Windows 11 movable taskbar edges closer to general release

Windows 11 has moved one step closer to matching Windows 10 after Microsoft slid a movable taskbar into the Release Preview Channel. The feature allows the Windows taskbar to be positioned at the top, left, or right of the screen, as well as at its default location along the bottom. Users have long requested its return after Microsoft dropped the capability from Windows 11. After floating around the Windows Insider Program for several months, the feature reached the Release Preview Channel late last week. Other taskbar tweaks in Release Preview include a compact option with smaller icons and reduced height, freeing up more of the desktop. Microsoft has not said when the enhancements will reach general availability, but their arrival in Release Preview suggests a wider rollout may be only weeks or months away. Microsoft has also added Start menu customization options, allowing users to choose between small and large layouts rather than accept the default size. The promised Windows Search updates are also present, making the service more "dependable" and allowing users to remove Microsoft Store and web suggestions from the results. The Release Preview also contains a couple of changes likely to please admins. Administrator protection lets users perform elevated tasks through just-in-time privileges. It is disabled by default but can be enabled through Intune or Group Policy. Microsoft has also pulled Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC). WMIC's demise may prompt a sigh of relief, since miscreants have long used the utility to run commands and move around compromised systems. Deprecated years ago and already absent by default from new installations of Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2, WMIC has now disappeared from the Features on Demand list. Admins still using the utility may nevertheless feel the change. WMI itself is unaffected, and Microsoft recommends PowerShell as WMIC's replacement. (R)