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Journalism of Courage
The Windows 11 Start Menu has gone through several changes in the last couple of months, with Microsoft recently receiving backlash from users after it started showing ads inside the Start menu.
Now, Microsoft is testing a new change that shows a floating panel full of widgets in the Start menu. First spotted by a user named Albacore on X (formerly Twitter), the new floating widgets started appearing in the latest Windows 11 test build.
The widgets, called “Start Menu Companions” are basically apps that show up as “Adaptive Cards” in a floating island that appears on the right or left side of the Start menu. As it turns out, these Companions can be customised by heading over to Settings> Personalisation > Start.
The Start menu customisation window also shows a list of installed companions alongside a toggle that lets users quickly enable or disable them. Windows 11 might also show a link to the provider’s website. The tipster suggests that like widgets, these companions will be “very web-centric”.
These companions look similar to the Windows Phone interface, which displayed information in an animated flipping Live Tiles. We hope Microsoft decides not to show ads in the floating panel, like the widget panel in Windows 11.
Apart from widgets in the Start menu, Microsoft also appears to be working on a new functionality that lets users ask Copilot for help if the search box in the Settings has no results for your search query.
