So, you installed Windows 11 on your computer or bought a machine with the OS pre-installed, and now your computer looks just like everyone else. There’s no shame in sticking with the default settings, but if you want to make Windows 11 a little more personalized, there are plenty of settings and features you can change to make your machine run better.

Move the taskbar back

If you’re a longtime Windows user, Windows 11 might give you a bit of a jolt: When you first boot your computer after installation, your taskbar and its options, which have always been left-aligned, are now in the center of the display.

While some may like their new job, if you don’t, you won’t have to live with it. You can move it back to the left side of the screen by going to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar Behavior , clicking the drop-down menu next to Taskbar Alignment , and selecting Left .

Clear your taskbar

In addition, you can remove some utilities from the taskbar that you do not use every day. Right-click the taskbar, select Taskbar Settings , then consider turning off Task View (swiping up with three fingers on the trackpad will still activate this feature), Widgets, and Chat , if you don’t usually use those options. You can also click the drop-down menu next to Search and click Hide if you don’t want to see the search bar on the taskbar, although some may find this useful.

Customize your Start menu

Besides moving the Start menu to the left side of the screen along with the rest of the taskbar, there are other ways to improve this iconic menu in Windows 11 . You can right-click any app in the Start menu to unpin it if you don’t want to see Microsoft’s default settings like Instagram, Xbox, or Prime Video for Windows. Better yet, you can right-click to uninstall any apps you know you’ll never use. You can add new options to the Start menu, such as Settings, File Explorer, Documents, and Downloads, by going to Settings > Personalization > Start > Folders .

Select default apps

Another way to customize Windows 11 is to choose the apps you want to use by default, rather than the ones the OS chooses for you. The most common setting here is your default browser : Windows wants you to use Microsoft Edge and makes it the default choice, but you can make any other browser your default.

Let’s say you’re trying to switch browsers. Go to Settings > Apps > Default Apps , then select the browser you’re trying to set as your default browser. Click “Set as Default” at the top of the screen and Windows will change the link types, such as .htm, .html and .pdf, to open in the browser of your choice. Going forward, when you click a link in Windows, it should open in your browser of choice, not Edge. However, all file types will not be changed here: if you want your new browser to open when you open a .pdf link, for example, you’ll need to click .pdf and then select your browser from the list.

This also applies to other types of apps, such as email clients, media players, and photo apps.

Customize your theme

Windows 11 defaults to a light theme, which is good for daytime use. But when you use your computer at night or just prefer a dark theme in general, switching your computer to dark mode is the best option. You’ll find this option in Start > Settings > Personalization > Colors .

This is by no means a secret feature. In fact, you may already have dark mode enabled on your computer. But Windows has more theme options than light or dark: You can also control the entire Windows 11 UI color scheme. Windows has a small set of preset color themes that you can try in both light and dark modes, but if none of them suits you, you can create your own.

Most often, these options can be found in the Colors and Themes sections of the Personalization settings menu. Under Colors, you can select Accent Color, which will change the color of menu icons throughout the OS. While Windows has a lot of choices, you can select Browse Colors under Custom Colors to select the exact shade you want here. You can also choose whether this accent color appears in the Start menu and taskbar, as well as in title bars and window borders.

Customize your notifications

If there’s one default setting you shouldn’t live with, it’s notifications. Constant notifications from all the applications on your computer will drive you crazy: disabling most (if not all) will make your Windows experience much more pleasant.

To get started, go to Settings > System > Notifications . If you never want to receive notifications again, tap the slider next to Notifications to turn them all off. However, you can also review each app to choose which one can send you alerts. You can also fine-tune how each app notifies you: you can choose to have notifications appear, but silently so you don’t get bombarded with constant ringing sounds. You can also turn notification banners on or off, alerts that appear in the bottom right corner of the screen, and whether notifications appear in the Action Center.

Don’t be afraid to use the Focus Assist feature either. This feature allows you to customize the times of day or situations on your computer when only certain apps can notify you: If you want work apps like Teams and Slack to only notify you during your 9 to 5 job (and make sure they never notify you from 5 to 9) you can configure this here.

Customize your lock screen

It’s easy to keep your computer’s lock screen at its default settings since you don’t look at it for too long every time you log in. But it’s nice to have a custom look that greets you when you boot up your computer.

You’ll find these options in Settings > Personalization > Lock Screen . If you’ve never dealt with these settings, you probably have Windows Spotlight turned on by default. This feature changes the background image every day and also offers tips for using Windows. But you can choose any lock screen image from the drop-down list next to Personalize your lock screen . Select Image to choose a single image to display on the lock screen, while Slideshow lets you choose an album to display photos in a loop.

