Wednesday, April 24th 2024
Windows 11 Now Officially Adware as Microsoft Embeds Ads in the Start Menu
Microsoft over late-Tuesday started distributing the KB5036980 optional update to Windows 11 users, which effectively makes the operating system adware (software that displays ads to support its author). The update gets the Windows 11 Start Menu to display ads in the "Recommended" section that suggests apps and games for you to download from the Microsoft Store, subscribe to Copilot Pro, etc. While the update is currently optional, the changes contained in it will be made part of next month's "Patch Tuesday" update.
This wouldn't be the first time Microsoft is advertising software, the OEM versions of Windows 11 can be customized by PC manufacturers to pre-install bloatware, or suggest apps or services for users to buy within the Start or Apps menus. You usually uninstall the pre-installed bloatware, and dismiss recommendations. Today's update is different, in that even the Retail versions of Windows (without the bloatware) start receiving ads. Luckily, these ads are not inescapable, you can disable them. Head over to Settings > Personalization > Start, and uncheck the toggle that reads "Show recommendations for tips, app promotions, and more."
Source:
The Verge
This wouldn't be the first time Microsoft is advertising software, the OEM versions of Windows 11 can be customized by PC manufacturers to pre-install bloatware, or suggest apps or services for users to buy within the Start or Apps menus. You usually uninstall the pre-installed bloatware, and dismiss recommendations. Today's update is different, in that even the Retail versions of Windows (without the bloatware) start receiving ads. Luckily, these ads are not inescapable, you can disable them. Head over to Settings > Personalization > Start, and uncheck the toggle that reads "Show recommendations for tips, app promotions, and more."
173 Comments on Windows 11 Now Officially Adware as Microsoft Embeds Ads in the Start Menu
If the current application works fine, don't update it.
I've already dodged so many software bullets that way, Neo has nothing on me.
Windows 10 is on maximum postponed updates too, loving it
Also they can stick that MacOS GUI where the sun doesn't shine. What an abomination. Information density keeps going down, but oh oh we have rounded corners now. The evolution of stupidity. They can fk right off with that, I like to keep my brains in good shape. What's next, infinite scroll and other dark patterns? There is a LOT wrong with 11 if you ask me. Change for the sake of change and to mislead people into an OS that doesn't really get better, but is more and more in service of making MS their buck in a new redefined way. Such as, with ads. Or copilot. We already have a dedicated Windows button... Now we get another.
Just no. All I need is a launcher for my applications and way to access storage plus a browser. The OS serves that purpose and that alone. Its been doing that since 3.1. The real progression here is zero and every effort I need to make to 'relearn' something in the OS or recover a feature I used to have is a massive waste of time.
Every start menu is useful if the user wants to learn how to use it. I don't have a problem with any till now.
But this Windows thing is really just an ordinary billboard... Let's not forget MS was already pushing its own services hard, reinstalling Edge every time, trying to lock you into Onedrive, etc. Even the Media player isn't safe.
So many doom and gloom people on here. Edit a HOSTS file, use a different start menu alternative, make some regedit changes, etc. You wont see the "ads" again.
It's simply something that's made ONLY for Alder Lake and Raptor Lake. Thanks to Wintel, otherwise I doubt Windows 11 would've ever existed.
Don't tell me about new features and this and that... As far as I'm concerned, an OS has to be at first easy to use, but Windows 11 GUI is totally mixed-bag which made me struggle looking for option and menu that I want!
Digital downloadable music? Gone. Films? Television? Streaming music? E-books? A decent app store? A rich and active mobile vertical ecosystem closely tied to their desktop OS? Nope, doesn't exist on in the Microsoft.com domain. Ahahahahahahaha!!!!
They got a decent ROI on their early investment in OpenAI but we know that OpenAI won't have a monopoly on LLM or generative AI. And we all know that early dominance (*cough* Windows Mobile *cough*) doesn't guarantee long-term relevance.
While I know it is very fashionable in some places on the Internet to slag off Apple, at least they have never put an advertisement in their OS interface over the past few decades. I've used System 6, System 7 and every single OS X/macOS version through Ventura (I'll upgrade to Sonoma in early June). I've also used iOS and iPadOS from nearly the beginning as well and about a five year stint of tvOS.
This is also probably bad news for desktop Linux. Without a doubt, some Linux distributions' marketing managers are thinking, "Gee, we should put ads in our distro because Windows does it." Ads will be coming to Linux sooner or later. Not to all distros but probably the most popular consumer-targeted ones.
It was no the price, not the disjointed UI with two control panels etc before? Odd priorities for people... Has been since Win8. Win7 was the last truly "offline" OS. Give up. Multiplayer PvP is a lost cause. More and more draconian anti-cheat measures are not going to help. PvE or Co-Op where it's at. Indeed. Problems with migrating from Windows to Linux have less to do with things Microsoft does and more about the fact of re-learning that most people are not willing to do. I myself am guilty of that tho i've at least tried Linux. Pretty much so. Tho im not sure i want a big upgrade like Vista every five years with development drama in between. Always had them. XP, Vista and 7 all had rounded corners. I much more hated the "boxy" look of 8 and 10. Glad they went back to what worked before. The same applies to Win10 even more.
Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8.1, and 10 are quite straight-forward. I mean, why is there an option to bring up Windows 10-style menu in Windows 11's menu? The theme and style is not unified. If a change is not necessary, then don't make it.
I find Win11's UI much pleasant to look at than Win10's ever was. Less said about the Win8 abomination the better.
Control Panel is not the most direct part when using an OS, while icons and menus are.
What's the point of whether Control Panel is unified when users can't easily find the path to it? How many times will you use it? Do you really think in Windows 11 menus and icons are easy to identify?
Menus are organised in a chaos way, and I nearly bury my eyes in the screen just to distinguish icons, damn. I'm not talking about art work or theme.
Is it the infamous context menu that everyone brings up (the full menu can be accessed by holding the SHIFT key even with out modifying the OS). Or the simple registry edit that's necessary to always display the full menu?
Most of the icons are the same. Hell there are even some legacy XP/Vista era icons left.
The taskbar icons can easily be set to left side via menu option.
Right click Start button (or Win+X) and clicking settings is too hard?
I have legitimate gripes with Win11 but those are very specific and most of them concern the taskbar: tray area icon hiding, icon size options etc.
Most people hating on Win11 never bring out specific points. They just parrot the same talking point's they seen around the internet without their own experience.
Listen, users didn't have to do this and now we do, so this is a step back. Why does it have to be more complicated? And why should I have to spend extra time learning something new or waiting for someone to tell me what to do and tryna adapt to it when it's not f*cking revolutionary at all?
You have the absolute right to hold your like and I have mine to dislike it. End of conversation.