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.

    • 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.