Summary
- Microsoft is testing a faster, customizable right-click menu with Windows Insiders, but hasn’t announced a public release date.
- Third-party app extensions can clutter the context menu and cause it to load more slowly.
- Nilesoft Shell already offers deeper customization, including removable entries, custom commands, scripts, and organized submenus.
In an official post on the Windows Insider blog, Microsoft acknowledged that the Windows 11’s right-click menu has become “cluttered and sluggish.” The company is now rolling out a redesigned version to Windows Insiders that should open faster and give users some control over what appears inside of it.
As acknowledged in the Windows Insider blog, the change is not merely about appearance. Every app that adds an option to the context menu can create additional work whenever you right-click. One by one, these options can stack up, and your computer might hiccup trying to open a long list of items — yet, all you wanted to open was the “Properties” window for a random folder.
Thankfully, you don’t have to wait for Microsoft’s update if you want to take the matters into your own hands. We’ve previously shown how Nilesoft Shell can replace Windows 11’s awkward context menu with one that is cleaner and far more customizable.
The free, open-source tool goes considerably further than Microsoft’s upcoming settings. Nilesoft Shell lets you add, remove, and modify entries, organize them into submenus, and even insert custom commands, scripts, and shell actions. It also combines the usefulness of the classic context menu with a design that doesn’t look out of place on Windows 11. The initial setup requires more effort than flipping switches in the Settings app, but the result can be tailored around how you actually use your computer.
This is also another example of Microsoft gradually undoing some of Windows 11’s most restrictive design choices. Alongside the context-menu overhaul, an upcoming desktop customization update will restore more of the control users lost when moving from Windows 10. Microsoft’s native solution should be more approachable, but for anyone willing to spend a little time configuring it, Nilesoft Shell remains the more capable option.
