995

Windows 11 Start menu ads are now rolling out to everyone (www.theverge.com)

submitted 8 months ago by ForgottenFlux@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

426 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] warm@kbin.earth 1 points 8 months ago

Tried the same thing, but ended up running into issues with Linux constantly and needed to use Windows more than I wanted, so just ended up back on Windows 10. Once all the shit is disabled it's perfectly fine. Linux is getting there, but still only really good for general web browsing/office suites (unless you wanna play around in the command line for ages).

[-] ChaoticEntropy@feddit.uk 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

It's frustrating that the answer to any of the questions/issues I have are generally reams of commands and walls of text that I only partially understand. If I find answers at all now that all discourse is being sectioned in to walled gardens like Discord. 😬

[-] warm@kbin.earth 4 points 8 months ago

Ah yeah, it's hard to find good support for Linux. Lot's of people with their heads in their asses, who will say "why are you bothering going through Windows settings to disable tracking when you can just use Linux!", then proceed to tell you to enter a million different commands in the terminal to try and get basic functionality you had on Windows.

The sooner they start being more welcoming to new users, the sooner the market share will grow.

this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2024

995 points (98.3% liked)

Technology

60105 readers

1981 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related content.
Be excellent to each another!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS