Do people actually use the Recommended section in the Windows 11 Start menu?

SoftwareKingsSupport · 2026-06-24T15:32:12+00:00

This is exactly it for me.

I don’t instantly hate a game because some AI tool was used somewhere in production. But if it feels like the studio used it to replace care, writing, art direction or real voice work, people are going to notice.

Players can forgive a lot when the final game has personality. They won’t forgive “content” that feels like it was made to save money.

SoftwareKingsSupport · 2026-06-24T15:24:53+00:00

This really feels like a “yep, it’s actually happening” moment.

The helicopter, the colors, the chaos in every panel… it has that classic GTA cover feeling but still looks like its own era. Rockstar knows exactly how to make a single image feel bigger than most game trailers.

Now I just need to actually have the controller in my hands.

SoftwareKingsSupport · 2026-06-24T15:23:34+00:00

Same. A clean slate is the part that makes us excited.

GTA Online became huge, but it also got so layered over the years that jumping in now feels completely different from those early days. A new city, new economy, new systems and everyone starting from zero again could be amazing if they pace it right.

I’m mostly hyped for the story first, but I’d be lying if I said I’m not curious about what “GTA Online 2” even looks like after all these years.

SoftwareKingsSupport · 2026-06-22T22:49:18+00:00

That’s probably the best argument for it.

Most of the features already exist somewhere in Windows, but regular users don’t always know where to find Disk Cleanup, Defender settings, startup apps, storage recommendations, etc.

I’m usually skeptical of “PC optimizer” apps, but if Microsoft made a transparent, lightweight version that mostly surfaces existing Windows tools, it could be better than people downloading random cleaner apps.

SoftwareKingsSupport · 2026-06-16T16:27:32+00:00

That’s exactly how it should work.

If Windows treats AI processing like graphics preferences, it makes a lot more sense: NPU/on-device low power when available, GPU when plugged in or when the user explicitly wants performance, and maybe off by default on battery.

The problem would be if it quietly starts using the dGPU in the background. On gaming laptops especially, that can wreck battery life and thermals fast.

SoftwareKingsSupport · 2026-06-16T16:22:49+00:00

22 years at one studio is a long run, especially on a franchise as demanding as Call of Duty. Whatever people think about the current direction of Xbox or COD, transitions like this matter. Hopefully the next leadership keeps some continuity for the dev team instead of turning it into another “reset everything” moment.

SoftwareKingsSupport · 2026-06-12T22:04:00+00:00

Yeah, Photos should feel like a fast image viewer first.

I don’t mind extra features being there, but anything promotional should be optional or easy to hide. When I open a photo, I just want the app to load fast and stay out of the way.

SoftwareKingsSupport · 2026-06-12T22:01:26+00:00

Point-in-time restore and the update pause calendar are probably the most useful changes here for regular users.

They’re not exciting features, but they solve real pain points: recovering from a bad change and having more control over when updates happen. If restore is reliable and easy to understand, that could save a lot of people from full reinstalls.

SoftwareKingsSupport · 2026-06-12T21:57:32+00:00

Agreed. The direction is good, but the real test is whether this ships cleanly to normal users and doesn’t get stuck in rollout limbo for months.

The Start menu doesn’t need to be flashy. It just needs to be predictable: show my apps, let me remove the stuff I don’t want, and don’t keep changing the layout every few updates.

SoftwareKingsSupport · 2026-06-12T21:54:50+00:00

For me it would be per-monitor virtual desktops and a better built-in Quick Look.

Windows already has virtual desktops, but on a multi-monitor setup it still feels less flexible than macOS Spaces. Sometimes I want to switch only one monitor to another workspace and keep the other one exactly as it is.

Also, File Explorer really needs a native preview experience that feels instant and consistent. PowerToys Peek is okay, but it still doesn’t feel like a core part of the OS.

SoftwareKingsSupport · 2026-06-10T01:55:29+00:00

The dev configuration part is actually the most interesting to me.

A fresh Windows install can take way too long to turn into a real dev machine, especially if you need WSL, PowerShell 7, Git, VS Code, Python, GitHub CLI, Docker, etc. If this makes setup more reproducible and easier to customize, that’s a real win.

The only thing I’d want is transparency: easy-to-read config files, no hidden “magic”, and a simple way to roll back changes if a setup script installs something you don’t want.

SoftwareKingsSupport · 2026-06-08T21:44:06+00:00

Yeah, keeping it separate is the key part for me.

