Windows 11's Win+X Menu Puts Troubleshooting Tools in One Place

Windows 11 hides a shortcut menu that brings several management and troubleshooting tools together in one place, according to Engadget. The publication reports that the menu, called the Quick Link Menu or Windows-X Menu, appears when a user presses the Win+X keys.

Engadget notes that the panel opens on the left edge of the screen, positioned just above the Windows logo on the taskbar. It offers a curated set of entries rather than a single tool.

Some of the items listed there also appear in the Start menu or on the taskbar, including Settings, File Explorer, Search and shutdown choices. Others are normally reached through the Settings app, such as Installed Apps, System, Power Options and Network Connections.

The remaining entries sit behind separate keyboard shortcuts. Among them are Task Manager, Event Viewer, Disk Management, Computer Management and Mobility Center, Engadget reports.

Task Manager is described as a key tool for watching background activity. It can end programs that have stopped responding, show running processes, and let users review startup items and turn off those that consume resources without being needed.

Event Viewer, meanwhile, can help with harder-to-pin-down faults, according to Engadget. The article points to its Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool for cases involving random crashes, corrupted files or suspected hardware trouble. Users open Event Viewer from the Win+X menu, then go to Window Logs, System, Filter Current Log, and choose MemoryDiagnostics-Results under Event Sources to see a report on problems found.

Disk Management shows the state of the disk partitions on a machine, and laptop owners can adjust display, keyboard and wireless settings through the Mobility Center, Engadget reports.

The layout can be changed. Engadget says users can paste %LOCALAPPDATA%MicrosoftWindowsWinX into the File Explorer address bar. Three folders in that location hold the menu's shortcuts, and users can rearrange them, rename apps by renaming the shortcuts, or drag in new shortcuts from elsewhere in File Explorer.