A new Windows 11 update is rolling out this week.

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.

      • VindictiveJudgeEnglish
        6•8 months ago

        I paid for 7 and upgraded it to 10. I may go to 12 later on (Windows alternates between solid and awful, so 12 may be fine) but it’s also quite likely I’ll wind up moving to a Linux distro as my primary and keeping Win10 as a fallback. No way in hell am I touching 11.

    • @A_Random_IdiotEnglish
      9•8 months ago

      Did anyone pay for 11?

      Microsoft has been giving it free left and right.

      • archomrade [he/him]English
        6•8 months ago

        Everyone paid for a windows os, but they’ve been forcing upgrades for what I assume are completely unrelated reasons

      • @captainlezbianEnglish
        2•8 months ago

        I did. I was naive and had just built a gaming pc. 10 was no longer for sale

    • @LinkerbaanEnglish
      5•8 months ago

      I didn’t pay for the OS.

    • @norouteEnglish
      5•8 months ago

      deleted by creator

      • GladiusBEnglish
        7•8 months ago

        Where did you come up with that figure? I have two PCs and they have two separate licenses. One is custom built and the other was prebuilt.

        • @sfgifzEnglish
          3•8 months ago

          Pretty much everyone I know has a pirated copy unless it’s in an enterprise setting or pre-installed with the hardware.

          Been the case since Windows 98, might be longer too.

          • @[email protected]English
            3•8 months ago

            Why would anyone pirate Windows and risk malware? You can download it for free straight from Microsoft, and you can just skip the product key step during installation, it works without a key just fine.

          • GladiusBEnglish
            3•8 months ago

            So you guessed? You don’t have any kind of way of confirming that figure? I see 37% from some studies. Microsoft itself has monetary estimates but no percentages of stolen software.

              • GladiusBEnglish
                1•8 months ago

                But how did you figure out that number. You don’t know everyone on Earth. What websites or facts did you use to throw together an assumption that so many people use with pirated gear?

      • @[email protected]English
        3•8 months ago

        Even if that’s true, custome pcs are a tiny fraction of client computing, oem desktops and especially laptops completely own client computing, most people only ever get a laptop