A few weeks ago, our own Jim Hillier wrote an article about how Stardock’s Start11 will soon support a vertical taskbar. Start11 is a Windows 11 Start menu replacement utility. It allows a user to personalize the Windows interface and restore functionality that Microsoft has removed. I find the default Windows 11 Start menu irritating and unusable. In my opinion, a replacement Start menu utility is a necessity to use Windows 11.
Jim wrote:
“Personally, I believe it’s an indictment of Microsoft that these third-party tools such as Start11 are even necessary, let alone so popular. It’s a crazy situation when users need to resort to third-party software to restore functionality and UI elements that have previously been supported in Windows natively… a certain sign that Microsoft simply isn’t getting it right.”
I completely agree with this statement.
Personally, I use StartAllBack (SAB) to replace the annoying Windows 11 Start menu with a superior and customizable Windows 10-style menu. When Windows 11 first came out, I looked at both Start11 and SAB and chose SAB. After reading Jim’s Start11 article, I decided to take another look at Start11 by loading its trial version. My conclusion… I still prefer SAB.
The two applications are similar, but SAB has the customization options that suit my preferences.
Vertical Taskbar
As Jim mentioned in his article, Start11 has vertical taskbars coming. However, the current trial version does not have them, so I was not able to try this. However, SAB has had vertical taskbars since 2021, when Windows 11 was first released. Why did it take Startdock four years to offer this?
Toolbars
My favorite feature of SAB is the ability to add Windows 10-style toolbars to the taskbar. I have two. I’ve set up the top toolbar with my 29 most frequently used applications. All are always visible and just a single click away. I’ve also set up a search toolbar. I could not find this functionality in Start11.
Customizable Right Side Start Menu
SAB allows me to customize the right side of the start menu with 21 items. I can decide if I want to display them. If I choose to display them, I can decide if I want that item to show as a link or as a fly-out menu. Start11 determines what and how they are displayed for you.
SAB also allows the addition of custom folders to the right side of the start menu. I have organized my start menu applications in a tree structure so that I can find and open an application quickly and easily. I’ve created two custom folders. One for Microsoft’s metro applications and one for my applications.
SAB also has an All Apps fly-out menu button which is missing in Start11.
Start11
Start11 offers more layouts than SAB with 7 vs 3. The Modern (Windows 8) Pro and Launcher layouts didn’t appeal to me, but they may to some. Start11 also offers more options when it comes to customizing the look of the Start menu. From a productivity side, Start11 offers the ability to pin folders to the Taskbar as well as create groups of applications to the Taskbar.
Bottom Line
I agree with Jim that these third-party tools should not be necessary. The Windows 11 OS is superior to previous versions. But Microsoft has topped it with a dumbed-down and irritating user interface. Both Start11 $9.99 and StartAllBack $4.99 can help replace that interface with a superior and customizable menu.
Both utilities allow you to customize the look and feel of the Start menu. Start11 offers more customization when it comes to appearance. While both utilities also offer productivity features, SAB’s productivity features seem more useful and customizable than Start11’s. SAB appeals to my old-school power user preferences. I like seeing all my applications in one big flyout menu instead of having to scroll or filter through Start11’s options. I also find SAB’s toolbars more productive than Start11’s groups and pinned folders.
Either way, both utilities offer a superior boost in customization and usability over the default Windows 11 Start menu and Taskbar presentations, with StartAllBack going a step further by offering options to tweak File Explorer and other areas of the Operating System.
Both Start11 and StartAllBack come with a one-month trial period.
Which do you think is best… SAB or Start11? Let us know in the comments below.
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