Windows 11 Now Officially Adware as Microsoft Embeds Ads in the Start Menu

[Macro Device]

11 is… fine

More bloating, disabled alt-codes (not all of them but WHO CARES AT THIS POINT), ridiculously stupid context menu with 99.9% probability of needing to click "advanced options," gaming instability, et cetera et cetera, it's not fine, it's awful. W11 is worse than W10 in almost any way. And W10 is barely acceptable to begin with.

M$ already were on my "you must yohoho their software" list. Don't see a way they will leave it. Eh, only if gaming on Linux wasn't a complete joke.

 

[Vayra86]

11 is… fine. It’s just 10 with a new coat of paint and a couple of sorta neat features that could have easily been implemented on 10, but weren’t because Microsoft. Windows hasn’t had a significant update to its internals since… gosh, honestly, since Vista. Pretty much everything after just built up on that.

I'm more of the opinion that if it ain't broken, don't fix it.

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.

 

[Onasi]

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.

Oh, I agree with that. I just got tired of charging at windmills since it doesn’t actually do anything and have chosen to embrace the joys of just mildly tweaking whatever is the newest MS inanity to come my way into usability. Sure, I can stay on 10, skip 11 and wait for 12, but 12 will also probably be stupid, so the wait is essentially pointless. At least I get those few useful additions that 11 has as a consolation. It’s whatever. MS doesn’t care either way, so I won’t waste my breath.

 

[Vayra86]

Oh, I agree with that. I just got tired of charging at windmills since it doesn’t actually do anything and have chosen to embrace the joys of just mildly tweaking whatever is the newest MS inanity to come my way into usability. Sure, I can stay on 10, skip 11 and wait for 12, but 12 will also probably be stupid, so the wait is essentially pointless. At least I get those few useful additions that 11 has as a consolation. It’s whatever. MS doesn’t care either way, so I won’t waste my breath.

Yeah I need to be like that too, but I just annoy myself over these things anyway somehow

 

[AVATARAT]

Win 11 support programs + applets, 2 menus for some settings (old and new) and that creates problems from time to time. So in Win 12, I hope that they will remove the older menus.
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.

 

[Easy Rhino]

what self respecting company puts ads inside their OS? seriously...

 

[AVATARAT]

what self respecting company puts ads inside their OS? seriously...

Android?

 

[Vayra86]

Android?

IOS.... they keep pushing that Icloud storage BS on me. And AppleTV, and... and...

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.

 

[ghazi]

An absolute pile of crap. Hopefully MS will release a "not trash" version in Windows 12 to get everyone to upgrade shortly before they kill that too.

 

[ExcuseMeWtf]

So I guess I will be holding off "upgrade" to 11 on my personal PC indefinitely. But since I have it on my work laptop, I will see, how bad it really gets.

 

[NoneRain]

what self respecting company puts ads inside their OS? seriously...

Apple, Google, Canonical...

 

[natr0n]

can use an app or even go deeper and block the ad servers in hosts

 

[Muser99]

Linux here I come.

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

I'm glad I switched entirely to Linux this year. Paying an OS more than 100$ and getting ads, no thanks.

Ill never pay more than $15 ever again for a license.

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.

 

[Sabotaged_Enigma]

Ever since its launch I haven't for a single moment thought Windows 11 is a good OS.
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!

 

[SL2]

I know that google is all about user data and ads, but I've never seen ads in any of my Samsung phones.

 

[Spartanjet]

I'd understand showing ads on a not activated copy of Windows, as you can have that for free, and the ads would support Microsoft. But having ads on a piece of software you'd pay ~$100 for is ridiculos.

You mean like the Windows 7 Pro I bought in 2009 for ~$85. I guess I can understand if you just bought a copy but people like me who have been using and upgrading from Windows 7 to 11 for all these years I can understand them throwing a few adds here and there. I pretty sure at least half of you complaining freely give your data to gogle with their crappy phones and ADroid.

 

[cvaldes]

This is the culmination of decades of Microsoft management ineptitude concerning their consumer efforts. Apart from Xbox (which is rapidly sinking), they basically offer nothing to the consumer.

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.

 

[Tomorrow]

Sooo I guess Win10 is my last MS OS then. Bye M$, not gonna miss ya.

So it was some ads for Microsoft's own products in start menu, introduced by an optional update that can easily be disabled that finally pushed you over the edge?
It was no the price, not the disjointed UI with two control panels etc before? Odd priorities for people...

It's official - Windows OS is no longer the product, we are the product.

Has been since Win8. Win7 was the last truly "offline" OS.

Come on game devs! Start using the linux anti cheat compatibility layers! I want to get out of here!

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.

I am getting a sense of deja vu from all the previous times Linux had a “best chance” to supplant Windows.
I am willing to bet significant sums of money that this time will go exactly like all those previous ones.

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.

11 is… fine. It’s just 10 with a new coat of paint and a couple of sorta neat features that could have easily been implemented on 10, but weren’t because Microsoft. Windows hasn’t had a significant update to its internals since… gosh, honestly, since Vista. Pretty much everything after just built up on that.

Pretty much so. Tho im not sure i want a big upgrade like Vista every five years with development drama in between.

but oh oh we have rounded corners now.

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.

Windows 11 GUI is totally mixed-bag which made me struggle looking for option and menu that I want!

The same applies to Win10 even more.

 

[Sabotaged_Enigma]

The same applies to Win10 even more

Absolutely not. What makes you think that?
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.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

A good firewall/port blocker should block ads unless they use the common ports, 443 etc., to traffic ads and otherwise you may need an IP blocker to block m$'s add channels.

 

[Tomorrow]

Absolutely not. What makes you think that?
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.

Then you should praise Win11 because at least MS is trying to make a more coherent UI instead of ping-ponging between two control panels. Each update migrates more things from the old to the new control panel. Win10 does not get the same treatment as it will only get security updates.

I find Win11's UI much pleasant to look at than Win10's ever was. Less said about the Win8 abomination the better.

 

[Sabotaged_Enigma]

Then you should praise Win11 because at least MS is trying to make a more coherent UI instead of ping-ponging between two control panels. Each update migrates more things from the old to the new control panel. Win10 does not get the same treatment as it will only get security updates.

I find Win11's UI much pleasant to look at than Win10's ever was. Less said about the Win8 abomination the better.

I couldn't agree any bit.
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.

 

[Tomorrow]

I couldn't agree any bit.
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? Do you 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.

What menus and icons are you specifically referring to?

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.

 

[Ruru]

I'd understand showing ads on a not activated copy of Windows, as you can have that for free, and the ads would support Microsoft. But having ads on a piece of software you'd pay ~$100 for is ridiculos.

My thoughts exactly. In many cases you pay to get rid of the ads but not here as it seems.