Microsoft has started testing ads in the Windows 11 Start menu, a new experiment the company says will help users find new "great" apps in the Microsoft Store.
The trial is now rolling out in the Beta Channel to what Redmond describes as a "small set of Insiders" who have installed Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.3495.
"Building on top of recent improvements like grouping recently installed apps and showing your frequently used apps, we are now trying out recommendations to help you discover great apps from the Microsoft Store under Recommended on the Start menu," the company said.
Microsoft says the app ads will appear only on Windows Insiders' systems in the U.S. and not on managed devices in enterprise environments.
These ads will be displayed in the Start menu's Recommended section, among recently added applications and frequently opened files and programs, as The Verge first reported.
During this test phase, users can turn the ads off from Settings > Personalization > Start by toggling off the "Show recommendations for tips, app promotions, and more" option.
This isn't the first time Microsoft has experimented with ads in the Windows 11 Start menu. In November 2022, the company started promoting some of its products (including the OneDrive file hosting service) in the Start menu's sign-out flyout menu.
While initially rolled out as part of an A/B testing experiment, the new "feature" was expanded one year ago with new "treatments," which are now shown to users who have installed the March 2023 preview update or newer updates for Windows 11.
In March 2022, Microsoft also displayed ads for some Microsoft products (including Microsoft Editor) in the File Explorer app as part of another Windows Insider test and Microsoft 365 Family subscriptions to Office 2021 customers in March.
Redmond also promoted its Microsoft Edge web browser in the Windows 10 Start Menu two years ago and accidentally broke both the Start Menu and Taskbar while testing Microsoft Teams ads on some Windows Insider builds.
"As a reminder, we regularly try out new experiences and concepts that may never get released with Windows Insiders to get feedback," Microsoft added today.
"Should you see this experience on the Start menu, let us know what you think. We are beginning to roll this out to a small set of Insiders in the Beta Channel at first."
Comments
ZeroYourHero - 2 months ago
Ads in any OS are just tech blasphemy, and so is forcing non-technical users to create Microsoft accounts. If Microsoft insists on this, then Windows 11 should be free and the paid version should be free of marketing. I know, dream on, but Microsoft is so wrong about this.
b1k3rdude - 2 months ago
"Ads in any OS are just tech blasphemy, and so is forcing non-technical users to create Microsoft accounts. If Microsoft insists on this, then Windows 11 should be free."
Its basically is atm, you can us nonactivated Win11 install pretty much indefinitely.
doncoyote - 2 months ago
There aren't any great apps in the Microsoft Store.
doncoyote - 2 months ago
" . . . Microsoft is so wrong about this."
Microsoft has no concerns here.
jeffaaron - 2 months ago
How long until they start charging a monthly subscription to remove the ads?
b1k3rdude - 2 months ago
"How long until they start charging a monthly subscription to remove the ads?"
Will be the day I move to Linux as my main desktop OS
b1k3rdude - 2 months ago
FFS, either they EVER learn or just dont give a flying F***. So we have another bunch of IPs and or services to block via the locally via WFC(Windows Firewall Control) and then network wide via PiHole.
realmotang - 2 months ago
Why do people put up with this crap?
tverweij - 2 months ago
Solution (normal start menu and no ads):
step 1: left align the start menu
step 2: install Open-Shell to replace the start menu all together.
Winston2021 - 2 months ago
Could this be why they insist on maintaining this crap start menu format and block add-ons recreating the one perfected over many years of user input?
DIMMReaper_ - 2 months ago
Only a matter of time before Windows becomes a pay-as-you-go subscription model for certain sku's like Pro or Enterprise (unless baked into your Office 365 license). They're going to grab everyone by the balls and yank.
rhasce - 2 months ago
Is why my daily driver has nothing to do with Microsoft. Windows is a Gaming platform nothing else, I don't recommend it for Enterprise, F that.
deltasierra - 2 months ago
What, Microsoft greedy? NO! /sarcasm
F this, desktop Linux is way too awesome to stay in a ball and chain under Microsoft. They obviously don't take Mac or Linux as a serious threat, even as both continue to gain market share and MS continues to screw their own customer base -- both consumers and enterprise.
DyingCrow - 2 months ago
IF they really want to do it, they will. I don't use the start menu anymore (or even the desktop as a shortcut\file dump), so this would never bother me. Even if, turning them off should do the trick, as suggested.
If these are just "ads" for store apps, i guess it's not terrible. IF it ever comes to normal ads which play a video you have to watch to continue - i can imagine the unimaginable, a start menu ad that you have to wait for to use the start menu - then all hell breaks lose
I personally find that news and interests and the stupid widgets are way, way worse then this. I occasionally get the early call about someone who used that sh... garbage to check on the news and got "served" a redirect to a tech support scam website. M$ does NOT curate the ads\articles available on those 2.
Note that i DO NOT like it either. But just for the fact that i've been allowed to use the same windows digital license since 7 came out, across multiple hardware builds, i can pretend it's not there.
In the end, we're just a vocal minority. Those who get a prebuilt or a laptop from a retail store probably won't even know or notice.
All we want for personal use is a clean, unbloated, reliable and user friendly OS to use. Like the pre-release W11 insider. These days, windows is definitely not it.