How to Remove the Recommended Section in Windows 11
Windows 11's Start menu has shipped with a Recommended section wedged under your pinned apps since launch, mixing recent files with Microsoft's own app suggestions and tips. If you're trying to figure out how to remove the Recommended section in Windows 11, the fix depends on which build you're running, and Microsoft actually made this easier earlier this year. On a fully updated Windows 11 24H2 or 25H2 install, one Settings toggle now deletes the whole section, header included, instead of just clearing out the list (The Droid Guy, earlier this year).
That Recommended block actually bundles three separate things: recently added apps, recently opened files, and Microsoft's promoted apps and tips (The Droid Guy, earlier this year). Every edition ships with the tips-and-promotion toggle turned on by default, so those app suggestions showing up in your Start menu aren't a bug, they're the default setting. Before changing anything, check Settings > System > About for your build number and edition (Home, Pro, Enterprise, Education, or SE), since a few of the options below only apply to specific editions or to builds that have already picked up the 24H2/25H2 update.
How to hide Recommended in Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2
None of this needs a paid subscription or a third-party tool. It's all controlled from Settings, and it takes a few minutes (The Droid Guy, earlier this year).
- Press Win + I to open Settings.
- Go to Settings > Personalization > Start.
- Turn off "Show recently added apps."
- Turn off "Show recently opened items in Start, Jump Lists, and File Explorer."
- Turn off "Show recommendations for tips, shortcuts, new apps, and more."
The first toggle empties the recently added apps list. The second clears recent files. The third one matters most: it stops Microsoft's promoted apps and tips outright, and on a fully updated 24H2 or 25H2 system, switching it off removes the Recommended header itself rather than leaving an empty box behind (The Droid Guy, earlier this year).
There's a real trade-off tucked into step four, though. On newer builds, turning off "Show recently opened items" also disables Recent files inside File Explorer, not just in Start (The Droid Guy, earlier this year). If you actually use that Recent files list to jump back into documents, decide whether losing it is worth the cleaner Start menu before you flip the switch.
What older builds still show
If your PC hasn't picked up the 24H2 or 25H2 update, those same three toggles still work, but the result looks different. The Recommended header stays put even after the list underneath it is empty (The Droid Guy, earlier this year). That's a cosmetic annoyance more than a functional one, since the ads and suggestions themselves are gone either way.
One more wrinkle worth flagging: in current experimental builds, Microsoft is renaming this section from "Recommended" to "Recent" in both Start and Settings (The Droid Guy, earlier this year). If your menu labels don't quite match what's described here, that's probably why.
Shrink Recommended instead of removing it
If deleting the section entirely feels like overkill, there's a lighter option. Switching the Start layout to "More pins," on that same Personalization > Start page, doesn't delete Recommended, it shrinks it down to a single thin row and hands your pinned apps more room instead (The Droid Guy, earlier this year). The three layout choices are Default, More pins, and More recommendations, so More pins sits at the decluttered end of that slider, and it works on every edition.
Force the change on Pro, Enterprise, Education, and SE
If the Settings toggle doesn't stick, or you'd rather enforce the removal at the system level, Pro, Enterprise, Education, and SE editions have a dedicated Group Policy setting:
- Press Win + R, type
gpedit.msc, and press Enter. - Browse to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar.
- Open "Remove Recommended section from Start Menu."
- Set it to Enabled and click OK.
- Run
gpupdate /force, or restart.
One catch before you rely on this: Microsoft officially scopes the policy to Windows 11 SE and Education. It's reported to work on many Pro and Enterprise machines too, but that's not a guaranteed, universally supported behavior, so treat it as a bonus rather than a promise (The Droid Guy, earlier this year).
Where Home users stand
Windows 11 Home doesn't include the Group Policy Editor, so gpedit.msc isn't an option there (The Droid Guy, earlier this year). The matching registry value technically exists on Home, but it behaves inconsistently, so it isn't something to lean on the way Pro and Enterprise users can (The Droid Guy, earlier this year). For most Home users, the Settings toggle covered above is the practical ceiling, not a stepping stone to something more permanent.
If you're stuck on an older Home build and an empty Recommended header still bothers you, a third-party shell replacement like the open-source ExplorerPatcher can hide it, though that's a heavier fix than most people need for what amounts to a cosmetic issue (The Droid Guy, earlier this year).
