Windows 11 with ads. We know how to turn them off

Ads in Windows 11? Microsoft has started testing

In the first phase, ads will appear in the Windows 11 Start menu for beta users who have installed the latest Windows 11 Insider beta and are located in the United States. The company explained that ads will not appear on commercial devices (managed by organizations).

Microsoft displays “Pinned” apps above the “Recommendations” section. Typically, recommendations contain recently used files or applications and show applications that have recently been installed. Now, with the new change, the “Recommendations” section also contains recommended applications from the Microsoft Store in the form of ads.

Will I have to pay for such advertising?

At the moment, it is not clear whether application developers pay to display their ads in the Windows 11 Start menu (this is probably the company's goal). On the other hand, Microsoft receives a commission for the applications distributed through its store.

It's not the first time, when Microsoft displays ads on Windows. In 2022, the company began showing ads in the File Explorer of Insider versions of Windows 11 before deciding to disable ads in beta versions of Windows 11, claiming it was an unintentional move.

How to disable ads in the Windows 11 Start menu

At this stage, the ads are only displayed in the US and the fate of this round of Microsoft tests is unknown. In the current system build, turning off ads is child's play. Just follow the steps below:

1. Press the keys Win + I on your keyboard to open the Settings app.
2. Select an option Personalization from the left panel.
3. Scroll down and click on Start.
4. Turn off the option Show recommendations for tips, app promotions and more.

Will ads be included in the final versions of the system?

For now, it looks like Microsoft is questioning whether it should add a dedicated Windows 11 button for ads and promotions. The company introduced a toggle in the Settings menu that allows you to enable/disable new apps, tips, ads, shortcuts and more in the featured section, which was later modified to include “app promotions”.

At the same time, the current beta leaves no doubt that the advertising ambitions of the Redmond company are far from the final solution. Former Microsoft engineer Andy Young pointed out outrageously low performance of the Windows 11 Start menu on a $1,600 Intel Core i9-based computer with 128 GB of system memory, calling it “comically bad.” The additional code for ads and promotions in the recommendations section is indicated as a probable reason for the dramatic drop in performance.