MAKE WINDOWS GREAT AGAIN

Microsoft has made many unwelcome and unnecessary changes to Windows 10 and 11. Robert Irvine reveals how to reverse all the ways it has messed up its operating system

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• Restore the Windows Start menu to its ‘classic’ design.
• Restore useful tools Microsoft removed from the taskbar.
• Safely reinstall the original version of Windows Movie Maker.
• Remove the Bing Chat button from Windows 11 search.
• Expand the Windows clipboard to store up to 500 items.
• Add tabs to File Explorer windows in Windows 10.
• Stop Microsoft showing ads in different areas of Windows.

MICROSOFT HAS NEVER been guided by the principle of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. Over the years, it has made many pointless and controversial changes to Windows for the purposes of innovation.

Notable blunders include the botched introduction of User Account Control in Windows Vista, which constantly asked for your approval to perform the simplest of tasks; the ill-advised scrapping of the Start menu in Windows 8 in favor of a touch-optimized Start screen; and its strict system requirements for Windows 11—plus more messing around with the Start menu.

In fairness to Microsoft, it often backtracks on its decisions when enough users complain and now actively seeks the feedback of members of its Windows Insider programme (tinyurl. com/bdf3k8bw) before it makes ‘improvements’. However, there are still plenty of things that annoy us about Windows, from unnecessary changes to useless tools Microsoft has forced on us and useful ones it has removed.