Despite all of the fanfare surrounding Windows 11, it’s evident that several of its taskbar features are still lacking in comparison to the usefulness of the operating system it’s replacing—Windows 10. As of October 20, 2021, here are five ways Windows 10’s taskbar outperforms Windows 11’s.
Related: How to Center Windows 10 Taskbar Icons (Like Windows 11)
You Can’t Move It to Different Sides of the Screen
You can easily unlock the taskbar in Windows 10 and slide it to the left, right, or top of the screen. This is useful for those who like to use the taskbar in a different manner.
Unfortunately, there is no official way to re-locate the taskbar in Windows 11. It is feasible to relocate the taskbar to the top of the screen while keeping it useable using registry hacks. Unfortunately, the identical hack for the left or right side of the screen breaks the taskbar. In a future edition, we hope Microsoft introduces an official option to move the taskbar.
In Windows 10, you can make the taskbar larger—allowing it to show more icons at once—by unlocking it and dragging its edge. You can also change the icon size from regular to small with a setting in Settings > Personalization > Taskbar.
While it’s possible to resize the taskbar in Windows 11 while also resizing everything else (with the “Scale” setting in System > Display), you’ll have to live with much bigger text while doing so. We’ve found a registry hack work-around that lets you choose between three sizes, but an official option from Microsoft would be ideal.
In Windows 10, the date and time are shown in the corner of each monitor’s taskbar, making it easy to verify the time. So, if you’re using several screens, the clock is where you’d expect it to be. The date and time in the right corner of the taskbar only appear on the primary monitor in Windows 11. If enough people request it, this one appears to be a simple repair in a future release of Windows 11.
In Windows 10, you may go old school by always displaying text window labels alongside app icons in your taskbar. It might assist you rapidly get a sense of what you’re dealing with if you don’t have too many windows open. In Windows 11, all of your windows are merged into a single icon for each app, with no text labels to be found. You now have even less information at your disposal. That can be beneficial when attempting to make an interface less visually perplexing, but removing the choice entirely is a mistake.
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