Microsoft introduces interesting updates to its Windows 11 operating system. However, the File Explorer app for Windows 11 has also received updates that have given it a new look. One of the new elements added to the File Explorer is the Recommended section. The Recommended section shows all the files that have been recently accessed or modified.
Don’t get me wrong, this is a great feature for those who like to keep updated about their files. But, not everyone is a fan of such clutter showing up in the File Manager app. So, what’s to be done? Well, you can choose to disable it. Here is our guide on how you can do that.
Remove the Recommended Section from File Explorer on Windows 11
Step 1: First off, open the File Explorer app on your Windows PC.
Step 2: Now, click on the three dots that you see on the menu bar.
Step 3: From the fly-out menu, click on Options.
Step 4: The Folder Options window will now open up.
Step 5: Keeping the General tab selected, un-tick the Show Recently Used Files option under Privacy.
Step 6: You can also uncheck the box that says Show Recently Used Folders.
Step 7: Finally, click on the Apply button followed by the OK button.
You should no longer be seeing any recommended and recently used files in the File Explorer screen.
Closing Thoughts
This concludes the guide on how you can get rid of the Recommended section that displays your recently used files or folders on the home screen of the File Explorer app.
The best part about this is you simply do a few clicks, and you are good to go. There is no need to dig into the Registry Editor to make these changes.
Windows 11 is fresh air and looks like a modern OS, even in 2025. But there are several changes, some intentional, and some only reserved for those who love prying into the OS.
If you are bored with the current features or find the new OS lacking performance, visual appeal, or power, these hidden settings will help you get more out of Windows 11. Without further ado, let’s jump into the post.
1. Push the Start button into the corner
The new centered Start button isn’t easy to get accustomed to. While new users might like the modern, middle look, Windows 8 or old users prefer the left-aligned start menu.
Earlier, you had to resort to registry tweaks to get this done, but now a simple Taskbar setting tweak can push the Start button to its original location.
Right-click on the Taskbar and select the Taskbar settings option. Expand the Taskbar behavior and choose the Left option.
2. Bring back the old desktop context menu
The shortened desktop context menu wasn’t good for daily use. It is too small and lacks useful options like the GPU app access. Microsoft tried to adapt it to daily use, but some prefer the old one more.
To do this trick, you need to modify the registry. We advise you to manually backup the registry to a USB drive and make a system restore point. It ensures you can return to a working state if you wreck your PC.
Launch the command prompt with admin rights and paste the following command to restore the old context menu:
Close the Command Prompt window and restart to apply the registry changes.
3. Align your Priorities with Focus Mode
Focus Mode can help you not deviate from your track and stop all the disturbance in the background. Search for Focus settings in the Start menu, and you can start a timer for a short duration where your OS activity and notifications won’t bother you.
There are a few options, but we suggest using the default settings for maximum productivity.
4. Restore File Explorer Windows
We all use the hidden files feature in File Explorer but ignore this small yet useful setting. As someone who works with files scattered across multiple locations, I use a lot of tabs and windows. However, manually reopening each one the next day is a chore.
Here’s where the Restore File Explorer windows at logon can save you. Click on the three-dots button in the File Explorer and select Options.
Switch to the View tab and enable the Restore previous folder windows at logon option to skip reopening folders again.
5. Access Phone Storage from File Explorer
If you ignore the Phone Link setup pop-up while setting up your Windows 11 PC, you miss out on many things. After the 24H2 update, you can peek inside your phone storage wirelessly using Managed devices features. All you need is to install the Link to Windows app on your Android or iOS device, and you’re good to go.
Visit the Mobile Devices page under the Bluetooth and devices settings and set up the Managed Devices.
You can access and modify files after pairing and enabling the “Show mobile devices in File Explorer” option. It’s not fast due to Wi-Fi limitations, but it is good enough to copy docs and images from phone to PC.
6. Use the Phone as a connected Camera
Don’t have a webcam but want to use your phone as a camera? Earlier, there were third-party apps to do this trick, but now Managed Devices can help you. Pair and set up the phone as you did in the previous trick, then enable the Use as a Connected Camera option.
Then, you can use the phone’s front or rear camera as a webcam and adjust many other settings. No more missing out on Zoom or casual meetings and sticking to audio mode because you don’t have a webcam.
7. Super God Mode
What if you had a gateway to access all the possible settings in Windows 11? Super God Mode can help you with it. It is way more powerful than God Mode, a trick discovered in 2021. But does it make you a god?
No. You cannot make your Windows 11 PC do anything more than it was designed to. However, you get a categorized folder that lists all the OS settings, and finding and sorting them is much easier.
There is no need to navigate the Control Panel or the Settings app to find a less-known display or network setting. Developer Theojoe created a batch file to create the Super God Mode folder for you. Download it from GitHub and run the file to access the folder.
