Microsoft could soon sneak (more) Start menu ads into Windows

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zohaibahd

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Facepalm: Microsoft first introduced ads on the Start menu with Windows 10 but has kept them out of Windows 11 so far, possibly to incentivize migration to its latest version. But that's likely set to change soon, and it doesn't come as a surprise - just look at how they push Edge to be the default browser.

The ads may be returning to the Start menu with the next major update. According to recent reports, Microsoft appears to be working on reintroducing promoted app recommendations (read: ads) to the Start menu in Windows 11. It's an unwanted feature that Microsoft tested last year.

The evidence comes from a post by @PhantomOcean3 on X, better known as Twitter, who spotted updated text in the latest Windows Insider builds referring to "Show recommendations for tips, app promotions, and more." That's a change from the current public builds which say "Show recommendations for tips, shortcuts, new apps, and more."

To drive the point home, the user also shared a screenshot showing what looks like a "Promoted" tag next to an app in the Start menu. So, ads galore could be headed your way soon.

Windows 10 users may recall that Microsoft previously displayed ads in its Start menu before scrapping them with the launch of Windows 11. But it seems the Redmond giant just can't quit the ad game.

Now before you grab your pitchforks, there is a silver lining – you should still be able to disable these promotions through the Start menu personalization settings. None of us asked for ads cluttering up our Start menus, but at least we can banish them.

The bigger question is, why is Microsoft doing this? Most likely, it's an attempt to make the Microsoft Store more enticing for developers by giving them prime real estate to advertise their apps. More apps mean more potential revenue. Windows 11 has already lured extra apps to the store and the company wants to keep that trajectory up.

It's still frustrating that we have to deal with this in a product we pay for. After all, the Start menu is one of the most prominent elements of the OS that many people use daily.

These ads are limited to the Insider builds for now, but they'll likely make it to the stable branch sooner or later. If not, perhaps we'll see them sneak into Windows 12 whenever it arrives.

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Microsoft could soon sneak (more) Start menu ads into Windows

 
So your brilliant idea is to pester Windows 10 users with ads about upgrading (Even on the cases when you yourselves arbitrarily decided they don't meet requirement because of TPM 2.0) And when they finally bite in no small part to get rid of the ads...First thing they'll see on the start menu it's more (!@#( ads...

Most people at this point should

a) Buy a mac
b) Stop fearing Linux and just run that.

Most of the techspot audience is strictly b) territory and most of the rest of the world could do with a) mostly cause of brand recognition but really anything like a popular version of Chrome OS or a pre-cooked and simplified version of linux like Steam OS if it was available on more than just steam decks it would be fine for every day computing for most people.
 
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Dimitriid said:
So your brilliant idea is to pester Windows 10 users with ads about upgrading (Even on the cases when you yourselves arbitrarily decided they don't meet requirement because of TPM 2.0) And when they finally bite in no small part to get rid of the ads...First thing they'll see on the start menu it's more (!@#( ads...

Most people at this point should

a) Buy a mac
b) Stop fearing Linux and just run that.

Most of the techspot audience is strictly b) territory and most of the rest of the world could do with a) mostly cause of brand recognition but really anything like a popular version of Chrome OS or a pre-cooked and simplified version of linux like Steam OS if it was available on more than just steam decks it would be fine for every day computing for most people.
Click to expand...
Never choice a.
Choice b is great, the learning curve is not as steep as it was in the 90s, but your favourite software will probably not run, and the emulator can be wonky. Still, Linux is much better than Windows for most things that most people do. Faster, as well, with little of the bloat (distro-depending, of course).
That being said, I have yet to meet an IT department that did not love Windows, and loved forcing updates for reboots overnight while you have all the TPS reports in tabs being updated for the monthly report......They will never get on board with Linux in a large organization, their skill level is just not there. Probably exceptions to that, but I have not seen it in consulting around the world. It's all Windows, all the time.
 
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Funny, I e never seen ads in my start menu. Must be because it's Linux. Hmmm......
mgwerner said:
Never choice a.
Choice b is great, the learning curve is not as steep as it was in the 90s, but your favourite software will probably not run, and the emulator can be wonky. Still, Linux is much better than Windows for most things that most people do. Faster, as well, with little of the bloat (distro-depending, of course).
That being said, I have yet to meet an IT department that did not love Windows, and loved forcing updates for reboots overnight while you have all the TPS reports in tabs being updated for the monthly report......They will never get on board with Linux in a large organization, their skill level is just not there. Probably exceptions to that, but I have not seen it in consulting around the world. It's all Windows, all the time.
Click to expand...
Yeah IT loves windows not because of forced updates, but because of this little thing called active directory. Something that, to this day, nobody else has an answer for.

And believe me, we don't like Microsoft. But nobody else comes close on management tools. So there's no real choice in the matter.
 
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Theinsanegamer said:
Funny, I e never seen ads in my start menu. Must be because it's Linux. Hmmm......
Yeah IT loves windows not because of forced updates, but because of this little thing called active directory. Something that, to this day, nobody else has an answer for.

And believe me, we don't like Microsoft. But nobody else comes close on management tools. So there's no real choice in the matter.
Click to expand...
I am sure there are IT folks like you who feel the same, but I have yet to have a conversation with one. Most look at me like I am speaking a foreign language when I bring up Linux. It is apparently not something they are exposed to, which I suppose should not be surprising with the emphasis on MS systems in all things - except ICMB command and control and Air Traffic Control.
 
And we could soon sneak in and change our dns from our isps, cloudflare or quad9 to nextdns, adguard dns or control d for free. good luck with that microboy. I don't care if you allow me to turn it off, I'll do it my way in order to make you cry more.
 
OortCloud said:
These big corporations are turning PC's into such a sh1t-show these days. Ads and nags, shovelware and data scraping everywhere.
Click to expand...
They are and it's getting REALLY tiring. It's getting to the point where you have to fight and put a lot of time and effort into negating these thing just to have normal use of your device like we used to have, while these companies are trying to suck every damn penny out of us.
 
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Marco Mint said:
They are and it's getting REALLY tiring. It's getting to the point where you have to fight and put a lot of time and effort into negating these thing just to have normal use of your device like we used to have, while these companies are trying to suck every damn penny out of us.
Click to expand...
They have done the same thing with the Internet.
 
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