One of the many modern-day annoyances that we all seem to accept is the fact that calendars and to-dos live in their own separate silos. Sure, you can link your calendar to a to-do app, but it’s not the same. When you’re planning your day, something analogous to a day planner that can show you your calendar appointments, along with related to-dos, would be much better for most of us.

Fortunately, there's an app that has managed to merge both these features in an intuitive day planner interface. If the app jumping is getting to you, it might be time to try the Structured app, which works seamlessly between iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Android. 

Merging calendar events and tasks with Structured 

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

The Structured app's approach is to add a task with a time frame in mind. Let's say you need to finish an email today. Great. Before, you'd write that task down in an app, and then forget about it. Instead, in Structured, you can say, I need to write an email to my HR head, and I'll work on it between 2:00 PM to 2:30 PM. It then shows up on your timeline, and it helps you visually block your time. Planning a day like this, you're much more likely to finish the tasks, as they are now anchored to a time block. Plus, you can be mindful about spacing them out so that they aren't overlapping (something the app will alert you about).

Structured starts you off with a visual timeline of all your tasks. When you first set up the app, it will ask you when you wake up, and when you sleep. 

You can add tasks in two different ways. If you don’t know when exactly you’re doing something, go to the Inbox to add a task that won’t show up in your timeline. When you’re ready, you can move the task to the timeline. 

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

To make the most out of the app, you should add tasks directly to the timeline. Tap the Plus button, give the task a name, and Structured will automatically give it an emoji icon. You are free to change the color (this helps differentiate personal tasks from work tasks), Then you can choose when the task will start, and how long it will take. Structured shows you preset time frames (anywhere from 15 minutes to 1.5 hours, which you can edit or customize).

You can then choose to make it a repeat task if you like, or you can set a reminder. The free version of the app only gives you a single notification, but if you’re on the Pro plan, you can create multiple reminder notifications. Lastly, you can add sub notes, meeting links, or any notes that you want. 

Once the task is created, it shows up on your timeline, which itself is quite malleable. You can simply tap and hold on a task, and move it up or down to change the time frame (as we all know, things can change quickly). Structured does a good job of showing you visually how much time has passed by coloring the timeline itself. As you finish the tasks on the calendar, you can check them off, which is immensely satisfying.

Structured Pro makes things a bit better

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

One of the strengths of the app is that it works well even on the free tier (a rarity these days for productivity apps). You can use the free tier to add tasks, move it around on the timeline, and to get reminders just before the event. 

Structured Pro takes things up a notch. First of all, you can enable Reminders and Calendar integration so that your reminders and calendar events (ones that you make, or your invites) will automatically show up in Structured, saving you the time. The Pro plan also lets you set multiple reminders, so you can choose to be notified 30 minutes before the event as well. 

A new thing, though, is Structured Assistant, which is still in beta—and works like it is still in beta. It uses ChatGPT to convert plain text into a schedule. You can use your keyboard or your voice (much easier), to tell the app what you plan to do in a day, and after a bit of processing, it will show you your schedule, which you can then approve to add to your timeline. That extra step is useful because, in my experience, Structured Assistant doesn’t always get things right. 

That said, it works more than half of the time, and if you’re going to be dictating things like, “today I’m picking up my kids from soccer practice at 9 AM, then I will work from 11 AM to 4 PM, and I will cook dinner from 6 PM to 7:30 PM”, it will work fine. Though, after testing the app for a couple of weeks now, I’ve found myself reverting back to the good old ways of manual task entry—that way I know for sure that it’s going to work.

Overall, I would recommend trying out the Structured app for yourself. Don’t worry about the Pro until you really feel you need it. Structured Pro costs $2.99 per month, $9.99 per year, and $29.99 for a lifetime license.

The Windows 11 taskbar gets worse with every release, and the widget popups, copilot button, and expanded Search bar aren’t helping. Here’s an idea, What if you nuke the whole thing? What if you could bring back the Windows 10 taskbar, so you can place it on any edge of the screen, or see full-width app names again? Microsoft won’t let you do it, but a free and open-source utility will, and it doesn’t require any tinkering with the Registry or the Command Prompt: All you need to do is download and install the ExplorerPatcher app.

