Event details
At my organization, our concerns about migrating our fleet to Windows 11 have never been about unsupported devices, it is usability issues for both the tech savvy and those that do not easily learn new technology. As Windows 10 EOL is approaching and many problems remain, I'd like to hear what the Windows 11 team is doing to bridge the usability gap between the two operating systems. Namely, there are still huge differences in the Start Menu, Taskbar and Systray. The lack of continuity in function will create a huge loss of productivity and an added burden on our Help Desk. Here are a few specific items I know are barriers: users do not see All Apps when clicking the Start Menu without clicking an extra button, missing toolbars on taskbar (e.g. Desktop), no option to always show all icons in Systray, no option for two row Taskbar, centered Start Menu and Taskbar icons by default. It would be easy to update if Windows 11 included an option to use the Windows 10 Start Menu, Taskbar, and Systray. This is possible with 3rd party tools, but it should be an option built in the OS. What is the team doing to minimize these usability issues, address missing features from Windows 10, and overall create an experience that minimizes friction for those that are not tech savvy before Win 10 EOL? I’ve asked this once before and “re-train your users” was the only answer. That doesn’t come close to addressing any of the concerns. Many of those issues require several steps to get to the same place instead of one. That loss of productivity is regular and recurring—not something addressed by training. I know you’ve added other security features, but not being able to show all apps in the system tray for our savvy users is a security risk. It is also unhelpful and an added inconvenience when apps that have been set to be visible have to be re-done after that app updates. I know that software publisher could do something different, but one setting in Windows means we don’t have to address that problem with several other software vendors. And, this was there in Windows 10. Simply bringing over the Windows 10 Start Menu, Taskbar and System Tray from Windows 10 would have led us to update all our devices two years ago. To make all of these matters worse, updating from Win 10 to Win 11 does not bring over preferences set in Win 10. I implore the team to delay EOL on Windows 10 until the transition process has more continuity and is less disruptive.
Interesting.
I can see the "All" button on the start menu right above the apps in the start menu. Can't you?
Also, I have 10 icons/apps in my systray right now, so they do seem to fit/work. What feature of Windows 10 are you referring to that turns on all systray icons at once? If i did that, I'd have 27 in there right now and my taskbar'd be full.
Also, you CAN move the start icon to the left of the taskbar by policy.
Out of curiosity, how long should the team defer W10 EOL? Until all W10 users have retired? 😉
- Jays2Cents4FreeFeb 20, 2025Copper Contributor
Yeah, we didn't have to click an All button before. It isn't as obvious for everyone as it is for you.
No, they should defer until they have feature parity on the Start Meny, System Tray and Taskbar.... things that should have been there on day 1. That's especially true considering they pretend that Windows 11 is a "Feature Update" to Windows 10. It doesn't seem unreasonable to keep full feature parity.For someone that found the All button so easily, I'm surprised you haven't found the option to show all icons. If you have 27 icons in your systray, then you probably need to disable some items from your startup. Showing all of them is one of multiple reasons for a two row Taskbar. My 14 icons there have no problem fitting, with plenty of room for pinned and open apps.
- Dom_CoteFeb 20, 2025Brass Contributor
Yeah, I get that some folks miss the dual-row layout. 😉
We have customers asking for Edge to support dual-row tabs. They have about 40 open at once... Which, thanks to Edge's sleeping tab feature actually works. 😁
Actually, I prefer to keep my desktop and Taskbar as clean as possible, so I turn as much off as possible. I just tried it now to see what you were explaining.