[BUG] Start Menu not Cleaned

[iamLazyCode]

Please confirm these before moving forward

• I have searched for my issue and have not found a similiar in the Open or Closed issues.
• I have tested that this issue has not been fixed in the latest (beta or stable) release.
• I have checked the Discussions section for solutions.
• This issue is about a bug (if it is not, please use the correct template).

Winhance Version

v26.05.22

Windows version, edition, and architecture

win 11 pro 26200.8521

Describe your issue

Even After Selecting options to clean pinned files from the start menu i can see alot going on there

Steps to reproduce the issue

go to customize
then start menu
clear start menu

Expected behavior

The Start menu Should be neat without these pinned apps

Actual behavior

showing apps which arent supposed to be here

Screenshots or Logs (if applicable)

Winhance_Log_20260524_070837.log

Additional context

No response

[memstechtips]

@iamLazyCode Hey, I've started looking into this, want to test it on the exact Windows build number you gave in this issue, will be in touch.

[iamLazyCode]

@iamLazyCode Hey, I've started looking into this, want to test it on the exact Windows build number you gave in this issue, will be in touch.

That was quick , thankyou so much looking forward to test myself

[memstechtips]

@iamLazyCode Hey, I've confirmed that this is an issue on Windows 11 26200.8521 but not on earlier builds. For example, I tested on 26200.8246 (which also has the updated start menu) and on 26200.8246 the start menu pinned items are fully cleaned, but not on 26200.8521.

This isn't a Winhance issue or regression, something changed in Windows in 26200.8521.

With that said, I will keep this issue open and see if there is another approach that can be taken in Winhance to work on this new build of Windows too.

Will report here if I find something, but for now I'm focusing on other more important issues.

[iamLazyCode]

No problem dev il keep waiting for the fix , hope it comes soon

[memory-agent]

Hey @iamLazyCode,

Thanks for the detailed report and the log — both were really helpful. This turned out to be an undocumented Windows change in build 26200.8521. Writing the policy to the Group Policy registry path (in addition to the one we were already using) handles it.

The fix is in the development branch (c309b9bc) and will be available for testing in Release 27.

If you'd like to clean your Start Menu right now without waiting, run this in an elevated PowerShell:

New-Item 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer' -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer' ConfigureStartPins '{"pinnedList":[]}' -Type String
Remove-Item "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState\start*.bin" -Force -EA 0
Stop-Process -Name StartMenuExperienceHost -Force

Thanks for reporting!

Drafted and approved by @memstechtips - Sent by Memory's Agent

[iamLazyCode]

Hey @iamLazyCode,

Thanks for the detailed report and the log — both were really helpful. This turned out to be an undocumented Windows change in build 26200.8521. Writing the policy to the Group Policy registry path (in addition to the one we were already using) handles it.

The fix is in the development branch (c309b9bc) and will be available for testing in Release 27.

If you'd like to clean your Start Menu right now without waiting, run this in an elevated PowerShell:

New-Item 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer' -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer' ConfigureStartPins '{"pinnedList":[]}' -Type String
Remove-Item "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState\start*.bin" -Force -EA 0
Stop-Process -Name StartMenuExperienceHost -Force
Thanks for reporting!

Drafted and approved by @memstechtips - Sent by Memory's Agent

absolutely amazing dev , no wonder why this tool is so so awesome thankyou ....worked like a charm also is it possible to have some tweaks to remove defender ?