Disable lock screen widgets

Speaking of the lock screen, new versions of Windows 11 give you access to widgets that display additional data on the lock screen. By default, this includes the weather widget as well as other news update widgets, but you can customize the widgets shown here or disable them altogether .

Go back to Personalization > Lock Screen , then find Lock Screen Status . Here, you can change the default Weather & More option to another app, such as Calendar or Mail, or select None to disable these widgets entirely.

Control which applications launch when you log in

Launcher apps are programs that start up with your computer. That’s why apps like Edge open as soon as you sign in. While some apps you run are convenient, others can be annoying and put unnecessary strain on your computer.

Go to Settings > Applications > Launch and scroll through the list here. Disable all applications and services that you don’t think you need every time your computer restarts. If you know you want your browser to open immediately, do so. But you probably won’t need iTunes Mobile Device Helper to work all the time.

Likewise, you can disable the option that restarts the applications you were using when you turned off your computer. If you like to restart your computer to find all the apps you were using when you turned it off, leave this option enabled. Otherwise, start fresh each time by going to Settings > Accounts > Sign-in Options , then turn off the Automatically save restartable apps and restart them when you sign in again option .

Choose a new touch keyboard

If you have a touchscreen computer or just like to use the on-screen keyboard, you can customize the appearance of the touch keyboard in Personalization > Touch Keyboard . By default it matches the theme of your system, but there are a number of options here, from solid colors to gradients and even with images. If you don’t like any of the options, you can customize the key colors, the symbols on each key, and the keyboard background by clicking Edit .

Check your app permissions

This isn’t the most flashy setting you can make in Windows 11, but it’s important: on any OS, not just Windows, you should periodically check and adjust app permissions. In Windows 11, you’ll find these options in Settings > Privacy & Security . Windows has a long list of permissions, but some important ones to review are Location, Camera, Microphone, and Contacts. If you see an app in any of these lists that has no reason to access the permission it has (for example, an app that has camera permissions even though it never publicly uses your camera in its app), disable it. (And consider deleting any sketchy apps.)

More…

So, you installed Windows 11 on your computer or bought a machine with the OS pre-installed, and now your computer looks just like everyone else. There’s no shame in sticking with the default settings, but if you want to make Windows 11 a little more personalized, there are plenty of settings and features you can change to make your machine run better.

Move taskbar back

If you’re a longtime Windows user, Windows 11 may have been a bit of a shakeup for you: When you first boot your computer after installation, your taskbar and its options, which have always been left-aligned, are now in the center of the display.

While some may like their new job, if you don’t, you won’t have to live with it. You can move it back to the left side of the screen by going to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar Behavior , clicking the drop-down menu next to Taskbar Alignment , and selecting Left .

Clear your taskbar

In addition, you can remove some utilities from the taskbar that you do not use every day. Right-click the taskbar, select Taskbar Settings , then consider turning off Task View (swiping up with three fingers on the trackpad will still activate this feature), Widgets, and Chat , if you don’t usually use those options. You can also click the drop-down menu next to Search and click Hide if you don’t want to see the search bar on the taskbar, although some may find this useful.

Customize your Start menu

Besides moving the Start menu to the left side of the screen along with the rest of the taskbar, there are other ways to improve this iconic menu in Windows 11 . You can right-click any app in the Start menu to unpin it if you don’t want to see Microsoft’s default settings like Instagram, Xbox, or Prime Video for Windows. Better yet, you can right-click to uninstall any apps you know you’ll never use. You can add new options to the Start menu, such as Settings, File Explorer, Documents, and Downloads, by going to Settings > Personalization > Start > Folders .

Select default apps

Another way to customize Windows 11 is to choose the apps you want to use by default, rather than the ones the OS chooses for you. The most common setting here is your default browser : Windows wants you to use Microsoft Edge and makes it the default choice, but you can make any other browser your default.

Let’s say you’re trying to switch browsers. Go to Settings > Apps > Default Apps , then select the browser you’re trying to set as your default browser. Click “Set as Default” at the top of the screen and Windows will change the link types, such as .htm, .html and .pdf, to open in the browser of your choice. Going forward, when you click a link in Windows, it should open in your browser of choice, not Edge. However, all file types will not be changed here: if you want your new browser to open when you open a .pdf link, for example, you’ll need to click .pdf and then select your browser from the list.

