolled out to you yet. You can try restarting Explorer or waiting a few days.
  3. Test thoroughly, not just visually. Try these scenarios to provide meaningful feedback:
    - Select Small or Large, then dock/undock your laptop or switch monitors with different scaling.
    - Hide and unhide sections in various combinations.
    - Sign in with different account types (local, Microsoft, work, school) if available.
    - Open Start while sharing your screen to verify the account info is hidden.
    - Use Narrator and high-contrast themes to check accessibility of the new controls.
    - Verify that hiding account details still lets you lock, sign out, and switch accounts.
  4. Report issues through the Feedback Hub. Microsoft relies on telemetry and user reports to refine behavior.
  5. Do not install this build on a primary production machine. Insider builds can break sleep, drivers, or core functions. Keep current backups.

For enterprise administrators, the immediate action is to monitor the Insider blog for policy announcements and to prepare test VMs for validation once more details emerge.

Outlook

The path from Beta to stable isn’t guaranteed. Microsoft could ship these Start controls in a cumulative update, a feature enablement package, or the next annual release. The controlled rollout means even Beta testers shouldn’t assume immediate access.

The bigger question is how far Microsoft will take this personalization push. Will taskbar repositioning and compact mode follow soon? Will we get live previews of Start changes before committing? Will preferences roam sensibly across devices without forcing identical layouts on mismatched screens? And crucially, will the company keep the Settings page free of promotional clutter in the long run?

Build 26220.8925 doesn’t reinvent Windows, but it does something rarer: it restores agency that was taken away. If Microsoft sustains this focus on user control over the next several releases, Windows 11 may yet earn back the trust it lost when the Start menu was flattened into a billboard. For now, Beta testers have a reason to open Start again—this time, to shape it into something that finally works for them.