The registry method, and how to undo it
For Pro, Enterprise, or Education users who want the registry route anyway, it can hold up better than a Settings toggle across updates. Create a System Restore point first: a wrong value here can destabilize Windows, and the restore point is your one-click undo (The Droid Guy, earlier this year).
- Press Win + R, type
regedit, and run it as administrator. - Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer, creating the Explorer key if it doesn't exist. - Create a DWORD (32-bit) named
HideRecommendedSectionand set it to1. - To also block website suggestions, add a second DWORD named
HideRecommendedPersonalizedSitesset to1. - Restart Explorer or reboot.
To undo it, delete the DWORD value (or set it back to 0) and restart Explorer again, or roll back to the restore point if anything looks off.
Policy and registry changes tend to survive feature updates better than a flipped Settings switch does (The Droid Guy, earlier this year). Even so, feature updates and the occasional cumulative patch can quietly re-enable suggestion toggles or bring the section back, especially after a major version jump like moving to 25H2, so it's worth glancing at the Start panel again after any big update lands (The Droid Guy, earlier this year).
Stop Start menu ads and suggested content everywhere
The toggles above handle the Start menu specifically, but Windows pushes similar promotional content elsewhere in the OS. Under Settings > Privacy & security > General, turning off "Suggested content" and the advertising ID option cuts tailored ads and "get the most out of Windows" prompts across the system, not just inside Start (The Droid Guy, earlier this year).
Related cleanup options worth knowing about
A few adjacent settings tend to come up alongside Recommended-section cleanup. They're not part of removing it, but they're worth a quick mention with the right caveats attached.
Startup apps. Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) and check the Startup Apps tab. Disabling entries you don't need at boot cuts boot time and background load; it's not a guarantee of a dramatically faster PC overall, so don't expect miracles, and leave security software, driver utilities, and backup tools alone even if they launch at startup.
Copilot. If you don't use it, search "Copilot" from the Start menu, right-click the result, and choose Uninstall, which also removes the "Ask Copilot" entry from File Explorer's right-click menu (PCWorld, last year). Microsoft 365 Copilot can be removed the same way, and both can also just be disabled at startup from that same Task Manager tab instead of uninstalled outright.
Recall. This only shows up on Copilot+ PCs. Under Settings > Privacy & security > Recall, turning off "Save snapshots" stops future captures but leaves existing ones in place; use the separate "Delete snapshots" option to clear what's already stored (PCWorld, last year). If your PC isn't a Copilot+ PC, you won't see this setting at all.
Storage Sense. Turning it on under Settings > System > Storage clears out temporary files automatically, which is a low-risk way to free up space (Windows Forum, last year). One option inside it also removes previous Windows installations, and that part isn't reversible: once those are gone, rolling back to the prior Windows version stops being possible. Leave that box unchecked unless you're sure you won't need to go back.
Debloat scripts. Skip one-click "remove everything" tools on a PC you actually rely on. Community testing has documented specific aggressive tools disabling services like BITS, Delivery Optimization, and Windows Update Medic Service, and in some cases editing the servicing store so removed components can't return after an update (Windows Forum, nine months ago). That's not every debloat tool out there, but it's common enough among the more aggressive ones that testing on a spare machine or VM first is worth the extra step.
Deeper telemetry tweaks. Disabling the "Connected User Apps and Telemetry" service or flipping the BingSearchEnabled registry value goes beyond anything Settings supports directly (How-To Geek, earlier this year). They have nothing to do with removing Recommended and carry more risk than anything above, so treat them as optional extras rather than a standard cleanup step.
What to do now
Start with the Settings toggle under Personalization > Start. On a fully updated 24H2 or 25H2 build, that alone removes the Recommended section outright. On an older build, it empties the section even if the header sticks around. Decide up front whether losing Recent files in File Explorer is an acceptable trade for the cleaner menu, since that's the one side effect that catches people off guard.
If you're on Pro, Enterprise, Education, or SE and want the change to survive updates more reliably, layer the Group Policy setting or the registry value on top of the toggle. Home users should treat the Settings toggle as the real ceiling rather than chasing a registry fix that isn't dependable on that edition. And whatever route you take, check the Start panel again after any major feature update, since a version jump can quietly undo a toggle that a policy or registry entry would have kept in place.
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