Windows 10’s Start menu could have a nifty change in the pipeline

Windows 10

Microsoft has apparently sneaked in a change to the Start menu for Windows 10 ‘skip ahead’ testers – who are now working with the next big update due to land in the first half of 2019 – and it seems the plan is to change the menu in a simple but interesting way.

The change is that when you hover the mouse pointer over an icon in the left-hand pane of the Start menu, the menu in question is displayed after a slight delay of a split second – as opposed to just a tooltip telling you what the icon is, which is what pops up currently.

Now, if you’re a skip ahead tester and the Start menu doesn’t seem any different to you, that’s because at the moment Microsoft is only trialing this change with a limited number of folks.

Sample set

In other words, the software giant wants to see how the new menu resonates with that small group, before potentially introducing it across the board in a future build for skip ahead testers. So, hold tight and you may see this eventually (either that, or Microsoft will abandon it as a bad idea, which is obviously a possibility).

It may be a relatively minor change, but it’s interesting to see nonetheless. It's also of note because there weren’t supposed to be any changes introduced with the skip ahead build 18204 (which, last week, was forked from build 17723, the Redstone 5 update due to arrive later this year).

The big change with both these latest preview builds is that Microsoft has introduced smart machine learning tech to attempt to judge when’s the best time to fire up and install Windows updates (to avoid interrupting or otherwise inconveniencing the user, and we’ve certainly witnessed complaints of this happening in the past).

Via MS Power User

Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).

Latest in Windows
girl using laptop hoping for good luck with her fingers crossed
Windows 11 24H2 seems to be a massive fail – so Microsoft apparently working on 25H2 fills me with hope... and fear
A woman sitting in a chair looking at a Windows 11 laptop
It looks like Microsoft might have thought better about banishing Copilot AI shortcut from Windows 11
Using Zipped files and folders in Windows 11
Windows 11 should soon be faster at extracting files from compressed ZIPs – and it’s about time, frankly
Xbox Wireless Controller
Microsoft is adding a powerful new feature for using Xbox controllers with Windows 11
Woman disgusted by her laptop
Embarrassing Windows 11 bug that deleted Copilot app is now fixed – but will anyone outside of Microsoft care?
Student sat at a desk with a laptop in a dormitory looking at a mobile phone
Windows 11 could eventually help you understand how fast your PC is - as well as offer tips for making your PC or laptop faster for free
Latest in News
DeepSeek
Deepseek’s new AI is smarter, faster, cheaper, and a real rival to OpenAI's models
Open AI
OpenAI unveiled image generation for 4o – here's everything you need to know about the ChatGPT upgrade
Apple WWDC 2025 announced
Apple just announced WWDC 2025 starts on June 9, and we'll all be watching the opening event
Hornet swings their weapon in mid air
Hollow Knight: Silksong gets new Steam metadata changes, convincing everyone and their mother that the game is finally releasing this year
OpenAI logo
OpenAI just launched a free ChatGPT bible that will help you master the AI chatbot and Sora
An aerial view of an Instavolt Superhub for charging electric vehicles
Forget gas stations – EV charging Superhubs are using solar power to solve the most annoying thing about electric motoring