1. Keyboard Shortcuts (The Fastest Launch) Windows 11 automatically assigns keyboard shortcuts to the first 10 icons pinned to your taskbar.
2. Use the "Desktop" Toolbar If you want a quick menu to access files without minimizing windows:
3. Create a "Menu" Folder Instead of pinning 20 icons to your taskbar and cluttering it, create a single folder on your Desktop called "Work Apps."
A: Highly unlikely. The company is moving toward "Pinned apps" and "Widgets." User feedback suggests they consider the modern taskbar pinning as a complete replacement.
If you do not want to use third-party software, Method 1 is your best native option.
No. Windows 11 does not include Quick Launch by default. The following legacy taskbar toolbars are also missing in the initial and current stable builds:
Reason: The new taskbar is built on WinUI/XAML, not the legacy Explorer.exe framework.
Instead of fighting the registry, why not use the tools Microsoft actually supports? These achieve the same goal: launching apps with one click.
A: For pinned taskbar apps: Win + 1 opens the first app, Win + 2 opens the second, etc. This is faster than any mouse-based Quick Launch.