Narrow Taskbar on Windows 11 build 22538 may be a hint for new changes, new Task Manager too

A couple of days ago, Microsoft released a new Windows 11 build 22538 to Insiders on the Dev channel. The build fixes Explorer crash issues, Taskbar date and time problems, among others.

Speaking of the Taskbar, German outlet Deskmodder discovered something interesting in the new build 22538. Apparently, when narrowing the Taskbar now, the Date and Time section is no longer cut off unlike in some of the previous builds. The site has provided a comparison image of three different scenarios.

The first (top) image is that of the narrow Taskbar in the release version of Windows 11 where the date and time section clearly cuts off. The second image is under a normal Taskbar view (not narrow) in Build 22538 where the date and time appear normally. The third and final image (at the bottom) is also under Windows 11 build 22538 where, despite using a narrow Taskbar, the date and time are not cut off.

The site speculates that this could be an indication of Microsoft internally tinkering around with the Taskbar and could be a sign of further changes to come, such that we need not use Registry edits to resize the Taskbar anymore and it may become a feature in the future. Microsoft had already fixed a somewhat similar issue back with Build 22463.

The new Build 22538 has also revealed a new hidden gem related somewhat closely to the Taskbar. Microsoft is seemingly working on a redesigned Task Manager. The feature was shared on Twitter by FireCube and here are some of the images:

From a quick glance, it appears that there will be new dedicated options for adding tasks or ending running ones, new CPU, GPU, Memory, Disk icons, alongside an apparent dark mode option. Although it is hidden from plain sight, the redesigned Task Manager can be activated using ViveTool.