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Windows 11 Start menu ads are now rolling out to everyone (www.theverge.com)

submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

425 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Microsoft is starting to enable ads inside the Start menu on Windows 11 for all users. After testing these briefly with Windows Insiders earlier this month, Microsoft has started to distribute update KB5036980 to Windows 11 users this week, which includes “recommendations” for apps from the Microsoft Store in the Start menu.

Luckily you can disable these ads, or “recommendations” as Microsoft calls them. If you’ve installed the latest KB5036980 update then head into Settings > Personalization > Start and turn off the toggle for “Show recommendations for tips, app promotions, and more.” While KB5036980 is optional right now, Microsoft will push this to all Windows 11 machines in the coming weeks.

Microsoft’s move to enable ads in the Windows 11 Start menu follows similar promotional spots in the Windows 10 lock screen and Start menu. Microsoft also started testing ads inside the File Explorer of Windows 11 last year before disabling the experiment and saying the test was “not intended to be published externally.” Hopefully that experiment remains very much an experiment.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago (6 children)

I finally activated windows last week through the cmd... Didn't pay a cent

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago (5 children)

Note that you can turn the ads off quickly and easily. I agree that there's someone off-putting about an operating system with built-in ads, but a tech-savvy person will see them once and then never again. (A person who isn't tech-savvy probably won't care.)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

I'll still be using Windows (no time for Linux), but really, why does the user have to do this for a pleasant experience? MS shouldn't be hostile towards their users.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

Have fun with em kids

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago (11 children)

I really, really wish Linux worked better on my gaming laptop. I used it for many years on desktop as my only OS (hopped many distros and ended back on mint) but on laptops I just can't find a distro without considerable issues. Whether it be display scaling problems, performance, not being able to switch my video card mode, etc...

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

Linux has huge problems on my laptop, cause HP in their infinite wisdom decided to disable S3 sleep at firmware level. I still find myself dreading the thought of reinstalling windows though. I'd rather manually shut off my laptop every time I stop using it than go back to that awful proprietary OS.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Do Win 10 LTSC users still get shoveled this shit? I'm asking for a friend.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

Linux.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

I am just waiting for a malware developer or state actor to use this as a way to infect computers with 0-days.

This is a disaster. Why anybody would decide to use Windows for any serious workloads is unfathomable to me.

Office products are mostly cross-platform (outlook, word, excel).

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (3 children)

If I could get easy to access, judgement free tech support for Linux then I'd be fine (outside of walled gardens like Discord). I just don't know how to solve my problems in Linux especially considering there are so many additional variables and often you either don't get answers, are asking in the wrong place, or are asking in the wrong way. A lot of the time you just get scorn for not being born a Linux power user.

I do feel like I have basically no choice but to switch once W10 runs its course. I've got a dual boot of Fedora 40 KDE that I'm toying with.