How to Make the Windows 11 Start Menu and Taskbar Look Like ChromeOS With Start11
With its clean lines, soft rounded edges, and no-nonsense business aesthetic, Windows 11 is one of Microsoft’s better-looking operating systems. Despite this, and the fact that there is probably a whole team of engineers dedicated to making it look the best it can, it can still feel a little drab.
Enter Start11, a powerful tool used to customize the Windows Start Menu and Taskbar. With it, let’s borrow a few notes from the Google Chrome OS and totally change our Windows Start and Taskbar experience.
How to Download and Install Start11
To get started, head to theStart11 download pageand click on the link to download the 30-day free trial. Once downloaded, run the installer and follow the prompts to finalize the installation. You will need to enter your email address and verify it to activate the 30-day free trial.
Once Start11 is installed and up and running, it will prompt you to select from eitherLeft alignedorCenter aligned.
You can select either to simply dismiss the popup, as we will be changing this later. Now you will be on the Start11 Home Screen, where we will configure most of the settings.
How to Make the Start Menu Look Like ChromeOS With Start11
Before we go ahead and begin customizing the Start Menu with Start11, there is one setting we need to change within Windows Settings to go along with this, and really bring it all together. We are going to change the Windows theme to dark. If you’re not a fan of the built-in Windows 11 dark theme, you can also check outthe best Windows 11 dark themes to customize your desktop.
To do this, navigate toSettings>Personalization>Themesand set theCurrent themeto dark. It should be second on the list of available themes.
Once that’s done, we are ready to begin customizing our ChromeOS look. For starters, on the Start11 Home Screen, under theStart Menutab, make the following configuration options:
Next, click theConfigure menubanner, which will navigate you toStart Menu>Configuration. Scroll down to theAdvancedsection and make the following configuration settings:
The remainder of the settings on this page can be left as default or set to off. Next, scroll up a bit and clickCustomize menu visual appearance. Make the following configuration settings:
Finally, scroll to the bottom and make the following configuration settings:
When you’re done it should look like this:
How to Make the Start Button Look Like ChromeOS With Start11
Next up, we will tackle the Windows Start button. Luckily, this is very easy and all the configuration we will need is in one tab in Start11. To begin, click theStart Buttontab and make the following configuration settings:
How to Make the Taskbar Look Like ChromeOS With Start11
Finally, let’s go ahead and customize the taskbar. Click theTaskbartab and make the following configuration settings:
Under theTaskbar blur, transparency, and colorbanner make the following configuration settings:
UnderTaskbar right click menusmake the following configuration setting:
Next, scroll up a bit and selectMore Start11 taskbar settingsand ensure that the following configuration options are set:
Windows 11 Now Looks Like ChromeOS
With all the configuration done, you should have a beautiful, clean-looking desktop that takes more than a few cues from Google ChromeOS. What’s more, is that your Start button will be back to its rightful place on the extreme left of the Taskbar.
When you clickStartyou will be greeted with an awesome, full-screen Start menu, that has been stripped down to remove all unnecessary features, like recent documents and recently added apps. This Start menu also doesn’t compromise and still gives you access to all of your apps in a single click. You also get shortcuts that enable quick access to your personal folders, Windows settings, and Control Panel.
Start11 Offers So Much More
In just a couple of minutes, we were able to completely transform the Windows Start menu and Taskbar into something resembling ChromeOS. If you dig a little deeper with Start11 there are a wealth of options at your disposal to do everything from bringing back the Windows 7, and Windows 10 style Start menus, to changing how the default search behavior in Windows works. If you’re someone that enjoys customizing Windows, then we couldn’t recommend Start11 enough.
Windows 11 sports a brand new UI, but if you feel it’s not to your liking, use these tools to make it truly yours again.
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