How ExplorerPatcher's Windows 10 taskbar works

Once you launch it, the taskbar will automatically revert back to the Windows 10 styling, even after you reboot your machine. It's important to note here that Microsoft might disable this app with the Windows 11 24H2 update that will come out near the end of the 2024. But we're sure that the developer community will find a workaround for this. Until then, you can choose not to update to 24H2, and if you're running Windows 11 23H2, you won't be forced to update either, and the build will be supported until November 2025, enough time for the taskbar situation to sort itself out.

The app, by default, makes some changes to the Windows 11 taskbar, start menu, and File Explorer. This includes things like the system tray icons, flyout menus, and taskbar buttons. By default, you'll find that the app will show you a Windows 10 start icon tucked in the left-hand corner of the screen. Next to it will be a Search button, and Task View button to show all open apps and windows together (this can be disabled). Next, you'll find the apps section, again like it used to be in Windows 10. You'll see full names of the apps, and windows, underlined to show open apps. Hover over to see a preview, and contextual buttons.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

On the other side of the taskbar, you'll find the amazing weather widget from Windows 10 (yes, it's back!), and then you'll find your system tray icons, a gear icon to open Control Center, your clock, notifications button, and then a dedicated Show Desktop button that you can quickly click to reveal the desktop.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

The interesting part here, is of course that even the flyout menus are from Windows 10. So when you click the Control Center button, you'll see the Windows 10 styling for the quick settings and toggles. The same goes for the clock. It will show you the big calendar view, with your upcoming appointments (in Windows 11, this is merged with notifications).

How to customize the taskbar to make it even better

The default setup is itself quite good. But the best part about using ExplorerPatcher is that you can mix and match to your heart's content. Every single element of the taskbar and the start menu here is customizable.

First, let's put the start menu, and the taskbar alignment to the left edge of the screen (the app defaults to the center align option). Right-click the empty part of the taskbar, and click “Properties.” Go to Start Menu > Start Menu Style and choose the Windows 10 option. The start menu will still pop up from the center, though, so go to Position on screen and choose the At Screen Edge option.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Now, let's customize the taskbar itself. From Taskbar > Primary taskbar location on screen, you can dock the taskbar to the top of the screen. From the Taskbar section, you can also choose to hide the search button or the Task View button. You can also shift the entire taskbar to be centered (while still behaving like a Windows 10 taskbar). You can also revert back to Windows 11 style taskbar icons if you like.

You can customize the flyouts for each individual system tray menu. Go to System Tray, and then you can choose what shows up when you click Network, Clock, or other options. You can choose to see the Windows 8 style menu, or the Windows 11 start flyout.

ExplorerPatcher also fixes the whole weather widgets issue in Windows 11. If you want to see the weather at all times on the taskbar but don’t want all the widgets nonsense when you click on it, go to Weather > Show weather on the taskbar. Now, the old weather widget is back.

If you want to disable the taskbar, or go back to the Windows 11 taskbar, simply uninstall the app, and reboot your PC. You can do this by keeping the app around as well. Go to Properties > About > Restore Default Settings to bring back the Windows 11 style taskbar.

Every major Windows update since Windows 8 has come with a redesign of the Start menu, and Windows 11 is no exception. This time, though, Microsoft took a radical approach: The taskbar is centered, the Start menu is devoid of live tiles, and there are only two sections—pinned apps and recommendations.

If you find yourself unhappy with the Start menu's new look and feel, there are changes you can make to improve it—or remove it altogether.

Make the Pinned apps section actually usable

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Let’s start by customizing what is now the only major part of the Start menu (RIP Live Tiles). In the Pinned section, you'll see a list of apps that are designated to the Start menu. You can click the “All Apps” button to see a list of all installed applications. But the Pinned section will, by default, only show you a list of mostly Microsoft apps. Once your PC is set up, we recommend unpinning the default apps, and pinning the apps you’re actually going to use.

Right-click any app in the Pinned section and choose the “Unpin from Start” option. Go to the “All Apps” section, right-click any app you want to pin, and choose “Pin to Start.”

Once you have pinned everything you want, drag and drop to rearrange the apps however you’d like.

Remove the bloatware

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If you've just bought a new Windows 11 laptop, chances are it came with a bunch of bloatware that's also going to be clogging up your Start menu. Honestly, do you really need to see TikTok in your Start menu every time you try to search for a work app?

Thankfully, Microsoft has made removing this bloatware easy. Go to Pinned section and right-click any app that you want to uninstall. Choose Uninstall from the context menu, and then click Uninstall again from the popup. Repeat this for all unwanted apps. For a more thorough uninstallation process, go to the All Apps section from the Start menu and repeat the same steps there.

