Home windows 11’s trendy context menu is slower than the Home windows 10 model, particularly in the event you’ve unknowingly enabled extensions akin to “Edit with Clipchamp,” “Edit with Notepad,” “Ask Copilot,” and identical choices. This stuff take a couple of seconds to load on low-end PCs and regularly lead to misclicks. Microsoft says it’s conscious about the issue.
Proceedings about Home windows 11’s gradual efficiency aren’t precisely new, however they’ve simplest began to get Microsoft’s consideration after outrage on social media. In March 2026, Microsoft showed it used to be operating on a big replace to restore Home windows 11, and Satya Nadella additionally promised the corporate would focal point on basics to win again lovers.
And what’s extra elementary than the right-click menu in Home windows 11, correct?
The trendy context menu isn’t precisely terrible, however it didn’t resolve the muddle drawback offered by way of older variations of Home windows. Worse, it made the present right-click revel in slower, the place some pieces load instantly and others take a 2d or two to turn up.
For instance, I opened a folder with a number of photographs and right-clicked on one of the vital photographs with a .jpg extension. Naturally, I used to be anticipating pieces like Paint, Footage, Clipchamp, and others to turn up.
When I right-clicked, the context menu gave the impression nearly instantly on my high-spec PC, however in the event you watch the video carefully, you’ll realize that a part of the menu assists in keeping loading for a 2d after it opens.
This stuff are referred to as “extensions” for the context menu. With Home windows 11, Microsoft began clubbing app extensions in combination to prepare the menu, however it seems that to have brought about extra hurt than just right.
This factor additionally implies that the cursor place can alternate whilst extension pieces are nonetheless loading. In case you have a dependancy of clicking pieces temporarily, chances are you’ll unintentionally click on the incorrect merchandise since the context menu has already adjusted itself after loading further extension pieces and rising in dimension.
In a publish on X, Microsoft showed that those problems are brought about by way of late-loading extensions, and it’s operating on addressing them.
As well as, Microsoft stated it’ll make the right-click menu load quicker and scale back muddle by way of default, so it doesn’t take in your entire display area, particularly in the event you’re an influence consumer.
Microsoft starts checking out a easy context menu in Home windows 11
We’ve already observed some development in preview builds, the place the right-click menu takes much less area than earlier than.
For instance, Microsoft has created a brand new menu referred to as “Set up dossier,” which is a nested menu that may area all file-related operations, akin to reproduction trail, set desktop background, compress to ZIP, and extra. The “Set up dossier” is a placeholder title, and it would alternate when it ships in manufacturing.
In our assessments, Home windows Newest seen that the brand new “Set up dossier” nested menu can scale back the whole display area of the right-click menu by way of 25% or extra, relying at the choice of pieces your context menu has. It’s an enormous development, however it’s nonetheless being examined in preview builds, so we don’t know when it’ll roll out.
Microsoft additionally showed that it’s operating on a “configurable” context menu the place you’ll be able to upload or take away pieces and personalize the menu on your liking. It’s one of the vital asked options, and till now, you need to simplest alter your context menu the use of a third-party app or script, which is most often now not secure.
It’s attention-grabbing to look at Microsoft combine complicated personalization choices that have been up to now available simplest via third-party apps.
How do you suppose Microsoft can give a boost to the right-click menu in Home windows 11? Let me know within the feedback beneath.
