Will Windows 11 remove the Windows 10-era right-click menu? Microsoft reveals what’s next

Windows 11’s “modern” right-click menu is far from perfect. It’s cluttered and considerably slower than the original Windows 10 context menu. But it’s getting better, and in a support document discussing Windows 10. “It has grown in an unregulated environment for 20 years, since Windows XP, when IContextMenu was introduced.”

Microsoft said it was rebuilding the context menu on Windows 11 to be as “useful as the Windows 10 context menu is,” and it listed as many as six steps it was taking to make it better. That was in 2021, mind you, and some of the ideas were actually good, at least on paper.

For example, the company moved common commands to a dedicated space in the right-click menu. It also said it would group commands such as “Open” and “Open with” where it makes sense.

Another goal was to make the context menu faster. Yes, Microsoft really argued that Windows 11’s context menu would be faster than Windows 10’s version.

“Many commands run in-process in Explorer, which can cause performance and reliability issues,” the company noted.

Microsoft admits Windows 11’s modern context menu became cluttered and sluggish