Windows 11 is getting minor (but much-needed) Start and taskbar upgrades

Microsoft is testing a Windows update that will bring the taskbar clock back to secondary monitors Windows 11, and will offer the ability to get rid of the “Recommended” documents on the Start menu. Well, not entirely.

Microsoft’s Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22509 for the Dev Channel was announced on Wednesday, devoted almost entirely to bug fixes. But the new build also addresses two taskbar and Start menu annoyances within Windows 11. If the testing goes well, these much-needed improvements should eventually wind up in the full Windows 11 release.

In Windows 11, the taskbar remains in a fixed location, with far less of the functionality available on Windows 10. Put simply: The Windows 11 taskbar is a major step backwards. One of the small (but big) annoyances is that the vast area of empty space on the Taskbar could be filled with information such as the clock, date and time on secondary displays. It’s not — despite being present in Windows 10 — but the new developer build restores this information. (Or it will; Microsoft said that it’s rolling out this feature to Dev Channel testers, but not to everyone at once.)

Microsoft is also allowing you to configure your Start menu with a bit more flexibility. No, you still can’t resize the screen. But Microsoft will offer the option of choosing “More Pins” (or apps) as well as “More Recommendations” for people who want to see a greater number of recommended or recent documents.

Microsoft’s new build will also stack notifications, so you may see up to four notifications at the same time for a given app – three high priority notifications and one normal priority notification. Microsoft also made some adjustments to Narrator to turn off the “scan mode” sooner. More details can be found in Microsoft’s post.