The disappearance of the Start menu
Microsoft’s centering of the Start button on the taskbar has been the most significant change in Windows 11 so far (at least, if you pay attention to Twitter). Some Windows 11 users, particularly those who moved the Start button back to the lower-left corner, are experiencing new issues after a recent upgrade.
There have been reports from Windows 11 users (through Microsoft’s Feedback Hub and public places like Reddit) that downloading Windows 11 Update KB5010414 causes the Start menu to disappear on occasion, frequently shutting quickly after a click on the Start button is made by the user.
As a result of Microsoft’s acknowledgement of the problem and subsequent solution, it seems that this may not be a defect at all, but rather a feature functioning as intended.
“Your input is much appreciated. You may have to move your cursor over the widget icon to get this to function, but we’re working on it “this is what an unnamed Microsoft engineer said in response, Using a workaround for the time being, avoid moving your mouse within the Start menu unless absolutely necessary.
This update looks to have made a modest but major change to the Windows 11 user interface: Widgets flyout menu appears whenever the mouse pointer travels over the Widgets icon on the taskbar. This is a bloatware feature that is unneeded.
That’s a departure from how things worked when Windows 11 launched, when you had to click on the Widgets taskbar button to bring up the Widgets window. You’ll notice that when you hover your cursor over a Widgets button, a new “hover” function appears and then disappears as soon as you move your mouse away from the Widgets button.
That’s exactly what happened, and I was able to reproduce it on one of our Windows 11 workstations that had been updated to KB5010414. It’s easy to accidently touch the Widgets icon on your taskbar if you have the Start button left-aligned and the Widgets icon on your taskbar tucked right beside the Start button. A few seconds later, if you’re not paying attention, the Start menu disappears and the Widgets menu appears, making it look that the Start menu has suddenly disappeared completely.
How to get the information you need
It seems that the majority of the KB5010414 bug reports relate to a problem caused by a design change, even if more severe problems have been reported by a small number of users after this update.
Fortunately, it’s a simple one: Take a right-click on the task bar and choose Task Bar Settings from the menu. Toggle the Widgets option to Off in the Taskbar items menu from that point forwards.
At least until Microsoft allows users to opt out of this too-eager new hovering Widgets menu, this will conceal the Widget symbol and prevent irritating Start menu disruptions. Source