8. Windows Sandbox
Windows Sandbox is a mystery to many. Some think of it as a useless app, but it can be a powerful isolation testing tool for anything sketchy you download. Earlier, virtualization-supported systems were not common, but Windows 11 needs a TPM-capable virtualization-ready CPU, so it’s highly likely you have one.
Also, you need to have Windows 11 Pro because it isn’t available in Home. The recent updates allow secure clipboard sharing, resizing, and audio/video inputs.
So, you don’t need to create a virtual machine using VMware or other software and can check apps and files inside Sandbox.
Wrapping Up
We hope these hidden or less-known Windows settings helped you get more out of your Windows 11 PC. We love the Managed devices and Sandbox a lot because it lets us repurpose the mobile camera as a webcam, and Sandbox reduces the chances of running anything malicious on the PC.
Share any other unpopular Windows 11 settings in the comments.
Microsoft began offering a dedicated Copilot key with PCs in 2024 to bolster the AI branding. However, the initial idea was to keep Copilot on one side and launch it when the user pressed the key. But the plans have changed now.
Copilot is now pinned on the Taskbar as a web app. So, a dedicated key isn’t super-helpful when a user can open Copilot from the Taskbar, system tray, or the Start menu. If you don’t want to keep the key unused, you are not alone.
We at YTECHB recently got a Copilot+ PC and were wondering what to do with the now redundant key. Fortunately, there’s an option to customize it to open another app or launch Windows Search. Let’s look at all the options.
Changing Copilot Key Behavior on Windows 11 24H2
Currently, Windows 11’s Copilot Key bindings only allow two customization options. To access it, navigate to Settings > Personalization > Text Inputs section.
Now, expand the Customize Copilot keyon the Keyboard option and select Search from the list. When you press the Copilot key, it’ll launch Windows search.
If you want to make it an app launch key, pick the Custom option from the list. You’ll see another window in which all the available apps will appear. Click on any one and then click the Select option.
Now, the Copilot key press will force launch the selected app instead of Copilot.
Can You Configure the Copilot Key to Open Any App?
Unfortunately, no. This feature only allows signed MSIX packages to launch and won’t show any third-party app names in the list. Also, there isn’t a browse section now, which restricts you from choosing apps from the presented list.
In our tests, we only saw system apps, so the options are surely limited. You can always use a third-party key binding adjustment tool like PowerToys to remap a shortcut to start an app. It’s a tab more complicated than Microsoft’s settings design, but it will make your useless Copilot key do the job you want.
Also, if you are not using PowerToys, you’re missing out on many features that you wish Microsoft would include in Windows 11 by default, like Mouse Sharing, File Explorer adjustments, Peek, and New. Microsoft is even testing an option to open a context menu with the Copilot key, and we’ll keep tracking it and update the post when the feature arrives.
Can You Remap Keys in Windows 11?
Yes. Even Microsoft has a dedicated page on how to remap keys on your PC, and it suggests using PowerToys, as we mentioned above. This way, you can remap any of the unused keys to do something useful.
Wrapping Up
We’re glad there is an option to make the Copilot key do something better than what it was designed for. Not everyone is a fan of Copilot or will get a Copilot+ PC unless AI CPUs are the only CPUs that come with Windows PCs.
The context menu opening option seems promising, and we’ll keep checking builds and updating the page.
Microsoft’s Paint and Photos apps are at the forefront of AI adoption. Microsoft has been improving the Photos app with essential features like Blur and minor edits for some time, and now it can erase objects with precision.
You must have multiple photos ruined by someone in the background and want to hide that. Other use cases can include hiding sensitive information from an image so it isn’t visible to the other person.
Photos app’s Generative Erase can remove the selected area in an image and even offers precise controls over the chosen location. Let’s explore the feature in detail.
Removing Objects with Generative Erase in Photos App
The Photos app is the default image viewer on Windows 11. So, double-click on any photo in the File Explorer to open it. Then click on the Edit button. A new window will launch with all the relevant editing options in the app.
Click on the Erase option. The first thing you must do is to adjust the brush size. It’ll help cover the area precisely. I kept it around 50 because I wanted to wipe a big area. There are also masking options, but you don’t need them for basic erase.
I tested it with a basic Windows 11 OOBE page image and selected the top text and button.
Since the tool is set to auto-apply, it quickly hid the text and the button as if nothing was there. Pretty neat?
I tried it with other screenshots of the OS, like this black background Settings app page. Here, I got mixed results.
When I erased the icon next to the Windows Update text, it left a blue spot and failed to hide the color difference completely. I repeatedly applied the erase effect on that area, but the result looked more or less the same.
However, when I erased the icon above the Cloud Storage text, it effectively blended the colors as if the icon was never there. So, you’ll have mixed results with different color backgrounds.
