Windows 11 update brings advertisements to the start menu

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Microsoft pushed this update two weeks after introducing it via a Windows 11 Preview Build

Windows 11's GUI
(Image credit: Microsoft)

A recent update sees Windows 11 now displays ads via the Start menu for all users. The recent KB5036980 optional update enabled this function and features 'recommendations' that advertise apps listed in the Microsoft store. Though this update is optional for now, one may speculate that Microsoft could eventually make this a mandatory update. 

It also seems that the company has implemented this with little time to gather feedback from its Beta users. The developers initially implemented this change in its Windows 11 preview build 22635.3495 two weeks ago, which gives very little time to gather sufficient feedback from a limited set of Beta testers. Hence, one would question the company's haste in implementing this. 

Microsoft is ready to introduce updates and features via the highly anticipated Windows 11 24H2 build. However, decisions like introducing adverts would bring sour experiences and perspectives about the operating system. For now, this new feature can be disabled by turning off the 'Show recommendations for tips, app promotions, and more' option.

Microsoft claims it is displaying ads from a small set of curated developers, though that list would likely expand once it is set as a mandatory update. It also doesn't explain how it determines these recommendations- either based on the user's choice of activities and apps or based on different parameters. There's also the likely possibility that the team may reverse this decision in the future.

This wouldn't be the first time Microsoft embeds ads in its operating system. The company did similar promotions with the Windows 10 lock screen, mail app and Start menu. But it seems to be coming at the cost of not optimizing or improving user experience. A few days ago, its former developer criticized Windows 11's Start menu's performance issues on a system with an Intel Core i9 and 128GB RAM. While having certain features is nice for some users, one would not expect the performance and experience to be a trade-off.

Irrespective of Microsoft's future decisions, end-users who favor performance and don't mind getting their hands dirty may turn to applications like Tiny11 to remove unwanted apps and functions from the operating system. Even if Microsoft resorts to blocking such programs, similar to how it does with popular UI-altering apps, there are always ways for users to get around such obstacles.

Roshan Ashraf Shaikh
Roshan Ashraf Shaikh
Contributing Writer

Roshan Ashraf Shaikh has been in the Indian PC hardware community since the early 2000s and has been building PCs, contributing to many Indian tech forums, & blogs. He operated Hardware BBQ for 11 years and wrote news for eTeknix & TweakTown before joining Tom's Hardware team. Besides tech, he is interested in fighting games, movies, anime, and mechanical watches.

29 Comments Comment from the forums
  • brandonjclark
    This is good news.
    Reply
  • CelicaGT
    Is this US only? I have never see any ads of any kind in either Home or Pro versions. There are, unfortunately, those s*** gacha games on the Home editions. Easy enough to purge but still shouldn't be there.
    Reply
  • BillyBuerger
    So microsoft has no concerns about system performance issues that comes from all of these ads and the related data mining to feed those ads. But, they can't put the seconds in the clock on the task bar because it has too big of an impact on performance... Right... Gotta have priorities.
    Reply
  • coromonadalix
    nah since windows is a service Msoft do what they want, we are the guinea pigs remember

    they want to focus on pubs and revenues, instead of giving us a good and reliable windows
    Reply
  • CelicaGT
    coromonadalix said:
    nah since windows is a service Msoft do what they want, we are the guinea pigs remember

    they want to focus on pubs and revenues, instead of giving us a good and reliable windows
    Line must go up..
    Reply
  • ezst036
    This is what Microsoft is going to do instead of charging a monthly fee - which they know people will never go for. Ads! Ads everywhere.

    Microsoft might even go the YouTube route. Pay us $20 bucks a month to make the ads go away. That would certainly be more enticing than just subscribing for an OS. Market research proves that people are willing to pay to make ads go away.
    They are learning terrible lessons from Google.
    Reply
  • Colif
    I expect its just like win 10, might be able to remove them from listing like you could on it.

    Shame they did this, it was the one thing they hadn't bought over from 10.

    I don't use start menu often so I probably won't notice them anyway.
    Reply
  • helper800
    BillyBuerger said:
    So microsoft has no concerns about system performance issues that comes from all of these ads and the related data mining to feed those ads. But, they can't put the seconds in the clock on the task bar because it has too big of an impact on performance... Right... Gotta have priorities.
    No modification required to add the seconds to the windows clock... You should check your windows settings...
    Reply
  • sadsteve
    I use Open Shell for my start menu so no adds for me.
    Reply
  • BillyBuerger
    helper800 said:
    No modification required to add the seconds to the windows clock... You should check your windows settings...
    Yeah, I see they actually did add that recently. Of course, they even note in the setting that it "uses more power". I actually don't want the seconds in the taskbar time myself. I just thought it was funny that people want this and they made a big stink about how it uses too much power but they'll do plenty of other crap that uses power that people don't want. Personally, I just want the seconds available somewhere and don't need it in the taskbar. It used to be in the calendar pop-up in Win10 which makes sense to me more then in the taskbar. Hell, even their "clock" app doesn't show seconds anywhere. But this is getting off topic. :)
    Reply