New features coming to the Windows 10 Start menu
According to reports, Windows 10 Redstone 6 could bring changes to the Start menu that might improve the way users interact with the available menus.
Specifically, the side pane of the Start menu may open on mouse hover, with no click necessary to access information like pictures, documents, or power options.
An early look at this small update is already available for a very limited set of Windows insiders who received the first Windows 10 Redstone 6 build earlier this week. Right now, it looks like Microsoft is still experimenting with this Start menu improvement, and this is the reason the company hasn’t released it to everyone, but only to a small number of testers.
While this may improve Start menu usability, it remains to be seen how the change would be received by users. The much better approach would be an option that allows users to choose between the existing behavior of the Start menu and the new one, as this would basically allow Microsoft to avoid negative feedback following this change.
The Start menu has been the subject of many changes in the last Windows versions. After being removed entirely in Windows 8, it returned to users with the release of Windows 10 when it received a completely new look and support for live tiles.
Since then, Microsoft has gradually improved it with subtle tweaks here and there, and by the looks of things, work in this regard would continue with the upcoming Redstone 6 update.
Still in its early days, Windows 10 Redstone 6 is projected to be finalized in the spring of 2016, according to Microsoft’s typical release schedule. More builds possibly including further Start menu changes are expected in the next weeks and months.
