Windows 10: apps showing in recommended section of start menu after they have been disabled after update

I'm getting really tired of microsoft forcing **** on me. disabled the junk from showing up in the recommended section and now after update they still show even tho theyve been disabled via the settings, and elevated command prompt and group editor etc etc etc. every trick known to man but still the stupid recommended apps still show up every time i open the start menu. isnt it bad enuf there is absolutely no way to stop gamebar from starting whenever the xbox app gets opened but now this too. This is ridiculous. microsoft acting like tyrants to a product i paid for. time to switch to linux si

:)

 

Recommended section in the start menu is blank

Hello, thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Community. I am here to help and provide assistance with any questions or concerns you may have.

I believe you should see recommended apps, recently used files, etc. Let's try some steps to address this problem:

1. Open the Settings app by pressing Win + I.

2. Navigate to Personalization on the left, and then select Start on the right.

3. Under Layout, choose More pins to reduce the size of the Recommended section.

4. Disable Show recently added apps.

5. Disable Show recently opened items in Start, Jump Lists, and File Explorer. This will clear your recent items list and halt the display of recently opened items in Jump Lists and File Explorer > Home > Recent.

6. Turn off Show websites from your browsing history.

7. Turn off Show recommendations for tips, shortcuts, new apps, and more.

This will clear the Recommended section in your Start menu. After you do this, restart your computer, and follow the steps again to enable everything again.

 

Recommended section in the start menu is blank

I can suggest a couple of additional steps for you to attempt and check if it resolves the problem:

- Check "Folders" under Personalization > Start: Make sure the desired folders like Downloads or Documents are enabled under "Folders" to populate the list with recently accessed files.

- Turn off "Focus Assist" while checking for recommendations: Focus Assist might prevent the system from learning your usage patterns and populating recommendations.

- Disable Group Policy settings: Check if any Group Policy settings related to Start menu and recommendations are enabled. You can access Group Policy Editor by pressing Win + R and typing "gpedit.msc".

 

Windows 11 Start Menu - Recommended (Recent files and new apps) section

Dear Microsoft,

I'd like to be able to fill the "Recommended" part of the start menu with more icons of my choosing if I disable "Show recently added apps", "Show the most used apps" and "Show recently opened items in Start, Jump Lists, and File Explorer" on my "Personalisation > Start" settings.

Reasoning :

I always hated the idea of showing "Recent files" for privacy concern, and this real-estate of the start menu is now wasted if we don't use this feature.

Here's what I want from my Start Menu :





While you're at it, please allow the end-user to set the height of the start menu to his choosing. As it stand now, the start menu on W11 is a massive step-back feature-wise and this need to be fixed ASAP.

Also, the taskbar is a mess right now. Here's some example of missing features :

• can't open "task manager" from the taskbar
  
• can't pin desktop icons directly to the taskbar
  
• can't drag & drop files/apps/folder to the taskbar