The last leg of the tests was a group photo I downloaded from Pexels. At first, I tried removing the person in the blue pants on the extreme left. After ten or so attempts, I ended with a distorted background look. Next, I tried removing the glass from the hand, and it took a few attempts to hide the glass.
Even after so much effort, the result wasn’t near perfect. It shows a cupped hand but with half-visible glass. Clearly, that wasn’t the outcome I was hoping for. It is the same for all the other image erase that I tried.
Verdict
I wouldn’t use Photos Generative Erase for complex images with multiple colors and objects intertwined with each other, like the person holding a glass. A Generative Fill option might work better to replace the glass with an open hand or something. But that is something only reserved for Copilot+ PCs at the moment.
Microsoft won’t add Generative Fill to Photos for free because it’s already charging for Image Creator in Paint and bundling it with a Microsoft 365 subscription. I believe these options will work better in combination. You’ll have to use Photoshop for picture-perfect erase that looks like the object was never there.
Still, it’s great to have a native erase option in Photos to hide details and remove objects from the images. Note that the Paint app has a similar Generative Erase option but with more granular control over the selection area.
If I ask whether you still access your favorite websites by opening a web browser like Google Chrome, and others on Windows PC, you’d probably wonder what kind of question that is, right? After all, using a web browser to visit websites has been the traditional method for years.
However, there’s a faster and easier way to access websites that don’t require you to type in a URL address every time. I’m talking about creating desktop shortcuts to websites, which most of you might be aware of. Since you are here, we know that you want to learn how to create a desktop shortcut to a website on a Windows PC. Don’t worry, we’ve got your back.
In this guide, we’ll explain each and every step to create a desktop shortcut for your favorite website using different browsers on Windows, starting with Google Chrome. So, without wasting further time, let’s jump right in.
How to create a desktop shortcut to a website using Google Chrome on Windows
Creating a desktop shortcut to a website using Chrome is pretty straightforward. All you need to do is go through a few options and you’re done. You can check the steps below.
1. First, open Google Chrome on your Windows PC.
2. Next, open the website for which you want to create a desktop shortcut.
3. Then, click the three vertical dot menu (aka Kebab menu) from the top right to open Chrome’s control menu.
Step 2 & 3
4. Now, click the “cast, save, and share” option.
5. Once you tap on it, you’ll see different options right next to the control menu. From there, click the “create shortcut” option.
6. Lastly, you’ll see a prompt asking you to create a short for the website. Simply click on “create” button, and you are done.
Now, every time you have to open your favorite website, simply click on the created desktop shortcut as seen in the image below and you are good to go.
Also read: Best Hidden Windows 11 Settings You Should Enable Right Now
How to make a desktop shortcut to a website using Mozilla Firefox on Windows
Mozilla Firefox users are extremely fortunate because it allows creating desktop shortcut for a website in the easiest way possible. Here’s how to do do it.
1. First, open Mozilla Firefox.
2. Then, open the website for which you want to create a desktop shortcut.
3. After the website loads, minimize the browser’s window and place the cursor on the padlock icon beside the URL address of the website.
4. Now, drag the cursor as it drags the website URL to the desktop as seen in the image below.
Well, that’s all you have to do in order to create a website’s desktop shortcut. It can’t get easier than that.
NOTE: Dragging and dropping a website’s URL to desktop is also possible with other web browsers.
Also read: How to Customize Copilot Key on Windows 11
How to create desktop shortcut to a website using Brave browser on Windows
If you are someone who uses Brave browser as your daily driver, the above steps to create desktop shortcut to a website is applicable in this case too. That’s because the Chrome’s control menu and Brave’s control menu looks pretty much identical.
The only difference is that you have to click on the “Save and share” option from the Brave’s control menu to access the “create shortcut” option.
Also read: How to Remove Recommended Section from File Explorer on Windows 11
How to make a website shortcut on desktop using Microsoft Edge on Windows
Unlike Chrome, FireFox, and Brave, Microsoft Edge requires you to fiddle around multiple options in order to create a desktop shortcut to a website. However, it’s not complicated.
1. First, open Microsoft Edge on your Windows PC.
2. Then, open the website for which you want to create a desktop shortcut.
3. Now, click on the three-dot menu located at the top right to open Edge control menu.
Step 2 & 3
4. Next, click on “Apps.“
5. Now, click on “Install this site as an app.“
6. Then, click on “Install” button when you see a prompt on the screen.
7. On the next screen, checkmark the “Create desktop shortcut option” and click “Allow.“
Also read: Best Microsoft Edge Themes You Should Try in 2025
Once you are done, a website shortcut will be visible on your desktop. Now, everytime you have to visit that website, you don’t need to open your browser, simply double click on the shortcut and you are good to go.
That’s all for now in this guide. We hope this piece helped you create website shorcut on Windows desktop without any issues. If you are using Windows 11 and want to remove distracting objects from your photos using AI, make sure to check out this guide.