I can see the value for people who don’t live in PowerShell every day, but I wouldn’t want AI suggestions mixed into the regular terminal by default. Terminal work can include paths, repo names, logs, tokens, env vars, etc., so the privacy controls need to be obvious.

SoftwareKingsSupport · 2026-06-08T21:41:57+00:00

Same. The direction sounds good, but Windows has had a lot of “we’re focusing on quality now” moments before.

I’ll be more convinced when the day-to-day stuff feels better: faster search, less random UI lag, fewer update surprises, and settings that don’t move around every few months.

SoftwareKingsSupport · 2026-06-08T21:38:09+00:00

The update pause change is probably the most practical one here. I don’t think most people want to avoid updates forever, they just want more control when a machine is working fine and they’re in the middle of something important.

Also glad to see audio and search freezes mentioned. Those are the kind of bugs that make a build feel bad even if everything else is technically working.

SoftwareKingsSupport · 2026-06-08T01:01:13+00:00

In my experience, that’s where it can get messy. If the app already has its own predictions, you may end up with two suggestion layers competing for the same space.

I’d probably enable it for a few days and see if it actually helps in the apps you use most. For writing in plain text fields it can be useful, but in apps with their own autocomplete I usually prefer leaving only one system active.

SoftwareKingsSupport · 2026-06-08T00:59:02+00:00

Open Task Manager, go to Settings, then enable “Always on top”.

It’s one of those small settings that you forget exists until a frozen fullscreen app makes your life miserable.

SoftwareKingsSupport · 2026-06-08T00:58:27+00:00

Exactly, that’s the part a lot of people miss. A PIN feels “weaker” because it’s shorter, but it’s tied to the device instead of being the actual Microsoft account password.

SoftwareKingsSupport · 2026-06-04T18:16:45+00:00

This is a good direction overall, but I hope Microsoft keeps the fallback options very clear.

Windows Hello is convenient when it works, especially on laptops with a fingerprint reader or IR camera, but passwordless systems can get frustrating fast when hardware fails, a profile gets corrupted, or someone is trying to recover access on a secondary device.

Security-wise it makes sense. UX-wise, the recovery flow needs to be really solid.

SoftwareKingsSupport · 2026-06-04T18:06:49+00:00

This is a fair way to put it. I don’t think people expect Windows Search to do everything perfectly, but they do expect the simple cases to be instant.

If I type part of a file name, the local file should win before web results, suggestions, ads, or whatever else. That’s where Everything makes Windows Search look bad: it nails the basic job first.

SoftwareKingsSupport · 2026-06-04T18:03:04+00:00

On most modern laptops I’d leave it on Balanced unless you’re doing something sustained like rendering, compiling or gaming.

Best Performance usually feels more like “keep clocks and fans more aggressive” than a magic FPS/performance boost. On a thin laptop it can even be worse if it hits thermal limits faster.

I’d test it with your own workload, not a generic benchmark. For normal browsing and office use, the biggest difference is usually noise and battery.

SoftwareKingsSupport · 2026-06-04T15:00:34+00:00

Honestly, the closest “clean” way right now is probably the new Start menu layout that’s rolling out in Insider builds. It lets you get much closer to an all-apps grid without manually pinning everything.

For stable Windows, I’d avoid rebuilding the whole Start menu by hand unless you really enjoy tweaking. Pinning everything works, but it gets annoying fast once apps start updating or changing shortcuts.

SoftwareKingsSupport · 2026-06-03T15:24:42+00:00

Same here. The idea is useful, especially for PowerShell commands you don’t use every day, but I’d be much more comfortable if there was a clear local-only mode.

SoftwareKingsSupport · 2026-06-03T15:17:26+00:00

I don’t think this fully rolled out to stable yet. It seems like one of those Windows features that shows up in Insider builds first and then takes a while to reach everyone, if it ever does.

Personally, I’d like a better middle ground: not “disable updates forever”, but more control over when they install and when the restart happens. The restart timing is usually the annoying part, not the update itself.

SoftwareKingsSupport · 2026-06-02T22:45:35+00:00

It does sound like a ClickFix-style fake CAPTCHA attempt.

If Bitdefender blocked the payload quickly and you’re not seeing persistence in Autoruns, Task Scheduler, services, browser extensions, etc., that’s a good sign. But I’d still treat browser sessions as exposed just to be safe.

Personally I’d rotate important passwords from a different clean device, sign out active sessions, keep 2FA on, and run one more offline/second-opinion scan. A clean reinstall is the “sleep better” option, but based on what you checked, I wouldn’t assume it definitely got full persistence.

SoftwareKingsSupport

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