Microsoft is overhauling File Explorer and the Windows right-click context menu to address long-standing quality complaints, part of a broader push by the company to improve Windows reliability after CEO Satya Nadella acknowledged a need to "win back" users' trust. File Explorer has reportedly suffered from feature bloat, poor design decisions and a reputation for freezing, sluggishness and instability, with Microsoft specifically citing issues like slow right-clicks and a Home view that flashes and reloads.

The changes, currently available in the Experimental Windows Insider Channel, let users customise the context menu to their liking, restoring inline Cut, Copy, Paste, Rename, Delete and Share options familiar from Windows 10, while allowing less-used items such as Print, Send To or Create Shortcut to be toggled off, and keeping Copilot out of the way unless invoked. The update follows Microsoft's recent move to bring a movable taskbar back into Release Preview, suggesting a broader rethink of some Windows 11 design choices that alienated users accustomed to Windows 10.