Many of us spend hundreds or thousands of hours per year on our PCs between work and leisure. When you spend that much time on a computer, the little annoyances can really start to add up—which is why I totally cut the Start Menu out of my daily workflow and replaced it with an open-source app.
The Start Menu: Great but Imperfect
I’ve never been much for desktop icons. In fact, I usually disable desktop icons immediately when I first install Windows and do everything through the Start Menu.
The Windows Key provides quick and convenient access to my apps, certainly as quick as clicking an icon, and I get to keep my desktop clutter-free.
Despite how much I use the Start Menu, it is plagued with issues. With the release of Windows 11, the Start Menu was revised and now uses up more space to display less—andit has ads. Worst of all, it’ll search Bing by default, and the only way to disable that function is to modify the registry.
I prefer to interact with my PC through a Start Menu-like interface, but Microsoft has made the current Start Menu difficult to love.
However, Microsoft has also published Powertoys Command Palette, a program that brings something similar to Mac’s Spotlight search to Windows.
Powertoys Command Palette: Everything the Start Menu Should Be
Command Paletteis the successor to PowerToys Run, which has been around for years. Command Palette took everything that was good about Run (a program that was already great) and dialed it all the way up to 11.
You Can Remove Bing Normally
Unlike the Start Menu, which requires you go hunting through the registry to disable Bing search, Command Palette lets you remove Bing Search with the click of a button. One toggle option, that’s it.
Open Command Palette, head to Settings (the gear icon in the bottom left), then go to Extensions > Web Search. Click the toggle to the off position.
It shouldn’t have excited me as much as it did when I realized this was an option, but it did.
However, disabling Bing is just the beginning. You can do far more with it.
It is Flexible and Extensible
Command Palette, at release, had 15 extensions that ship with it, though additional third-party extensions already exist.
Command Palette is designed to take this customization, since it contains a small utility that lets you create a new extension project.
As always, be very careful installing third-party applications and extensions on your PC. Look for reviews to see if anyone has reported issues, and attempt to only download extensions from a developer with a good reputation.
Instant Access to Other PowerToys Features
PowerToys is the Swiss army knife of Windows utilities. It has everything you could reasonably want:
And new features are being added regularly.
You can easily set each to a hotkey, but Command Palette also provides an extremely convenient list of which PowerToys utilities you have enabled. It has become my primary means of accessing them.
A Workflow Game Changer
All of these features and options make for a program that completely replaced the Start Menu for me. I no longer reach to tap the Windows key, I tap Win+Space to open Command Palette instead.
When I want to open up or locate a file, all I need to do is typefile, and my search is restricted to files. Because Command Palette recognizes the asterisk as a wildcard character, you can use the file extension to narrow down your search even more narrowly. For example, if I were looking for any PNG images on my PC, I could just typefile *.png, and I’d receive a comprehensive list.
If I want to run an application using a Run window, all I need to do is typerunfollowed by the executable name.
It only takes about 10 minutes to skim the default extensions and read how they work. Except for missing a few pinned programs, I haven’t reached for the Start Menu since I started using the Command Palette. I don’t expect I’ll go back to using it regularly unless it gets a significant redesign.