Disable the Recommended section

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The star of the Start menu, according to Microsoft, is the new Recommended section. This section will show you recent files, new apps, and app suggestions. But it’s not always on point. There’s no way to remove this section entirely, but you can at least make it less prominent.

Go to Settings > Personalization > Start and disable “Show recently opened items in Start, Jump Lists and File Explorer.”

Add quick access folders and shortcuts to the Start menu

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In the bottom-right corner of the Start menu, you’ll find the small power button. It’s so lonely out there, though. Give the little guy some company by adding shortcuts and quick access folders to the bottom of the start menu.

Go to Settings > Personalization > Start > Folders. Enable the features or folders that you want to see. (We recommend adding “Settings,” “File Explorer,” “Downloads,” and “Personal Folder.”)

Put the Start menu back on the left

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It’s not just the Start menu design that’s new. It’s the placement as well. If you don’t like the Start menu being smack dab in the middle of the screen, there is an option to move it back to the left-hand corner.

Go to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar Behaviors. Here, from the “Taskbar alignment” option, switch to “Left.”

Right-click for a menu that's actually useful

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There’s a secret Start menu that’s arguably a lot more useful than the default Start menu. Right-click the Start button, and you’ll get a list of options. From here, you can quickly open Settings, Task Manager, Terminal, Desktop, and a lot more.

Create the Start menu of your dreams with Start11

Credit: Start11

Even after making these changes, you might feel like it’s not enough. If you just can’t make the Windows 11 Start menu work for you, it’s time to go back. Install the Start11 app (it’s free to use for 30 days, then costs $5.99). This app will give you the familiar Windows 10-style start menu back. You get a similar, two-pane interface, customizable menus, a search field at the bottom, and more.

Plus, you can customize this as much as you want. You can even go back to the Windows 8 style, full-screen Start menu, if you want.

Use ExplorerPatcher for a no-nonsense Start menu

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

ExplorerPatcher is a free, open source utility that restores the taskbar, the Start menu, and the File Explorer from Windows 10. It's a very simple, one-click utility that's also immensely customizable. You can use it to go back to a small and simple Start menu. Click here for more detail on how to use ExplorerPatcher.

Make the Windows 11 Start menu much better with StartAllBack

Credit: StartAllBack

StartAllBack is another fully-featured Start menu replacement that’s focused more on tweaks. You can have a Windows 7 theme if you want, but where this app excels is the sheer amount of changes you can make to the Windows 11 Start menu.

You can change the taskbar icons, bring back the app labels, center your app icons, and keep the Start menu docked to the left. There are also themes available for Windows 7 and Windows 10-style start menus.

Ignore the Start menu and use the PowerToys Run launcher instead

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Here’s a radical idea: Stop using the Start menu altogether. Ask yourself, how useful is it anyway? There’s no way to actually disable the Start menu, but you can ignore it and use something better instead. For this, we recommend the PowerToys keyboard launcher. It’s similar to Spotlight on Mac, and it lets you launch apps, actions, and tasks from the keyboard.

Press Alt + Space to bring it up, and type to open an app, a website, or do some math. Here are the best PowerToys shortcuts to know.

Google's AI heavy Google I/O keynote has ended, but Gemini has a long way to go before it can turn Google's AI dreams into realities. While many of Google's AI features are months down the line, the AI Overviews feature is already live for all US users.

Google is only going to be adding more AI features to the Search page going forward. This includes the ability to ask longer, more complex questions, or even to organize the entire Search page in different sections using AI. If that sounds like too much for you, there's something you can do about it.

Turn off AI in Google Search

While releasing all its new AI features, Google has also introduced something that will help you go back—way back. There's now a new, easy to miss button at the top of the search results page simply called "Web." If you switch to it, Google will only show you text links from websites, just like the good old days (although these can include sponsored ads).

The irony of needing to press a button called Web to get results for a web search is not lost on me. Nevertheless, it will be a useful feature for anyone who prefers the old-school approach to Google Search, the one that only showed you the top results from the web, made up of trusted sites.

The Web filter is rolling out on desktop and mobile search globally starting today and tomorrow, and you should see it in your searches soon. If you don't find it in the toolbar, click the More menu, and it should be there.

Credit: Google Search Liaison (via X)

When you switch to the Web filter, your search results will also get rid of any kind of media or pull-out boxes. You won't see sections for images, videos, or Google News stories. Instead, you'll just see links (which themselves can point to YouTube videos, or news stories), according to Google Search Liaison's post on X.

