Windows 11 24H2 gets a more streamlined taskbar and some much-needed bug fixes in Microsoft’s latest update
- Windows 11 24H2 just got a new optional update (still being tested)
- It makes useful adjustments to the taskbar, Start menu, File Explorer, and more
- Microsoft also provides fixes for a range of bugs in this preview release
Windows 11 24H2 just received an optional update that includes some useful interface tweaks.
This is patch KB5046740 and it’s in preview (so as always you may run into issues if you install it) and the major desktop changes are applied to the taskbar and Start menu.
Starting with the taskbar, Microsoft has streamlined the notification area – all the way to the right of the bar – displaying the date and time in a more compact way. The year is no longer displayed (let’s face it, that’s pretty much redundant anyway), so you only see the day and month for the date, leaving the time and date in a small square (instead of the longer rectangle necessary to also include the year).
The overall effect is a cleaner notification area, especially when you consider that Microsoft has also made it so that when Do Not Disturb mode is enabled, the bell icon (for notifications) no longer appears in the notification area. Again, that saves space and you can still open the notification center by clicking on the date and time area.
Additionally, a bug in the taskbar has been fixed where if you set the bar to ‘auto-hide’, the search box will turn into an icon.
If Windows Latestthat noticed all these changes also points out that Microsoft has tinkered with the Start menu so you can right-click on pinned apps to create a jumplist.
If you’re not familiar with the jump list, it provides quick access to common functions used with the app in question, or to files recently opened by the app – it’s essentially a handy set of shortcuts.
Elsewhere, KB5046740 adds a new bit of functionality to File Explorer’s context menu, so when you right-click on a file there’s a new phone link option: selecting this will share the file in question with your smartphone. Also with File Explorer, Microsoft fixed a bug that caused some strangeness with too much space between the icons in the left panel.
In fact, a collection of bug fixes are applied here, including the fix for a failed Windows Update and the fix for an issue where the Windows clipboard history was deleted, leaving it blank.
Analysis: An option you should probably pass on
It’s worth noting that with these tweaks to the notification area in the taskbar, if you don’t like the new space-saving measures, you can disable them and return to normal (displaying the full date, with year) if you wish.
This update represents a solid improvement to the Windows 11 interface and also applies a range of bug fixes that are useful as well. Speaking of bugs, we must remind you that this is a preview update and as such is still in testing phase. So it may have its own bugs (or the bug fixes mentioned may not work, or they may have unintended side effects). .
For this reason, we generally recommend avoiding preview updates unless you’re really desperate for its functionality. Consider them a preview of what you’ll be getting soon, as this update will be the December patch for Windows 11 next month (in just over two weeks, on December 10, to be precise).
If you follow Microsoft’s update schedule closely like we do, you’ll probably remember that the company takes a break in December for the holidays, so while a cumulative main update has been released (on December 10, as noted), there’s no preview or optional update for Windows 11 coming later in December. The next release will be the completed January patch, which will likely be a small affair.