Evolving Features of the Windows Taskbar in Version 11 Update

Microsoft revamped the taskbar in Windows 11, and has continued to update and tweak it since then with user feedback. There are now a few more changes coming to the Windows taskbar and system tray.

Microsoft has released the latest Windows 11 Insider Preview Build to the Beta Channel, with version number 22635.3930, bringing several new features and improvements. One significant change is a simplified system tray that displays a shortened date/time format and shows the notification bell icon only when Do Not Disturb is off. You can access notifications by clicking the date/time to open the Notification Center. The classic system tray design with the full date/time and bell icon can be restored in the settings.

Microsoft

Taskbar previews have been updated with improved visuals and animations. Additionally, the taskbar now supports first-letter navigation, allowing users to quickly jump to apps using keyboard shortcuts.

Windows Studio Effects, which provides AI-powered camera and audio enhancements, has also received an update. An icon now appears in the system tray when using a Studio Effects-enabled camera, providing quick access to the feature settings. There are now more effects available on the first wave of Copilot+ PC laptops , so it makes sense that Microsoft is trying to highlight the feature better in Windows.

This build also includes various fixes and improvements, as detailed in the official announcement on the Windows Insider Blog. If you want to give this a shot, as we always tell you, you should probably wait until this is out for everyone unless you really don’t mind broken stuff—beta software is beta software, and beta software is, quite often, broken. You don’t want to deal with a potentially system-breaking bug on your main computer. It’s the reason why you have different release channels, but even builds in the more “stable” channel can have issues.

Source: Microsoft