- Microsoft seems to think about an overhaul for the start menu
- We saw him last week, hidden in the tests, and now we saw what he looks like with the lateral panel of the activated telephone link
- This configuration of the start menu occupies most of the office, but there is a switch that you can drop to change this
If you have seen the major overhaul that could be in progress for the start menu of Windows 11 – although it is noted that it is still not hidden in the tests – we have caught another look, this time with the lateral panel of the active telephone link.
As a quick recycling, the telephone link is the Microsoft application that connects your Android smartphone so that you can use the device for various functions (texts, notifications or even certain applications) on the Windows 11 desk. The mentioned side panel puts all the relevant details relating to your phone in a box, floating to the right of the start menu.
As you can see below, the leak known Phantomofearth on X has shown us what the overhaul of the starting menu will look like with this active side panel (as in evidence by Windows later).
New start menu, followed: here is what the companions look like, phone link used for demo. The Companion panel is a little wider, and you can now mask / display the companions quickly with a button at the top, next to the search area. pic.twitter.com/hms7e56kiuApril 4, 2025
The key point to remember here is that the overhaul offered by Microsoft makes the start menu wider, which is part of a movement to condense the arrangement of two distinct sections in one, and adapt to this (all this is in theory, of course).
Not only is the start menu, because Phantomoforeth clearly shows it, but the telephone connection panel is also a little wider here, which means that 75% (maybe even a little more) of the office is obscured by this configuration of the Start menu. That’s almost the whole screen eaten, in other words.
However, as Phantomofearth also points out in the post above (watch the video clip), there is a button that you can click to hide (or display) the companion panel. This means that a click is needed to remove this additional part from the interface and reduce the start menu (although it is still larger than before).
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Does that bother me at all? No, in a word. As indicated, you don’t need to have the side panel for the active telephone link application. And, of course, there are many more people who do not use this Android smartphone connection than people who use it – in fact, I would like to know what the telephone link for the percentage of use. I do not have this application configured at the moment, but I am thinking and I will probably take the plunge in the future.
However, for those who are in this scenario where the start menu takes place to cover most of the office, is it even a problem? Again, not for me. I suppose that the unfortunate aspect here is that it somehow looks like a full start menu in some respects, and this could give some users of flashbacks on Windows 8 days (which had a real Complete start menu – Well, technically, it was a starter screen, the one that no one has really used or liked it).
But again, you can simply deactivate the telephone link panel if the new arrangement bothers you so much. In addition, I must emphasize (strongly, in a bold red pen) that this function on the overhaul of the start -up menu – which is also delivered with a huge red tick, in the form of an option to deactivate Microsoft’s recommendations – is not even in testing. It is hidden in the background of the preview builds, so nothing can happen with all these concepts. Or, if made, Microsoft could implement them differently from what we see here.
That said, the changes that have hidden in the background seem to be relatively polite – given their completely unofficial status – and it is the one that keeps an eye.
Rest assured, however, that the idea seems to be to give users of Windows 11 more control over what they see in their start menu, including the supply from any excess of expanding on the entire desk in certain scenarios. And it must be a big boost, surely?
