The very best Windows 11 upgrade in years is mainly Microsoft undoing itself

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Released Sep 21, 2026, 6:00 PM EDT

Rob LeFebvre is an editor and author concentrating on customer and business innovations for a broad series of outlets. He’s been composing online for more than 15 years; before that he was an unique teacher for kids with extreme specials needs.

Rob has actually been an Editorial Director at Lifewire, a news author at Engadget, and a senior factor at Cult of Mac. He’s discussed PCs, Macs, smart phones, and video games, produced newsrooms from the ground up, and has comprehensive experience examining hardware, software application, and video games throughout his profession.

In October 2021, Microsoft delivered a Windows 11 taskbar that might just live at the bottom of your screenAlmost 5 years later on, you can lastly park it on the top, left, or ideal edge once again, much like Windows 10 did.

<p>That's the primary modification in KB5124008, the September 2026 Patch Tuesday upgrade, and it isn't the only thing Microsoft is providing us back. The <a href="http://%22https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/servicing/os/windows-11/2026/08/kb5120998-windows-11-24h2-25h2-update%22" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">KB5120998 sneak peek keeps in mind</a> list Start menu size alternatives and independent toggles for each Start area, and KB5124008 brought those into the compulsory September upgrade. Nearly none of this is brand-new; this upgrade is Windows 11 reversing choices Microsoft made at launch, which is why it's the very best upgrade in years. It's likewise insufficient: you still can't drag the taskbar to a brand-new edge, Start still does not resize easily, and a staged rollout implies you might not see any of it.</p>    

The five-year roadway to repairing the user interface

Restripping the core user interface to construct a brand-new structure

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    </source></picture><small>Credit: Pankil Shah/ MakeUseOf</small></figure>

When Windows 11 released in 2021, it removed away years of recognized workflow routines.

Power users lost drag-and-drop file opening on taskbar icons, the deep right-click context menu was changed with a bare-bones Taskbar

Settings link, and the bar was locked to the screen’s bottom edge. Microsoft safeguarded these omissions as needed compromises while reconstructing the taskbar from

scratch.[ 19659010]Over the next 2 years, Microsoft dripped standard performance back through incremental spots, bring back drag-and-drop in 2022, Task Manager’s right-click faster way later on that year, and complete window labels by late 2023. The taskbar itself stayed pinned at the bottom. The taskbar moves once again

A long-awaited repair gets here with genuine physical restrictions

Credit: Pankil Shah/ MakeUseOf

The capability to move your taskbar appeared previously this year when Microsoft supplied Experimental construct 26300.8493 to Insiders in May 2026, presenting top, left, and best positioning choices along with a compact taskbar setting. That test worked its method into the August sneak peek upgrade before formally presenting to everybody in the September 8 security release

, KB5124008. Moving the bar is as easy as heading to Settings> Customization> Taskbar[> Taskbar habits and choosing your favored edge from the brand-new position dropdown. As welcome as this remediation is, it isn’t an overall go back to Windows 10 performance. There are still significant function spaces: you can not click and drag the taskbar to a brand-new edge on the fly, auto-hiding breaks on every edge other than the bottom, and parking the bar vertically strips away the complete search box in favor of a standard icon. Start gets its controls back, sort of

More design alternatives, however no real freeform sizing

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    </source></source></picture></figure>

The Start menu is getting a comparable treatment. Under the design settings presented in KB5120998 and KB5124008, you get far better control over screen property by selecting specific Small or Large pre-programmed designs, toggling Pinned products, Recommended files, and All Apps on or off individually, or concealing your account profile photo to cut mess. While these brand-new toggles offer you a cleaner design, they do not revive the freeform corner-dragging resize habits that made the Windows 10 Start menu so versatile. You are selecting from pre-set design templates instead of constructing your own grid.

Close down lastly implies closed down

Bypassing required upgrade hold-ups when you simply wish to shut off your PC.

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                                                                                        <picture><source media="(max-width: 767px)" data-srcset="https://i0.wp.com/pmnsports.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/localimages/windows-11-start-menu-upcoming-feature-3.jpg?quality=82&strip=all"> <source media="(max-width: 1023px)" data-srcset="https://i0.wp.com/pmnsports.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/localimages/windows-11-start-menu-upcoming-feature-3.jpg?quality=82&strip=all"> <img width="1650" height="1114" loading="lazy" decoding="async" alt="recipes Redesigned Windows 11 Start menu displaying pinned apps, recent files, and categorized app library" src="https://i0.wp.com/pmnsports.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/localimages/windows-11-start-menu-upcoming-feature-3.jpg?quality=82&strip=all" previous-src="https://i0.wp.com/pmnsports.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/localimages/windows-11-start-menu-upcoming-feature-3.jpg?quality=82&strip=all"> data-srcset="https://i0.wp.com/pmnsports.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/localimages/restart-from-start-menu.jpg?quality=82&strip=all"&gt;
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Microsoft likewise seems repairing among the most relentless day-to-day inconveniences in Windows management: required upgrade stalls when powering off. Beginning in Insider construct 26300.8289the business upgraded the Power menu reasoning so it constantly shows basic Restart and Shut down commands best along with “Update and Restart.”

<p>This modification must strike your device quickly, permitting you to switch off your rig without being imprisoned by an apparently limitless spot setup. <a href="http://%22https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/release-health/status-windows-11-24h2%22" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Since Microsoft omitted this particular tweak from the main KB5124008 spot notes, you will wish to evaluate your own Power menu choices after upgrading to validate your develop has actually gotten the server-side toggle.</a></p>    Why you may not see any of this yet

Staged rollouts and sticking around upgrade bugs

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    </picture><small>Credit: Source: Microsoft</small></figure>

Setting up KB5124008 will not ensure these modifications will appear on your desktop immediately, nevertheless, as Microsoft’s Controlled Feature Rollout (CFR) procedure turns function flags on in waves that can take days or weeks to appear. Using the spot likewise includes normal OS upgrade dangers. Microsoft’s Release Health control panel flagged 4 crucial bugs connected to the release: Remote Desktop hanging, and damaged Linux VM folder sharing in Hyper-V, both of which were dealt with through an out-of-band KB5129195 spot, along with USB audio connection drops on specific external DACs and business domain trust losses, which stay on short-term mitigations while we wait on more irreversible repairs.

A long-overdue surrender

Offering users back their taskbar alternatives might not be a strong leap into computing’s future, however it’s a strong advance, even if it finds out more like a business surrender to 5 years of stable user problems.

KB5124008 marks a required action towards repairing a fractured desktop experience, even if it’s a bittersweet victore. 5 years of waiting provided fundamental design toggles, while drag-and-drop taskbar moving and freeform Start menu resizing stay totally missing out on. Update your system for the security repairs and get the leading taskbar if you miss it.