How to Remove the Start Menu Recommended Section From Windows 11

Originally posted on makeuseof.

Want to add more room to the Start menu? Here’s how to get rid of the “Recommended” section on Windows 11.

Windows 11 has a completely different look from Windows 10, especially when it comes to the Start menu. The Windows 11 Start menu has a Recommended section that displays recently downloaded files and installed applications.

While this section was added to make relevant content more easily accessible, some users don’t like it because it takes up a lot of space in the Start menu and makes it easier to find your sensitive information. If you’re one of those users, here’s how to remove the Start menu Recommended section from Windows 11.

Before proceeding, be aware that you can only remove the Start menu’s Recommended section in the education version of Windows 11 (SE). If your computer is running Windows 11 Pro or Home, you can only configure it to hide the files and apps from the Recommended section. The section itself will still appear in the Start menu.

With that out of the way, here’s how to remove the Start menu’s Recommended section from Windows 11 Education edition:

Press Win + R to open the Run dialog box.
Type gpedit.msc in the search bar and press Enter. This will open the Group Policy Editor.

In the Group Policy Editor, navigate to the following location:

User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar

Double-click the Remove Recommended section from Start Menu policy in the right pane.
1. Select Enabled from the policy editor window that appears.
2. Click Apply then OK.
After that, restart your computer. Upon restart, you will see that the Recommended section has vanished from the Start menu.

How to Remove the Start Menu’s “Recommended” Section Using the Registry Editor

Another quick way to remove the Recommended section is to edit the registry. Here’s what you need to do.
1. Open the Run tool, type regedit in the search bar, and press Enter.
2. In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following location:
```
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
```
3. Right-click the Windows key, hover over New, and choose Key.
4. Name the key Explorer.
5. Right-click the Explorer key, hover over New, and choose DWORD (32-bit) Value.
6. Name the name value HideRecommendedSection.
7. Double-click the HideRecommendedSection value in the right pane.
8. Type 1 in the Value Data field and click OK. This will remove the Recommended section. To revert the changes, type 0 in the Value data field and click OK.
After that, restart your computer to see the changes.

Remove Content From the Start Menu Recommended Section Using the Settings App

You can use the Windows Settings app to manage the content displayed in the Start menu’s Recommended section. This can be useful if you want to display only installed applications, or only recently accessed files, or neither of those things.

To remove the Recommended section content, open the Settings app, select Personalization from the left sidebar, and click Start in the right pane. In the Start window, you will see three toggles—Show recently added apps, Show most used apps, and Show recommended files in Start, recent files in File Explorer, and items in Jump Lists.

You can disable the Show recently added apps toggle if you don’t want the Recommended section to display apps you have recently installed on your computer. The Show most used apps toggle manages the applications you frequently access on your computer. You can disable its toggle if you don’t want those apps to be displayed in the Recommended section.

You can turn off the Show recommended files in Start, recent files in File Explorer, and items in Jump Lists toggle if you don’t want the Recommended section to show files and folders you have recently accessed.

Remove Unnecessary Items From the Start Menu

The Windows Start menu lets you search for files and applications installed on your computer. In Windows 11, the Start menu also includes a Recommended section. However, if you want to keep your Start menu clean, you can remove the Recommended section using the methods above.

Source: makeuseof