Security fix aside, latest Windows 11 Patch Tuesday also has hidden Start & Taskbar search

Microsoft today released the first Patch Tuesday updates for the year. And while for Windows 10 and Windows 11, these will be the first of many, for Windows 7 and 8.1, it was the final release as Extended Security Support (ESU) ended today. While Patch Tuesday updates are mostly security patches, today's release on Windows 11 has a couple of hidden features inside.

Spotted by Windows enthusiast and detective PhantomOcean3, the new build has the new Taskbar search that was introduced in Beta channel build 2262x.1037.

It also has yet to be announced Start menu search as well which is pretty interesting.

The features can be enabled by using ViVeTool. The IDs for the features are given below:

• New Taskbar search: 40887771
• New Start Menu search: 38937525

Caution: Unannounced features are often raw, unstable, or borderline unusable. Back up important data before enabling them with the ViveTool app. Remember that using stable Windows 11 is the best way to ensure your system remains as bug-free as possible.

Here's how to enable the new Taskbar search:

1. Download ViveTool from GitHub and unpack the files in a convenient and easy-to-find folder.
2. Press Win + X and select Terminal (Admin).
3. Switch Windows Terminal to the Command Prompt profile with the Ctrl + Shift + 2 shortcut or by clicking the arrow-down button at the top of the window.
4. Navigate to the folder containing the ViveTool files with the CD command. For example, if you have placed ViveTool in C:\Vive, type CD C:\Vive.
5. Type vivetool /enable /id:40887771 and press Enter.
6. (For PowerShell try: .\vivetool /enable /id:40887771)
7. Restart your computer.

Up next, we have the steps for the new Start menu search:

1. Download ViveTool from GitHub and unpack the files in a convenient and easy-to-find folder.
2. Press Win + X and select Terminal (Admin).
3. Switch Windows Terminal to the Command Prompt profile with the Ctrl + Shift + 2 shortcut or by clicking the arrow-down button at the top of the window.
4. Navigate to the folder containing the ViveTool files with the CD command. For example, if you have placed ViveTool in C:\Vive, type CD C:\Vive.
5. Type vivetool /enable /id:38937525 and press Enter.
6. (For PowerShell try: .\vivetool /enable /id:38937525)
7. Restart your computer.

If you change your mind and want to restore , repeat the steps above and replace /enable with /disable in the commands on steps 5 and 6.

Source: PhantomOcean3 (Twitter)