Windows 11 introduced an all-new taskbar and Start Menu, which was one of the update's most controversial changes. Now there's another change coming to the taskbar: old-fashioned floating tooltips.
Microsoft is experimenting with a new tips feature with some Windows Insiders testers, starting with Insider Preview Build 25236 in the Dev Channel. The company said, "to improve the value of Search shortcuts and reduce friction in the broader Windows Search experience, we are trying out different ways to provide tips on how to use Windows Search via the taskbar." For now, it's only appearing for some people in the United States with their system language set to English.
The scope of the tooltips is narrow, at least for now. They only appear above the search button, and only explain search features. It could stay that way, but it could also show up for other buttons or areas in the taskbar with future updates.
Microsoft has rolled out other updates for search on Windows 10 and 11 in the past few months, mainly because it's an easy revenue stream -- advertisements and other clutter from Bing are already present in the search menu. The tooltips could lead more people to use search, which means more people seeing Bing ads, which means more money for Microsoft. It's still not clear when, or if, the tips will roll out to everyone on Windows 11.
Source: Windows Blog