Customising the Windows 11 Taskbar, Start Menu, and System Tray

The taskbar, Start menu, and system tray are the three elements you interact with more than almost anything else on your computer. They are the launchpad for your applications, the home of your notifications, and the gateway to your most-used settings. Yet most users stick with the default layout Windows installs — and miss out on a genuinely more efficient daily experience.

Windows 11 made significant changes to these elements compared to Windows 10: the Start button moved to the centre, the taskbar lost some legacy functionality, and the system tray (now called the notification area) was redesigned. Some of these changes are controversial among experienced Windows users, but nearly all of them can be reversed, adjusted, or worked around.

This guide covers every meaningful customisation option — from the basic Settings controls through to registry modifications and third-party tools — to give you a desktop that works the way you do.

Taskbar Basics: What You Can and Cannot Change

Windows 11’s taskbar is more restricted than Windows 10’s in certain respects. By default, it cannot be moved to the top or sides of the screen, cannot be made narrower or taller without registry edits, and some legacy features (like toolbars and the cascading context menu) are gone. That said, there is still a great deal you can configure within Settings → Personalisation → Taskbar.

Taskbar Items

The first section of the Taskbar settings page lets you toggle the built-in buttons:

• Search — Can be hidden, shown as an icon, shown as a search box, or shown as a pill-shaped search with highlights. For a cleaner taskbar, set this to Search icon only.
• Task View — The button that shows all open windows and virtual desktops. If you use virtual desktops regularly, keep this on; otherwise, you can invoke the same view with Win + Tab.
• Widgets — The news and weather panel. Most power users prefer to disable this entirely to reclaim taskbar space.
• Chat — Microsoft Teams integration. If you do not use Teams, turn it off.

Taskbar Behaviours

Further down the settings page, the Taskbar behaviours section includes several important options:

• Taskbar alignment — Set to Left if you prefer the traditional Windows layout with the Start button in the bottom-left corner.
• Automatically hide the taskbar — The taskbar disappears when not in use, giving you back screen real estate. Hover at the bottom of the screen to reveal it.
• Show badges on taskbar apps — Notification count badges on pinned apps (e.g., the number of unread emails on your Mail icon). Disable if you find them distracting.
• Show flashing on taskbar apps — Apps flash their icon in the taskbar to get your attention. You may prefer to disable this if you find it disruptive.
• Show my taskbar on all displays — On multi-monitor setups, this controls whether each screen has its own taskbar.

Pinning and Unpinning Applications

Right-click any open application in the taskbar and select Pin to taskbar to keep it there permanently. Right-click a pinned app and select Unpin from taskbar to remove it. You can also drag pinned apps to reorder them along the taskbar.

Registry Tweaks for Deeper Taskbar Customisation

For changes that Settings does not expose, the Windows Registry is your next stop. Always create a registry backup before making changes: in Registry Editor, click File → Export and save the current registry.

Moving the Taskbar to the Top of the Screen

This is one of the most-requested customisations. While it requires a few registry edits, it works reliably:

1. Press Win + R, type regedit, and navigate to:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StuckRects3
2. Double-click the Settings binary value.
3. In the hex editor, locate the fifth byte in the second row. It will be 03 for bottom position. Change it to 01 for top.
4. Click OK, then restart Explorer: open Task Manager, find Windows Explorer in the list, right-click, and select Restart.

Changing Taskbar Size

Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value named TaskbarSi and set its value to:

• 0 — Small taskbar
• 1 — Medium (default)
• 2 — Large taskbar

Restart Explorer for the change to take effect.

Disabling the Taskbar Entirely (Kiosk Mode)

For presentations or kiosk setups where you want a completely clean screen, you can hide the taskbar via Group Policy in Windows 11 Pro: open gpedit.msc → User Configuration → Administrative Templates → Start Menu and Taskbar → Remove the taskbar.

Customising the Start Menu

The Windows 11 Start menu is divided into two sections: Pinned apps at the top and Recommended items (recent files and newly installed apps) below. Here is how to make it work better for you.

Pinning and Organising Apps

To pin an app to Start, right-click it in the All apps list and select Pin to Start. Pinned items appear in the grid at the top of the Start menu and can be dragged into any order. To remove a pin, right-click it and select Unpin from Start.

You can organise pinned apps into named groups:

1. Drag one pinned app on top of another. They will merge into a group.
2. A small group icon appears. Click on it to expand the group.
3. Click the group name at the top (it shows a generic name by default) and type your own label, such as Creative Tools or Office Apps.

Controlling Recommended Items

If you find the Recommended section cluttered with recent files you would rather not display, go to Settings → Personalisation → Start and adjust these toggles:

• Show recently added apps — Toggles whether new installs appear in Recommended.
• Show most used apps — Based on your usage frequency.
• Show recently opened items in Start, Jump Lists, and File Explorer — Disabling this clears recent files from the Recommended section entirely.

On Windows 11 Professional, you can also use Group Policy (gpedit.msc) to enforce Start menu settings across an entire organisation — for example, preventing users from pinning personal apps or hiding the Recommended section completely.

