There are lots of reasons to upgrade to the preview version of Windows 11, but that doesn't mean you have to live with all aspects of the new user interface. Perhaps, like me, you don't like the new Start Menu because it takes up so much space. Or maybe you hate the fact that File Explorer is missing a ribbon menu or that right click menus only hold 7 options and force you to click "Show more options" to see them all. The good news is that, with a combination of registry tweaks, third-party apps and some different art work, you can get some of the look and feel of Windows 10 back in Windows 11. The bad news is that Microsoft doesn't seem to want you to go back to a previous UI so it may disable any registry hacks you use in future updates. And these are hacks for a frequently-changing beta OS so there's no guarantee you won't run into bugs; proceed at your own risk. Below, we'll outline a number of tweaks for different parts of the UI and you can use one, several, or all of them to get the look you want. Get a More Windows 10-Like Start Menu
Sadly, at the moment, there's no way to bring back the exact Windows 10 Start menu. You can, however, install one of at least three third-party utilities that give you a menu design that's similar to Windows 7, which in its own way, is much closer to the look of Windows 10's menu, depending on how you customize it. And if, like me, what you dislike most about Windows 11's Start menu is how much screen real estate it takes up and how far apart the icons are, using one of these utilities is a great fix. We have a more detailed tutorial on how to replace the Windows 11 Start menu, but we'll also outline the basic steps below. First, you need to choose which Start menu utility to install. The three main choices are:
Open-Shell: Free, open source and does not require any registry hacks to work with its own shell-shaped Start button. If you want the Windows 10 icon for your start button, you will need to use the classic taskbar registry hack.
StartIsBack++: Looks more polished than Open-Shell. Needs classic taskbar hack (see below) to work properly. Costs $3.99 but has a 30-day trial, after which it works with some diminished functionality.
Start10: Perhaps the most polished looking, this costs $4.99 and also has a 30-day trial and requires a registry hack to work at all.
If you install Open-Shell and don't want to have the bugs you get from bringing back the classic taskbar -- all of which we'll get to below -- all you need to do after setting up the program is to shift the taskbar icons to the left. To do that, just right click on the taskbar, select Taskbar Settings and then navigate to Taskbar Behaviors and choose Left from the alignment menu.

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We already know that Windows 11 Home will require a Microsoft account (MSA) at the beginning of the installation process. What Microsoft hasn’t publicized is whether it’s possible to log in with just a local account. It is, but only with Windows 11 Pro. A source close to Microsoft has now told us that the only way to avoid using an MSA is with Windows 11 Pro. According to our source, users who buy or own a PC with Windows 11 Pro may choose to use either a local account or an MSA from the very beginning of the installation process. The Windows 11 Home MSA requirement isn’t permanent, just unavoidable. Microsoft will allow the user to transition to a local account once the Windows 11 Home installation process has completed. Retail versions of Windows 11 Home will offer the same experience. Our source told us that local account users will not have a “diminished or limited experience,” though they won’t be able to sync content or use Windows 11’s ability to sync or recommend content from other devices. That content—which could include documents or webpages that a user had viewed on another PC—is typically synced to the user’s MSA account.
Microsoft’s waning support for local accounts
Microsoft has no incentive to encourage local accounts. The company would prefer to use your MSA in a give-and-take relationship: Microsoft offers synchronized supplementary services, like OneDrive cloud storage and Office apps on the web, and in return the company quietly takes data about how you use Windows and Microsoft services. Privacy concerns flared in 2015 with the advent of Windows 10 and its telemetry, then faded. Microsoft does allow you many, many options to guard your privacy within Windows 10—but it’s also betting you won’t bother. Local accounts have been seen as one way around that. Microsoft may be able to watch what you do on the web (anonymously), but it won’t be able to match up your actions if you move to another PC. At the same time, Microsoft has changed up the ways in which it allows you to create a local account. In 2019 Microsoft began phasing out the option to ue a local account during setup unless Internet access was unavailable. Even then, the OOBE experience often casually asked you to connect to the Internet before asking you to sign in. That led to bizarre scenarios where users who wanted to sign in with a local account needed to turn off their Wi-Fi before setting up Windows 10. Microsoft has apparently closed that loophole entirely now. That leaves users with an expensive alternative: Windows 10 Pro (and, we expect, Windows 11 Pro) costs $199.99 for a standalone license, versus $139.00 for Windows 10 Home. Microsoft does offer some premium apps and functions on Windows 10 Pro devices that it doesn’t on Windows 10 Home, though many aren’t of direct use to consumers. (One exception is Windows Sandbox, which is quite useful.) If you already own Windows 10 Pro, you can upgrade to Windows 11 Pro for free. Microsoft used to offer Surface devices with Windows 10 Pro installed, but that’s changed, too. The most recent versions of the Surface Pro tablets ship with Windows 10 Home, and only the more expensive Surface Pro for Business tablets include Windows 10 Pro. For many users watching the Windows 11 launch, the MSA requirement can’t help but feel like another kick in the ribs. Confusion over Windows 11’s hardware requirements and the need for a TPM have overshadowed the numerous Windows 11 features that Microsoft has added. Will Microsoft backtrack? It certainly could. The opinion of one ex-Microsoft security analyst is that it could only happen if users kicked up a fuss.
Via pcworld.com