Windows 11 preview adds customisable context menus and cloud recovery
Microsoft is beginning a gradual preview rollout of Windows 11 update KB5127936, which lets users customise the right-click menu by choosing, rearranging and grouping commands and third-party extensions. The change addresses a long-running complaint about familiar options being moved or hidden, while a new cloud recovery feature offers another way to reinstall Windows on PCs that will not boot.
Cloud Rebuild downloads Windows and required drivers through Windows Update, but performs a fresh installation, so existing files and applications are not retained; users can also sanitise their drives first. The update covers Windows 11 versions 26H2 and 25H2. Its release coincides with a 27 per cent fall in Windows OEM revenue, which Microsoft attributed to last year’s Windows 10 support deadline, inventory reductions and weaker PC demand; the broader Windows OEM and devices category fell 22 per cent.
In short
- Windows 11 users can customise the right-click menu.
- Cloud Rebuild can reinstall Windows on PCs that will not boot.
- Windows OEM revenue fell 27 per cent year on year.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Customisable context menus could make Windows more efficient by letting people put familiar commands where they expect them and organise third-party extensions. Cloud Rebuild also gives users with a non-booting PC another route to a fresh installation, potentially avoiding more involved recovery methods.
The case against
Changing a familiar system menu may create inconsistency or confusion, particularly for people who rely on standard layouts or third-party tools. Cloud Rebuild requires a fresh installation that removes files and applications, and depends on downloading Windows and drivers, so it may be less useful when internet access is unavailable or users cannot safely recover their data.
Explained simply
Windows 11 is Microsoft’s operating system for personal computers. Its context menu is the list of commands that appears when someone right-clicks a file or folder; apps can add their own commands, which can make the menu harder to navigate.
Cloud recovery is a way to reinstall Windows by downloading system files and drivers over the internet. A fresh installation removes existing files and applications, so users need to keep copies of anything they want to retain.
Microsoft makes Windows and sells licences to PC manufacturers, known as original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs. Changes to Windows matter to both people using PCs and companies that build and sell them; demand for those computers can affect Microsoft’s reported Windows-related revenue.
Business Markets Software Technology
Read the full article at the source →
Originally published by Ars Technica as “Windows 11 gets right-click menu improvements as PC revenue slides”.