// PC GAMER — GAMING
Microsoft is finally letting us turn the Windows 11 right-click context menu into something more like Windows 10
All these years later and I still haven't adjusted. Oh, and there are File Explorer improvements, too.
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It might not be as flashy as a new game or a GPU upgrade, but assuming you've not already migrated to Linux, improvements to Windows can mean improvements to our day-to-day quality of life. On that front, Microsoft has actually been making headway over the past few months, and has now set to improving a couple of things that have irked Windows 11 users since the inception of the latest OS: File Explorer and the (right-click) context menu.
According to Microsoft's recent blog post, as part of the latest Insider build, in addition to "performance and reliability" improvements for File Explorer, we'll also get a context menu that's quicker, easier to use, and more customisable.
It's worth noting that these changes, although only for insiders right now, will come to the standard, public version of Windows 11 eventually. Insiders just get to try out these new features first.
"We’ve analyzed the issues behind many of the freezes, hangs, and delays users encounter, and eliminated dozens of potential stalls and interruptions in the experience. As a result, you’ll see fewer freezes and flashes when browsing, renaming files, navigating, or selecting multiple files."
There are also a number of changes to "small interactions that happen every day", such as having more immediate and less interrupted filename changes, support for more address bar inputs, middle-click-open working in the address bar and with Home page folders, file sizes being shown "using appropriate units", and so on. Such improvements are apparently "just the beginning."
But enough of the small stuff, how about the big one: the right-click menu. For many Windows 11 users—myself included—the change to the new menu from the Windows 10 one was particularly jarring. I'm still not quite used to that row of main commands such as copy and paste being laid horizontally on the top/bottom row and not having 'Properties' at the bottom.
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Thankfully that's one of the things Microsoft says it will be giving us the option to change: "You can list the main commands (Cut, Copy, Paste, Rename, Delete, and Share) inline directly in the menu instead of as a row of icons, and you can move Properties down to the very bottom."