14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has indeed re-launched the Start menu in Windows 10, but it comes with a completely different approach as compared to the one in Windows 7 and even uses the live tiles introduced by the company with Windows 8.
And as part of the Windows Insider program, Microsoft is experimenting ways to improve the Start menu even more and to address criticism and feedback received from users who actually tried the Windows 10 version.
Build 10558 comes with several improvements for the Start menu, including new context menus that are supposed to help the feature blend into the operating system, which already received a similar improvement in the last few insider updates.
Context menu consistency in Windows 10 was quite a problem for both Microsoft and its users, as different designs have been used in the Start menu, Edge browser, and the desktop since RTM. But Microsoft is now working to change this and build 10558 is the first step towards this goal.
App description in the live tile
The new Start menu context menus also organize available options better, so now when you right-click a live tile, for example, you get three different settings: unpin from start, resize, and more. The resize option lets you choose between small, medium, wide, and large, while the more section allows users to turn live tiles off, ping it to taskbar, rate and review the app, or share it.
Click on any of the last two options fires up the store, but for the moment, they do not seem to work.
Another Start menu change implemented in this version is the addition of app descriptions in the live tile. The Mail app, for instance, shows brief text about its features, so you can easily figure out that it can be used with Outlook and Gmail without actually launching it.
These features are currently available for Windows insiders only and they might be introduced to RTM in the coming months depending on feedback.