Google has also confirmed to The Verge that the Web filter will stay like this, even as Google continues to add more AI features to the main page of Google Search.

There's no stopping AI

While the Web filter is a nice touch, it's not the default option, and you'll need to switch to it manually, all the time (like you do when you switch to the Images or Maps filter). This step has also made something else clear: Google is not offering a way to turn off AI search features in the default Search page. Perhaps we will eventually see Chrome extensions that can alter the Google Search page, but for now, the only escape Google Search's AI is to switch to the Web filter.

The Windows 11 taskbar is one of the new operating system’s best features—elegant, minimalist, and visually distinct. Even still, it could use some improvement. For example, by default, you can’t move the taskbar to any position you want, or even change its size. But you don’t have to live with it as is—there are ways to play with your settings to set up the taskbar exactly the way you want it.

Disable Microsoft Copilot and other junk

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

The Windows 11 taskbar comes with a lot of buttons you're (probably) never going to use. On the left edge, there's the Widgets button that loves to show news updates and ads. On the right, there's the new Microsoft Copilot button that you may or may not find useful. And in the middle, next to the Start icon, is a big old Search bar. Thankfully, Microsoft was forced to remove the Chat button in the Windows 11 2023 update, so there's some solace there. But you'll be surprised how much better the taskbar becomes when you remove all these unnecessary features. It becomes minimal, sleek, and far more sensible.

To hide the features you don't want, right-click any empty area of the taskbar, and go to Taskbar settings. In the Taskbar Items menu, make sure to disable the Widgets, Task View, and Copilot features. In the Search menu, choose the Hide option.

Pin any app to the taskbar

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Windows 11 doesn’t yet support the taskbar drag-and-drop feature from Windows 10, which let you simply drag an app icon to dock it within the taskbar. As a workaround, go to Start menu, right-click the app of your choice, and click the Pin to Taskbar button. You can pin any currently open app by right-clicking the app icon and choosing the Pin to taskbar option.

Align taskbar icons to the left

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Missing the Windows 10 taskbar layout? Microsoft lets you change the alignment of taskbar icons. Right-click the taskbar, go to Taskbar Settings, and from Taskbar Behaviors, choose the Left option in the Taskbar alignment feature.

Customize the taskbar behavior (auto-hide, badges, and more)

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Windows 11 has a separate section that lets you customize how the taskbar behaves. Right-click the taskbar, click the Taskbar Settings button, and select the Taskbar Behaviors section.

If you’re using a touchscreen laptop, or a small screen device, you might want to hide the taskbar for more screen space. If so, enable Automatically hide the taskbar. Now, the taskbar will only show up when you move your cursor to the bottom of the screen or when you swipe up from the taskbar area.

Similarly, you can disable the badges on taskbar icons using the Show badges on taskbar apps feature. If you don’t like when icons flash in the taskbar, disable the Show flashing on taskbar apps feature.

If you use multiple displays, use the Show my taskbar on all displays feature to enable or disable the taskbar across all your monitors.

Put the taskbar at the top of the screen

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Microsoft has docked the taskbar to the bottom of the screen and won’t let you move it willy-nilly. It is impossible to put it on the left or the right sides of the screen, but you can move it to the top of the screen using a registry hack.

Open Start > Registry Editor and enter the following location in the top bar:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StuckRects3

In the StuckRects3 folder, double click the Settings file. This will open the Edit Binary Value window where you will see a table full of values. Go to the second row, and find the fifth value from the left. By default, this reads “03.”

Place the cursor to the right (end) of this value, press Backspace once, and change the value to “01.” Click the OK button and exit the Registry Editor app.

Next, open the Task Manager app and restart Windows Explorer.

Make the taskbar smaller or bigger

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Another big change in the Windows 11 taskbar is the fact that you can’t easily resize it, whether you want it to be larger or smaller. But again, although there is no settings menu where you can change this, you can do it using a registry hack.

Go to Start > Registry Editor and enter the following location:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Right-click in the empty space and choose New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. A new entry will be added to the bottom of the Advanced folder. Rename it to TaskbarSi.

Double click the TaskbarSi file. In the Value Data field, enter “0" if you want a smaller taskbar and “2" if you want a larger one (“1" being the default option). Click the OK button.

