Microsoft has started rolling out a Windows 11 preview update that fixes one of the operating system's longest-running irritations: the right-click menu.
The update, cataloged as KB5127936, is cumulative for Windows 11 versions 26H2 and 25H2 and is rolling out gradually before it reaches general availability for all Windows 11 devices. Its headline feature is a new "customize menu" button that finally gives users control over what shows up when they right-click. People can toggle built-in commands like Send To or Create Shortcut on or off, rearrange the main menu, and decide whether third-party extensions appear up top or get buried in the "Show more options" submenu.
That submenu has been a sore point since Windows 11 shipped. Microsoft moved a row of icon-only shortcuts to the top of the context menu and pushed a lot of familiar commands one click deeper, breaking years of muscle memory for anyone who'd spent time in Windows 10 or earlier. The workaround for power users had been registry edits and third-party tools just to get the old menu back. KB5127936 is the first time Microsoft has let people reshape the menu natively instead.
The same update introduces Cloud Rebuild, a recovery tool that reinstalls Windows 11 straight from Windows Update when a machine won't boot, pulling down the OS image and drivers without a USB stick or recovery disk. Microsoft calls it a recovery option, but it behaves closer to a clean install: existing apps and files don't carry over. There's a separate option to wipe the drive entirely before the reinstall for anyone who wants to sell or hand off a machine securely. Microsoft's full release notes cover additional changes to Xbox mode and system settings.
A rough quarter for Windows licensing
The update lands days after Microsoft's quarterly earnings report, which showed Windows OEM revenue down 27 percent, or 28 percent in constant currency. CFO Amy Hood attributed the drop to a comparison against last year's Windows 10 end-of-support rush, inventory drawdowns among PC makers and retailers, and what she called weaker PC market demand generally. The wider Windows OEM and devices category, which folds in Microsoft's own Surface hardware, fell 22 percent. Hood told investors the company expects the trend to continue through the rest of the fiscal year.
Newer hardware bets, including the Surface Laptop Ultra and the RTX Spark platform, launched too late in the quarter to move the needle, and Microsoft isn't promising a quick turnaround even once they do show up in the numbers. The rest of the business is carrying the weight: Azure revenue jumped 48 percent and Microsoft Cloud revenue grew 30 percent year over year, together accounting for roughly 70 percent of the company's $92.3 billion in quarterly revenue.
KB5127936 is still a preview build, so the right-click customization and Cloud Rebuild won't reach every Windows 11 laptop and desktop at once. Microsoft typically widens these rollouts over several weeks before folding the changes into a standard monthly update, so expect broader availability in the cumulative updates that follow.
CDFiled by The Computing Desk
Laptops, desktops, processors, graphics cards and the operating systems that run on them.
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