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.

  • @Harbinger01173430
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    87 months ago

    Me, on my Ubuntu machine: 🧐🤔😂😂😂😂😂😂

      • PhilMcGraw
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        57 months ago

        Wait, what? Ubuntu spams you in the terminal?

      • Kairos
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        -187 months ago

        It’s not an ad. Nobody is being paid to put that there. It’s a promotion.

        • Vardøgor
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          7 months ago

          they’re advertising their paid product, don’t really see a difference semantically

            • Vardøgor
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              107 months ago

              advertisement /,ædvər’taɪzmənt/ noun a public promotion of some product or service

            • @NoFun4You
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              17 months ago

              If by very different you mean exactly the same

        • @woelkchen
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          57 months ago

          Microsoft: “Ours is not an ads either, it’s a recommendation for a store app. We’re not advertising products you cannot install on your PC.”

          • Kairos
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            -37 months ago

            It’s an ad because its shown as a condition of payment/something economical.

            • @laughterlaughter
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              17 months ago

              In that case, you’re contradicting yourself, because the Ubuntu “promotions” require a money exchange.

    • @woelkchen
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      147 months ago

      Your comment is hilarious because Ubuntu placed ads for Amazon in the equivalent of start menu way before Microsoft even had that idea. Ubuntu now displays ads for Ubuntu Pro (or Premium, whatever the name is) in the terminal. Ubuntu is the Windows wannabe of the Linux world.

      • @Harbinger01173430
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        -77 months ago

        Thankfully I stay away from the terminal whenever possible and I started using this thing after the ads from Amazon were no longer a thing xd

        • @laughterlaughter
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          57 months ago

          In other words, you hide your head in the sand, like many Windows users.

          • @Harbinger01173430
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            7 months ago

            I just use the GUI since I already wasted six months learning how to use the terminal during 2019. It lost its ‘magic’ after I wanted to just use my computer

            • @woelkchen
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              17 months ago

              That’s honestly cool. Doesn’t negate the fact that Ubuntu has a history with ads in various places. Just because you choose not to look at places where they are, doesn’t mean they aren’t there. I could use Windows without ever opening the start menu. Doesn’t mean the ads don’t exist.

          • @NoFun4You
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            -17 months ago

            Lol, or we just use the computer and don’t cry about stupid bullshit

            • @laughterlaughter
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              17 months ago

              Except that it’s not stupid bullshit. It’s like saying “just suck it up and accept the fact that your TV will serve you ads and track you.”

    • @laughterlaughter
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      27 months ago

      “You need these updates!!! But they’re only available with Ubuntu Pro.”

      So…

    • @bandwidthcrisis
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      17 months ago

      Ubuntu is in the Microsoft Store. Maybe there will be an ad for that.