Restart your PC, or restart Windows Explorer from the Task Manager. You should see your taskbar appear at its new size.

Bring back the Windows 10 taskbar

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

If you've tried all the customizations and you're still not satisfied, we have one last recommendation for you: Ditch the whole enterprise and go back to the Windows 10 taskbar. Or, at least, bring back some of the Windows 10 elements.

You can use a free and open source app called ExplorerPatcher to bring back the entire taskbar, and the Start menu from Windows 10. All it takes is to install the app, and it will instantly revert you back to the good old days. The best part about the app is that you can go into the Settings and customize each and every part of the taskbar. For instance, you can go back to the apps view from Windows 10, while still keeping the system tray and flyout menus from Windows 11.

The customization really is the key here, as it will even let you revert back to menus from Windows 8 era. We have talked about ExplorerPatcher in much more detail in our dedicated guide, so make sure to follow the instructions there for a perfect taskbar setup.

The File Explorer in Windows 11 has been having a rough time. The initial redesign from Windows 10 displaced familiar features and the right-click menu was truncated, as were the options in the ribbons menu.

A couple of updates later, things have improved somewhat, and Windows 11 finally added tab support in File Explorer. But if you’re annoyed by the lack of consistency in File Explorer, there’s a free, open-source, community-supported alternative that's a lot more customizable. It's simply called the Files app.

How to download the Files app for free

You can buy the Files app from the official Microsoft Store for $8, but it's also available completely free of cost from the developer's website, though it's a bit hidden: After opening the link, click the Classic installer button at the bottom of the page to start the free download.

But before you do that, I suggest you create a backup of your computer and all your important files just to be safe, given this is an app with permissions to directly edit all files on your computer.

The Files app wins with its design

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

There's no shortage of File Explorer alternatives (XYPlorer being a popular choice), and this was the case even before Windows 11. But none of them feature as modern or polished a design as the Files app. It takes its cues from Microsoft's Fluent design system, and looks even better on Windows 11 than Microsoft's own File Explorer, which feels like a cheaply re-skinned version of the Windows 10 File Explorer.

This emphasis on design continues with its customization options, of which there are plenty. You can choose from a couple of default themes, or have fun choosing color and transparency effects that work for you. And the dark mode is divine.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

If you're looking for a form factor closer to macOS, you can switch to the Column view. Like Finder on Mac, this app also has a quick preview feature that allows you to peek into photos and PDFs by pressing the Space bar (doing this in the File Explorer requires a third-party app.)

My favorite part though, is the fact that you can make the icons and previews extra, extra large, so you can see what's in an image, or a PDF without even going through the quick look menu —something that's just not possible with the native File Explorer app.

The Files app is a great file manager

The intuitive UI in Files app also translates to the functionality. The tabbed browsing is fast and easy to navigate, and it has Dual Pane support (you can add a pane to a tab from the Menu button). This feature splits every single window into two. The second pane shows quick shortcuts, and allows you to browse to any folder. From there, simply drag and drop files, rearrange, or edit however you like.

The dual-pane layout makes transferring files a breeze, and you won't need to worry about window management either. The Details button is yet another nice touch. The sidebar can show a preview, and details of the selected file.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

As mentioned above, the Column view is another useful way to navigate deeper into a complex folder structure without losing context, as you can see the parent folder to the left.

Another macOS Finder feature that works well in the Files app is Tagging support. Tags can be created from the sidebar, and multiple tags can be assigned to an single file. When you open a tag from the sidebar, it will show all the files related to the tag. This is a great way to pool in files from different folders, without actually moving them.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

The Files app works with OneDrive and Google Drive by default, you can see all the files stored in your cloud storage account, and it can preview and unzip files. You can add support for other services like iCloud Drive and Dropbox.

Added functionality comes at a cost

From the Advanced settings, you can make the Files app your default file management app if you like. It can be used to open folders from Search, and even when downloading files. (Because of a Windows limitation, it can't be used when you're uploading files in the browser, but it can be the default file manager all everywhere else.)

But the question is, should you use Files as the default app? That will depend on your computer. The Files app is modern, and feature-rich, but it can also be a drag on your resources. It's slow to boot up the first time, and it can be really slow when you're batch-renaming files. But if you have a fast enough desktop PC, you won't feel the pinch.

Overall, its intuitive design, added navigation features, and the fact that it's available for free (competitive apps in the space usually cost $25), makes it well worth trying out—and a lot better than the Windows 11 standard.