I'm sure this is intended to block software thst could do things like remove Copilot and all the OS level advertising they keep populating windows with.
At this point I've just abandoned the start menu all together. PowerToys Run has effectively become how I launch anything that isn't on the taskbar, tied to one of the buttons on my mouse or a keyboard shortcut. Everything search on a different shortcut replaces the built-in search.
Of course that's just how I cope on my mandatory-Windows 11 work laptop. At home (and I know this is almost a meme at this point), I'm slowly getting myself accustomed to Linux alongside Windows 10 until that's no longer feasible.
Am I misunderstanding something or are you saying you dig into the program files every time you launch a program? I thought the OP was talking about programs not files and folder.
I've been a Linux Mint guy for the last ten years.
By default, the Menu is able to explore the file system. I turn that off. I want that for launching applications. I use Nemo, the file manager, for browsing and opening files.
Out of curiosity: How do you start programs? If a program is clearly associated with a file by opening the file from explorer I assume, but there are programs which are not file based (web browser, games, ...). Do you maintain a folder with shortcuts or do you navigate the start menu folder using the explorer?
I tried the Official Windows 11 start menu. I had disabled showing "recommended apps" in the settings. This hid the icons, but not the section. So, whenever I opened the start menu, the entire bottom half was a section that said "enable recommended apps to show them here."
That's when I installed Start11 (I also bought StartAllBack, but I preferred Start11) and never looked back.