Читать книгу Windows 11 For Dummies - Andy Rathbone - Страница 32

Microsoft dumped a random assortment of icons on the Windows 11 Start menu’s Pinned area — the rows of icons that fill the top half of the Start menu. The resulting jumble consumes lots of real estate, includes advertisements, and is probably not tailored to your personal interests or work habits. This section shows how you can fix that shortcoming by removing, or unpinning, the extra icons from the Pinned area of the Start menu, and adding, or pinning, the ones you use most often.

Removing icons from the Start menu is easy, so you can begin there. To remove an unwanted or unused icons from the Start menu, right-click it and choose Unpin from Start from the pop-up menu. The unloved icon vanishes without fuss, freeing up some prime real estate. (This doesn’t uninstall the app or program, mind you; any unpinned items can still be found in the Start menu’s All Apps area.)

On a touchscreen, hold down your finger on the unwanted icon. When the pop-up menu appears, choose Unpin From Start to remove the icon.

After removing the unwanted items, spend some time adding items to the Start menu, making them as easy to reach as a pencil holder on an office desk.

To add programs or apps to the Start menu, follow these steps:

1  Click the Start button and when the Start menu appears, click the All Apps button, shown in the margin.The Start menu presents an alphabetical list of all your installed apps and programs, even those you’ve just unpinned from the Start menu.

2 Right-click the item you want to appear on the Pinned area of the Start menu; then choose Pin to Start.Each selected item appears as a new Start menu icon. Repeat until you’ve added all the items you want. Unfortunately, you must right-click and pin each item separately. Windows doesn’t let you select and add several items simultaneously.

3 From the desktop, right-click desired items and choose Pin to Start.The Start menu icons aren’t limited to apps and programs. From the desktop or even within File Manager, right-click any oft-used folder, file, or other item you want added to the Start menu and then choose Pin to Start from the pop-up menu.

When you’re through, the Pinned area of your Start menu will have grown considerably with all your newly added destinations.

Can’t find a newly installed app? Chances are good that it’s hiding in the Start menu’s All Apps area. If you want it visible in the Pinned area near the Start menu’s top edge, you need to pin it there yourself.

After you’ve stuffed your Start menu’s Pinned area with your favorite desktop destinations, head to this chapter’s “Customizing the Start menu” section to finish organizing. When you finish, you’ll have created a Start menu that meets your needs.