What you need to know
- A former Microsoft employee narrates how he wrote the Start menu for Windows 95.
- Windows 11’s Start menu has received considerable backlash from users due to its flawed design and redundancy.
- Microsoft’s recent move to bring ads to the Start menu in Windows 11 isn’t popular among avid users.
Avid Windows users are in a love-hate relationship with the Start menu in Windows 11. But how did the app come into existence in the first place? Microsoft veteran Dave W. Plummer, aka Dave’s Garage, known for his contributions across the Windows ecosystem, including adding ZIP file support to Windows over 30 years ago, recently narrated how he wrote the Start menu for Windows 95. In the 6-minute long YouTube video, Plummer admits that developing the Start menu was a team effort. While the former Microsoft employee says the Windows 95 team should take the “lion’s share of credit” for developing the Start menu, his efforts are consistent across the app. “I wrote the stuff that paints the stuff that you see in the beginning, and that actually runs the program that you run at the end,” added Plummer.
However, the recent move by Microsoft to bring ads to the Start menu in Windows 11 isn’t making things easier. Windows 11’s stringent system requirements and flawed design are among the main contributing factors to why many users continue to stick to Windows 10 despite its looming death slated for October 14, 2025. Interestingly, despite running Windows 11 on a sophisticated ,600 device, a former Microsoft software engineer shared his frustrations and referred to the Start menu’s performance as “comically bad.”
The lack of love for the Windows 11 Start menu has also led to a few alternative options, including Start11 from Stardock, which lets users replace the original menu with one from various eras or make a custom one.