This also applies to other types of apps, such as email clients, media players, and photo apps.

Customize your theme

Windows 11 defaults to a light theme, which is good for daytime use. But when you use your computer at night or just prefer a dark theme in general, switching your computer to dark mode is the best option. You’ll find this option in Start > Settings > Personalization > Colors .

This is by no means a secret feature. In fact, you may already have dark mode enabled on your computer. But Windows has more theme options than light or dark: You can also control the entire Windows 11 UI color scheme. Windows has a small set of preset color themes that you can try in both light and dark modes, but if none of them suits you, you can create your own.

Most often, these options can be found in the Colors and Themes sections of the Personalization settings menu. Under Colors, you can select Accent Color, which will change the color of menu icons throughout the OS. While Windows has a lot of choices, you can select Browse Colors under Custom Colors to select the exact shade you want here. You can also choose whether this accent color appears in the Start menu and taskbar, as well as in title bars and window borders.

Customize your notifications

If there’s one default setting you shouldn’t live with, it’s notifications. Constant notifications from all the applications on your computer will drive you crazy: disabling most (if not all) will make your Windows experience much more pleasant.

To get started, go to Settings > System > Notifications . If you never want to receive notifications again, tap the slider next to Notifications to turn them all off. However, you can also review each app to choose which one can send you alerts. You can also fine-tune how each app notifies you: you can choose to have notifications appear, but silently, so you don’t get bombarded with constant ringing sounds. You can also turn on or off notification banners, alerts that appear in the bottom right corner of the screen, and whether to show notifications in the Action Center.

Don’t be afraid to use the Focus Assist feature either. This feature allows you to customize the times of day or situations on your computer when only certain apps can notify you: If you want work apps like Teams and Slack to only notify you during your 9 to 5 job (and make sure they never notify you from 5 to 9) you can configure this here.

Customize your lock screen

It’s easy to keep your computer’s lock screen at its default settings since you don’t look at it for too long every time you log in. But it’s nice to have a custom look that greets you when you boot up your computer.

You’ll find these options in Settings > Personalization > Lock Screen . If you’ve never dealt with these settings, you probably have Windows Spotlight turned on by default. This feature changes the background image every day and also offers tips for using Windows. But you can choose any lock screen image from the drop-down list next to Personalize your lock screen . Select Image to choose a single image to display on the lock screen, while Slideshow lets you choose an album to display photos in a loop.

Disable lock screen widgets

Speaking of the lock screen, new versions of Windows 11 give you access to widgets that display additional data on the lock screen. By default, this includes the weather widget as well as other news update widgets, but you can customize the widgets shown here or disable them altogether .

Go back to Personalization > Lock Screen , then find Lock Screen Status . Here, you can change the default Weather & More option to another app, such as Calendar or Mail, or select None to disable these widgets entirely.

Control which applications launch when you log in

Launcher apps are programs that start up with your computer. That’s why apps like Edge open as soon as you sign in. While some apps you run are convenient, others can be annoying and put unnecessary strain on your computer.

Go to Settings > Applications > Launch and scroll through the list here. Disable all applications and services that you don’t think you need every time your computer restarts. If you know you want your browser to open immediately, do so. But you probably won’t need iTunes Mobile Device Helper to work all the time.

Likewise, you can disable the option that restarts the applications you were using when you turned off your computer. If you like to restart your computer to find all the apps you were using when you turned it off, leave this option enabled. Otherwise, start fresh each time by going to Settings > Accounts > Sign-in Options , then turn off the Automatically save restartable apps and restart them when you sign in again option .

Choose a new touch keyboard

If you have a touchscreen computer or just like to use the on-screen keyboard, you can customize the appearance of the touch keyboard in Personalization > Touch Keyboard . By default it matches the theme of your system, but there are a range of options here, from solid colors to gradients and even with images. If you don’t like any of the options, you can customize the key colors, the symbols on each key, and the keyboard background by clicking Edit .

Check your app permissions

This isn’t the most flashy setting you can make in Windows 11, but it’s important: on any OS, not just Windows, you should periodically check and adjust app permissions. In Windows 11, you’ll find these options in Settings > Privacy & Security . Windows has a long list of permissions, but some important ones to review are Location, Camera, Microphone, and Contacts. If you see an app in any of these lists that has no reason to access the permission it has (for example, an app that has camera permissions even though it never publicly uses your camera in its app), disable it. (And consider deleting any sketchy apps.)

More…