Overview
Windows 11 rewrote the taskbar and lost a decade of behaviour in the process. Buttons cannot be ungrouped, labels cannot be shown, the bar will not move to the left or top of the screen, dragging a file onto a taskbar button no longer brings that window forward, and the right click menu lost most of its entries. StartAllBack is a small shell extension that puts all of it back, without replacing the shell or running a second taskbar on top of the real one.
The important detail is that it works with the existing taskbar rather than around it. Other tools of this kind draw their own bar and leave you with two systems disagreeing about window state. StartAllBack hooks the real one, which is why the animations stay smooth, the notification area behaves, and multi monitor setups do not fall apart. This build is posted with the licensing handled, so there is no trial countdown and no reminder.
The taskbar
Ungrouped buttons with labels come back, which is the single change most people install this for. Beyond that you get taskbar position on any edge of the screen, adjustable icon size and spacing, the classic tray overflow, and per monitor configuration so a secondary display can behave differently from the main one.
Drag and drop onto taskbar buttons works again, hovering over a grouped button gives the old preview behaviour rather than the new one, and middle click, shift click and the modifier shortcuts all do what they used to. The context menu on the bar itself gets the toolbars, cascade and show desktop entries back.
Start menu and file explorer
The start menu can be switched between three styles: the Windows 11 one with fixes, a Windows 10 style with tiles, or the classic two column list with all programs as a cascading menu. Search is the system search in all three, so nothing is lost, and pinned items carry across.
Explorer gets the full ribbon or the classic command bar back in place of the current stripped toolbar, the details pane returns, and the navigation pane can show the old tree layout. Context menus skip the see more step and show every entry immediately, which alone saves a click on every right click you make.
Appearance and how it behaves
There is a set of visual styles included, from a translucent modern look to a flat classic one, and the accent handling can follow the system or be set independently. Rounded corners, taskbar transparency and the tray icon spacing are all adjustable, which matters more than it sounds on a high resolution display.
It survives feature updates in most cases, and where a Windows update breaks a hook the program disables the affected part rather than leaving the shell broken. If something does go wrong, safe mode starts without it loading and the uninstall is clean, leaving no leftover shell modification behind.
What you get
- Ungrouped taskbar buttons with text labels
- Taskbar on any screen edge, with per monitor settings
- Working drag and drop onto taskbar buttons
- Three start menu styles including the classic two column list
- Full context menus with no see more step
- Explorer ribbon or classic command bar restored
- Details pane and classic navigation tree in Explorer
- Adjustable icon size, spacing, corners and transparency
- Included visual styles from modern translucent to flat classic
- Clean uninstall with no leftover shell modification
Inside the archive
- StartAllBack installer
- Visual style set
- Configuration panel
- Readme covering the per user versus per machine install choice
System requirements
| Operating system | Windows 11, or Windows 10 for the Explorer features |
|---|---|
| Processor | x64 or ARM64 |
| Memory | No meaningful requirement |
| Graphics | No dedicated card required |
| Storage | 60 MB |
| Permissions | Administrator for a per machine install |
Installing it
- Unpack the archive.
- Run the installer and choose per user unless you want it applied to every account on the machine.
- Explorer restarts by itself, the screen will flicker once.
- Open the configuration panel from the start menu and pick the taskbar and menu style you want.
- If a later Windows update disables part of it, reinstall over the top rather than uninstalling first.
Mirrors
| Route | Region | Note | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct, primary | Europe | No wait, resumable | Online |
| Direct, secondary | North America | No wait, resumable | Online |
| Torrent magnet | Global | Not needed, file is tiny | Online |
Release history
- Compatibility with the latest Windows 11 servicing update
- Fixed tray overflow drawing at 175 percent scaling
- Per monitor taskbar settings no longer reset on dock and undock
- Classic start menu all programs cascade rebuilt
- Reduced Explorer restart time after a settings change
- ARM64 build added
- Fixed drag and drop onto grouped buttons
Questions about this release
Does it replace the taskbar with its own?
No. It modifies the real one, which is why the animations and multi monitor behaviour stay correct.
Will a Windows update break it?
Occasionally a servicing update breaks a hook. The program disables that part rather than breaking the shell, and an update to this build usually follows within days.
Can I get back to stock?
Uninstall and Explorer returns to the default behaviour with nothing left behind.
Does it work on Windows 10?
The Explorer and context menu features do. The taskbar work is aimed at Windows 11, since Windows 10 already has most of it.
Comments
Taskbar on the left edge again after three years. Works across both monitors.
Survived the last big update. One part switched itself off for a day then the new build fixed it.
Comments are read before they appear. If a build stops working, say so here and it gets rebuilt rather than quietly left up.
Labels on taskbar buttons and full right click menus. That is the whole operating system fixed for me.