Windows 11 feature for power users finally arrives; now, you can blitz through the menu

Windows 11 has just gained this most useful feature for power users from Windows 10; check it out below.

This new Windows 11 feature has added support for Access Keys in a recent build of Windows 11 for Insiders, plus useful keyboard shortcuts from Windows 10. (Microsoft)

New Windows 11 features are fascinating and Microsoft has added quite a few new ones, while others have come in via Windows 10. After all, Windows 11 is the latest upgrade for the Windows operating software and it will have most everything from the last variant. Windows 11 is set to arrive for the general public later this year, and Microsoft is looking at ironing out the wrinkles as well as ensuring no major glitches happen in the meanwhile. It also does not want to forget any major Windows 10 features that can spoil users' experience. In this regard, in the latest instance, Microsoft has added a useful feature that might have been left out, intentionally or inadvertently, during the development of Windows 11 and it will be available for download. This Windows 11 feature involves the access keys on the menu that are so crucial for power users, according to a new report. There was concern voiced this feature may have been dropped.

What are Windows 11 Access keys? Access keys are basically keyboard shortcuts to open the power user menu that is available on Windows 10 and now on Windows 11 too. Users can access the power user menu by pressing the Windows key (with the Windows logo) and the X key at the same time. From this menu, users can very quickly launch the power options, device manager, network connections, disk management, PowerShell, task manager, file explorer, search and even the traditional ‘Run' prompt.

Windows access keys would allow users to quickly select from these options using a letter. For example, Windows 10 users could press Win + X followed by O for Power Options or M for Device Manager. These access keys were previously unavailable on the Insider builds of Windows 11 and have now been added back, according to a report by Windows Latest which spotted Microsoft's announcement of the feature on a Feedback Hub post.

Window 11 loses seconds: However, the report also notes that Microsoft has also removed a useful feature on Windows 11 – the ability to view seconds on the taskbar clock. While Windows 10 would let users set the clock to show the time down to the second with the help of a registry setting, Microsoft has reportedly confirmed that this will not be supported on Windows 11 and the taskbar clock support for displaying the time in seconds has been dropped.

What Windows 11 users can do: While users can reportedly use third-party apps to show seconds in the taskbar, it has also been previously reported that Windows 11 will limit the ability to customise the taskbar, so users will have to wait for the beta or final version of Windows 11 to see if displaying seconds works reliably with the help of third-party apps.