One of the most important and characteristic elements for this type of tasks is the so-called Game Bar or Game Barwhich most of you are probably already very familiar with. We are telling you all this because the software giant has just introduced a major improvement in this section of its Windows system.
For the moment, this is something that users enrolled in the firm’s Insider program have already encountered and are using in the test versions of Windows. Specifically, they are going to find a completely new feature that they can try out and that is especially useful for playing on Windows via a laptop.
Initially, it was known as the Compact Mode of the aforementioned Xbox Game Bar. At this point, it is worth mentioning that one of its main objectives is to make the usual overlay of this element more intuitive, thus facilitating navigation through it. And the fact is that, to date, using the Game Bar on small screens has not been the most comfortable, something that the company wants to radically change.
Hence precisely the so-called Compact Mode of this barwhich regular laptop users, for example, will surely appreciate.
How to get the Compact Game Bar up and running
It should be noted that this new design is currently in the testing period. But it is expected that it will soon reach the final versions of the operating system and be available to everyone in Windows 11. Well, to enable the compact mode we are talking about, the first thing we do is open the Game Bar in a conventional way. For example, we have the possibility of using the shortcut Win + G keyboard shortcut.
Next, we just have to go to the Settings section and here we can activate Compact Mode in the General section. This way, all those users who play on a laptop will find it more convenient to use this section. In fact, Microsoft will recommend that those who usually use this type of computer with smaller screens use this new mode in the game bar.
To give you an idea, with Compact Mode activated, access to widgets and navigation is greatly simplified. All in order to ensure that we have the possibility of accessing the content we need more easily and quickly.
In the home widget we can see the games that are running and those to the games we have played recently. We will also have the possibility to access the launchers of the titles installed on the system such as Xbox, SteamBattle.netetc. And not only that, if we play with the Xbox controller When connected to PC, the LB and RB buttons can be used to switch between widgets.