The new centered Start Menu in Windows 11 is divided into two sections. The top half displays the shortcuts for pinned apps, whereas the bottom half includes the “Recommended” section. The latter shows recent files and offers recommendations for various apps installed on your PC. However, if you find the Recommended section annoying and unnecessary, you now have the option to completely remove it. In this tutorial, we will explain how to remove the Recommended section in the Windows 11 Start Menu.
Remove Recommended Section from Windows 11 Start Menu (Updated April 2022)
We have mentioned an easy method to remove the Recommended section from the Windows 11 Start menu in this tutorial. Along with that, we have also included steps to reduce the space assigned to Recommended items, and how to prevent recently added apps from showing up in the Recommended section. You can expand the table below and move to a tutorial of your preference.
Method 1: Remove Recommended Section on Windows 11 with Explorer Patcher
With the latest release of Explorer Patcher, you can now entirely remove the Recommended section from the Windows 11 Start menu. And the best part is that it’s completely free to use. Earlier, we had used Explorer Patcher to set Windows 11 Taskbar icons to ‘Never Combine’ and this time too, the tiny open-source utility has come to the rescue. Here is how to do it.
1. Go ahead and download the latest stable build of Explorer Patcher using the GitHub link right here. Then, run the program to see the Windows 11 Taskbar instantly change to a Windows 10-style Taskbar. Now, right-click on the Taskbar and open “Properties“. It will open Explorer Patcher’s properties.
3. Then, move to the “Start menu” section from the left sidebar and turn on the “Disable the Recommended section” toggle. Finally, click on “Restart File Explorer” at the bottom-left corner.
4. Now, open the Start menu on Windows 11, and you will find that the Recommended section has been removed. You can add more apps to the Start menu and fill the entire section with your favorite pinned apps. That’s awesome, right?
Method 2: Reduce Recommended Section Area and Add More Pins
If you are on the Windows 11 Dev build (22509 or later; Dec 1, 2021), you can choose a Start menu layout where the Recommended section is shrunk to just one row, and more space is available for pinned apps. It is one of the best Windows 11 hidden features, and I always switch the layout when setting up Windows 11.
This way, you will not have to use a third-party app to get more space on the Start menu. The feature is currently available to Insiders in the Dev channel, but it will soon be available on the Stable channel. Then, everyone can follow these steps below and reduce the Recommended section area on their Windows 11 PC.
1. First, press the “Windows + I” shortcut to open the Settings. Now, move to “Personalization” from the left sidebar and click on “Start” in the right pane.
2. Here, choose the “More pins” layout.
3. Now, open the Windows 11 Start menu, and you will find that more rows are available for pinned apps. The Recommended section area is reduced to just one row.
Method 3: Remove Recommended ‘Items’ Through Windows Settings
You can remove the Recommended section from the Start Menu using the Settings menu. Here’s how you can do that in two clicks:
- Open “Settings” using the Windows 11 keyboard shortcut Win + I. Then, click on “Personalization” on the left sidebar, and select “Start” on the right pane.
- Now, turn off the toggle next to “Show recently opened items in Start, Jump Lists, and File Explorer“. You can also disable the “Show recently added apps” option to get an even cleaner Start Menu experience in Windows 11.
Note: Disabling “recently opened items” will also get rid of your favorite websites on the Taskbar jump-lists for your browser, which could be inconvenient for some users.
Method 4: Remove Recommended ‘Items’ From Start Menu
Another way to remove the Recommended items is by individually removing each one from the Start Menu. Here’s how you do that:
- Open the Start Menu either by clicking on the Start Button or hitting the Windows key on your keyboard.
- Now, right-click on the unwanted item and select “Remove from list“. If it is an app that you are trying to remove, you can also click the “Uninstall” button. But this will remove the app from your device for good, and you can no longer access it.
Easily Remove the Recommended Section From the Start Menu!
So yeah, you can see that removing the ‘Recommended’ section from the Start Menu in Windows 11 is easy. Apart from this, you can choose to further customize the Start Menu experience in Windows 11 using our linked guide. Now that you know how it works, check out some of our other guides to learn how to remove other annoyances after upgrading from Windows 10 to Windows 11. You can remove ads from your Windows PC and should disable mouse acceleration on your PC if you are a gamer. Meanwhile, if you dislike the new centered Windows 11 Start Menu, learn how to get the old Windows 10-style Start Menu in Windows 11. If you have any other complaints about Microsoft’s new desktop OS, let us know in the comments section, and we will help you out.
Comments
24
Abubakar Mohammed
Arjun Sha
Arjun Sha
Arjun Sha
Abubakar Mohammed
Satyam Kumar
Satyam Kumar
Arjun Sha
I used the first method because I wanted to remove it completely. Tnx
Does anyone know how to remove the search bar in the start menu?
That was awesome (method 1), thanks!
Thanks It worked great
Can I make the taskbar look like the windows 11 version with explorer patch
Did you find a way to fix that ?
Yes, change the Start Menu style to Windows 11
Thanks Rupesh and team.
It worked for me.
Useless and misleading article. I want to get rid of the Recommended section all together. Even when I turn off these three options, I still have the recommended section, empty and taking up half my start menu. It looks absolute garbage. Even if windows were not going to allow you to turn recommendations off, why would they have the section take up half the start menu even when empty?
did you find a solution?
right
with this good advice,i do not need anymore to remove it one by one.
Does Microsoft really think people want every single person who uses somebody’s computer to be able to see every file they clicked on? I mean, I know with the hub and SSD space being more precious and all, storing certain types of files on your hard drive is less common now than it was 10 years ago. There are other things you might want to hide on your PC besides tasteful romantic material as well, like text files containing passwords and such. Now anybody can just turn it back on and see what files you’re looking at. Why did they think this was a good idea?
Misleading title.
Any way to get rid of “to show your recent files and new apps, turn them on in start settings” ? i want only the apps to appear in the menu.
DOES NOT WORK
DOES NOT !!!!!! REMOVE RECOMMENDED SECTION !
Please change the title since your guide doesn’t remove the section, it just removes all items from the list, the section stays where it is and occupies the same amount of space as if there were items there
Dude,
Bill Gates hasn’t been part of Microsoft for years…
Otherwise, I agree…
useless article that doesn’t tell us how to do what it says it will
Well that’s dumb, I was hoping to gain some real estate after this… recommendations are gone… but it still uses all that space….
Recommended SECTION still there.
Article title wrong.
Why did Microsoft think it was a good idea to paste “To show your recent files and new apps, turn them on in settings. Launch Start Settings.” at the bottom of the start menu after removing the feature. We do not want to see anything down there. Bill Gates, roll up your sleeves and fix your OS.
The title said it was about removing the recommended section. The actual article is only about removing ITEMS from the recommended section. Once all items are removed, the recommended section remains… it’s just empty. So the title is misleading.
The team at Microsoft has no idea what they’re doing when it comes to personalization, customization and stability.
It took them 6 years to get the start menu of Windows 10 right. Even so, it still can buggy and annoying to work with. I have no hope for Windows 11.
As an Windows Insider, I’m really disappointed.
Good guide here though, but then again, should such a guide even be necessary?
Does not work, it is just prints “please enable recommendations” message now.
Very Fine Work !