Windows 11 File Explorer Right-click Menu was changed to include icons

Anonymous
2021-12-06T15:53:47+00:00

Who did this and why do they do it (see picture below)? The File Explorer right-click menu has had the options: Cut, Copy, Paste, Rename, Delete listed (as words) in this menu FOREVER and now some genius decided that after all these years, Windows users are too dumb to read. The words were replaced with icons. THIS IS SO ANNOYING. THE MUSCLE MEMORY IN MY HANDS IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO RETRAIN AFTER YEARS OF THE MENU BEING THE SAME WAY. Now I have to stop and think about something that I've done instinctively for years. I can get to the ORIGINAL right-click menu by selecting "Show More Options," shown in the photo below, but WHY SHOULD I HAVE TO, THAT'S AN EXTRA STEP? If I am intelligent enough to boot up a computer, then certainly I can read the words: Cut, Copy, Paste, Rename and Delete. I don't need you to create icons to represent those functions. IF IT'S NOT BROKEN THEN DON'T TRY TO FIX IT. STOP DUMBING DOWN THE SOFTWARE AND MAKING THINGS HARDER PLEASE.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Files, folders, and storage

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-01-21T14:16:04+00:00

    LOL! That's hilarious!

    I think this thread is revealing something much more important than this change and it's something that I think most would agree on. In the past, Microsoft has provided for a lot of backwards compatibility and the ability to make tons of changes to the registry and other minor changes to customize the UI to the way we work. For example, I've been adding back the Quicklaunch and double-stacking my taskbar since XP I think.

    What we should all be doing, rather than arguing the case for or against the changes, is pushing them to make this controllable. Put out the home version with it on by default, and on the Professional version, leave it turned off. Add a checkbox to all the other things in Folder Options and move on to something more critical like bringing back the ability to add the Quicklaunch bar!

    Yes, I know they made some changes to the way that the taskbar works so they would have had to work on it to make it work unlike previous times where the function of the taskbar remained unchanged. But I totally don't get their reasoning on the start bar changes to begin with. I use Windows and not Apple for a reason, so the last thing they need to do is mirror Apple. Apple is a combination of peer groupthink and a dumbing down of the OS. To maintain market share the last thing they need to do is start removing the things that make Windows different.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-01-21T07:26:33+00:00

    the guy who thought of that should stop working in the software industry

    Unfortunately, the guy who designed this is probably the same idiot who convinced Steve Jobs that iPhone didn't need a back button.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-01-12T04:08:43+00:00

    Thank you! You're the best! :D

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-01-06T00:23:26+00:00

    I like it. Look at it this way:

    If you using CTRL+C/CTRL+P, then none of this matters.

    If you're using the mouse to click "Copy" then right click, then "Paste", then the new icon you click is closer to the cursor than ever before. You don't have to scroll down to the Paste option anymore. It's right there at the top, intuitively.

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  5. Anonymous
    2022-12-29T18:38:37+00:00

    I just wanted to say I couldn't agree more. It just seems to be change for the sake of it. It adds nothing, is really annoying, and yet another reason why I wish I'd remained on Windows 10.

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