How I made Windows 11’s Start menu suck less

I want the Windows 11 Start menu to do exactly three things, and nothing else:

1. Start applications.
2. Find things on my computer.
3. Get the fuck out of my way.

These registry changes got me very close.

They suppress web search suggestions, turn off Search Highlights and its dynamic web content, and hide the Recommended section of the Start menu.

I’m on Windows 11 25H2. These are ordinary per-user settings. No admin required.

I do feel obligated to put some kind of warning here here. It’s the registry, you can break stuff, so be careful. Or you could just go for it. That’s how I learn :P

Start by opening a normal Command Prompt.
Press Win + R.
Type:
cmd
and press Enter.

Paste these into Command Prompt and press Enter:
reg add “HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer” /v “DisableSearchBoxSuggestions” /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
reg add “HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SearchSettings” /v “IsDynamicSearchBoxEnabled” /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
reg add “HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer” /v “HideRecommendedSection” /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
taskkill /f /im explorer.exe
start explorer.exe

You should see “The operation completed successfully.” for each of the three changes. The last two commands restart Windows Explorer, saving a reboot. The taskbar will disappear for a moment and then come back. If it doesn’t, I’ve found fiddling around with an open window usually snaps it back.

And you’re golden. Start should stop pissing you off so much.

What did we actually change?

DisableSearchBoxSuggestions
This suppresses web search suggestions in Windows Search. It does not disable Windows Search itself. The search box will read, “Search for apps, settings, and documents”

IsDynamicSearchBoxEnabled
This turns off Search Highlights and its associated dynamic content. Start and Search stop changing based on whatever Microsoft wants to shove into our faces at that particular moment.

HideRecommendedSection
This tells Windows not to display the Recommended section of the Start menu. On the latest Windows 11 build, that means the section is actually gone rather than sitting there empty.

Uh-oh! The changes didn’t do what you wanted? You slipped on a banana peel and accidentally cut, pasted, and hit enter? You’re a digital masochist who prefers Microsoft’s slop? All right. Let’s put things back.

Open a normal Command Prompt again and paste this:
reg delete “HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer” /v “DisableSearchBoxSuggestions” /f
reg delete “HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SearchSettings” /v “IsDynamicSearchBoxEnabled” /f
reg delete “HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer” /v “HideRecommendedSection” /f
taskkill /f /im explorer.exe
start explorer.exe

And Windows is back to its defaults for these settings.