Showing More Pins or More Recommendations

Go to Settings → Personalisation → Start → Layout and choose:

• More pins — Increases the pinned grid to show more apps, reducing the Recommended section.
• Default — Balanced split between pins and recommendations.
• More recommendations — Shrinks the pins grid and shows more recently used files.

Adding Folders to the Start Menu Power Strip

Along the bottom of the Start menu, next to the power button, you can add shortcut icons for frequently used folders. Go to Settings → Personalisation → Start → Folders and toggle on any of: Settings, File Explorer, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, Videos, Network, or Personal folder. These appear as small circular icons for quick access.

Customising the System Tray (Notification Area)

The system tray sits in the bottom-right corner of the taskbar and hosts the clock, notification bell, Quick Settings panel, and icons from background applications.

Quick Settings: Your Customisable Control Centre

Click the cluster of icons (Wi-Fi, speaker, battery) to open Quick Settings. This panel provides one-click access to common settings like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Aeroplane mode, accessibility features, and screen brightness. To customise which tiles appear:

1. Open Quick Settings by clicking the cluster or pressing Win + A.
2. Click the pencil (edit) icon in the bottom-right corner of the panel.
3. Click Add to include additional settings tiles, or click the unpin icon on any existing tile to remove it.
4. Drag tiles to reorder them.
5. Click Done when finished.

Available tiles include: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Night Light, Screen Cast, Accessibility, Nearby Share, Screen Brightness, Volume, Battery Saver, Aeroplane Mode, and more — depending on your hardware.

Managing the Notification Area Icons

Background apps (antivirus, cloud sync clients, hardware utilities) place icons in the system tray. To control which icons are always visible versus hidden in the overflow menu (the caret arrow):

1. Go to Settings → Personalisation → Taskbar → Other system tray icons.
2. Toggle individual app icons on (always visible in tray) or off (hidden in overflow).

You can also drag icons directly in the system tray area: drag an icon from the overflow into the main tray to make it permanently visible, or drag from the main tray into the overflow to hide it.

Controlling Notifications

The notification bell in the system tray is the gateway to Windows 11’s notification centre. To control which apps can send notifications and how intrusive they are:

1. Go to Settings → System → Notifications.
2. Toggle the main Notifications switch to disable all notifications at once, or scroll down to configure per-app settings.
3. Each app has individual toggles for: showing notifications, notification sounds, showing notification banners, and showing notifications in the notification centre.

Focus Assist (now called Do Not Disturb in Windows 11 22H2 and later) suppresses notifications during specified periods. Enable it under Settings → System → Notifications → Do not disturb and set a schedule, such as turning on automatically from 10pm to 7am.

Third-Party Tools for Deeper Customisation

For users who want capabilities beyond what Microsoft provides natively, several well-regarded third-party tools exist:

• StartAllBack — Restores the Windows 10-style Start menu and taskbar, including the ability to move the taskbar to any screen edge. A popular choice for users who dislike the Windows 11 interface changes.
• ExplorerPatcher — A free, open-source tool that provides many of the same Start menu and taskbar restorations as StartAllBack.
• TranslucentTB — Available free from the Microsoft Store; makes the taskbar transparent or blurred for a sleeker look.
• RainMeter — A free desktop customisation platform that adds widgets, skins, and information panels to your desktop surface.

These tools are used by millions of Windows users and are well-maintained, but as with any third-party software that modifies system UI components, apply them to a system you are comfortable with and check compatibility after major Windows updates.

Multi-Monitor Taskbar Customisation

If you use two or more monitors, Windows 11 extends the taskbar across all screens by default. You can fine-tune this behaviour in Settings → Personalisation → Taskbar → Taskbar behaviours:

• Show my taskbar on all displays — Untick to show the taskbar only on your primary monitor.
• When using multiple displays, show my taskbar apps on — Choose between: All taskbars, Taskbar where window is open, or Main taskbar and taskbar where window is open.
• Share any corner of the taskbar to show the desktop — Controls whether the far right edge of the taskbar acts as a Show Desktop button.

Putting It All Together

The most productive taskbar and Start menu setup is a personal thing — what works brilliantly for a developer with six pinned terminals and a hidden system tray will be completely wrong for an accountant who wants quick access to Excel, Outlook, and nothing else. The key is to audit what you actually use, remove everything else, and use the customisation tools described here to build something that reflects your real workflow.

Start by cleaning the Start menu: remove every pinned item you have not used in the past month and replace them with the three to five apps you open every day. Then move to the taskbar: disable the Widgets panel, remove unused built-in buttons, and consider whether you want the Start button on the left (familiar) or centre (default). Finally, tame the system tray: show only the icons you actually glance at, and let everything else sit in the overflow menu.

These changes take ten minutes and make a genuine difference to how the OS feels. Windows 11 Professional from GetRenewedTech at £18.99 gives you access to all the settings covered here, including the Group Policy tools for managing these settings across multiple machines.