Hide or Show Most Used Apps in Windows 11 Start Menu

You can hide or show most used apps from Windows 11 Start Menu for the current user or all users of your computer. You can use different methods to manage that list; we will review them in this post.

The Most Used list in the Windows 11 Start menu displays 6 frequently used apps you have installed. Its main purpose to give you faster access to your favorite software.

The more often you launch some specific app, then higher position in the list it will get. Windows tracks your interaction with installed apps to populate the most used section automatically. You cannot modify it manually.

Hide or Show Most Used Apps in Windows 11 Start Menu

As of this writing, Windows 11 doesn't show most used apps by default. Some people miss this feature, others prefer a cleaner Start menu. For the current user, Windows 11 includes an option in Settings. To change this option for all users, you can use Group Policy. Here's how.

How to Hide or Show Most Used Apps with Settings

1. Open the Settings app by pressing the Win + I keys.
2. Click on Personalization on the left.
3. In the right pane, click on Start.
4. Turn on or off the Show most used apps toggle option on the next page.

You are done. You can change the mentioned option at any moment later to restore the Most Used app list.

Note: If the "Show most used apps" option is grayed out, open Settings, go to Privacy & security > General, and enable Let Windows improve Start and search results by tracking app launches.

Also, you can remove specific most used apps much faster. This can be done directly from the Start menu.

Remove Specific App from Most Used List

Click on the Start menu, and then click on "All apps" option.

You will see the full list of installed programs arranged by alphabet. Simply right-click the app you want to remove from the Most used list, and select More > Don't show in this list.

The two reviewed options apply to the current user only. If you want to configure this feature for all users, you need to apply a Group Policy. Note that only Pro and Enterprise editions of Windows 11 support the Local Group Policy Editor app (gpedit.msc). Users of Home editions can apply a registry tweak reviewed in a separate chapter below.

Always Show or Hide Most Used Apps in Windows 11 with Group Policy

1. Open the Group Policy editor by pressing Win + R and entering gpedit.msc in the Run box.
2. Navigate to Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Start Menu and Taskbar.
3. On the right, find the policy named Show or hide "Most used" list from Start menu.
4. Double-click it and set to one of the following values:
   • Not configured - allow the user to manually turn on or off the Most Used app list in the Start menu.
   • Enabled: If you select the Show option from the drop down list, you will force enable the Most Used apps feature in the Start menu for all users. By selecting Hide, you will hide the app list for all users.
5. Restart Windows 11 to apply the change.

Finally, if you run a Home edition of Windows 11, the gpedit.msc tool is not available for you. You need to apply a Registry tweak instead.

Show or Hide Most Used Apps in Windows 11 Registry

1. Open the Registry Editor; press Win + R and type regedit in the Run box, then press Enter.
2. Go to the following key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer. If the Explorer key is missing, then create it manually.
3. Under the Explorer key, create a new 32-bit DWORD value ShowOrHideMostUsedApps.
4. To hide the Most Used app list for all users, set it to 2.
5. To always show it for all users, set it to 1.
6. Remove the ShowOrHideMostUsedApps value to reset everything to defaults.
7. Restart the PC to apply the enforcement.

Done! To save your time, you can use the following REG files.

Ready-to-use Registry files

Download the ZIP archive using this link. Extract the three REG files from it to any convenient folder location.

Use one of the following files, according to what you want.

• Always Show Most Used Appsin Start Menu.reg -  enables the most used app list for all users.
• Always Hide Most Used Apps In Start Menu.reg -  hides the app list for all users.
• Defaults For Most Used List In Start Menu.reg - allows each user to configure the option with the Settings app. This is the default behavior.

Double-click the file to apply the changes to the Registry and restart Windows 11.

That's it.

Support us

Winaero greatly relies on your support. You can help the site keep bringing you interesting and useful content and software by using these options: