Start menu ads are officially here with the latest Windows 11 optional update

www.xda-developers.com /windows-11-start-menu-ads-april-preview-update/

92 comments

I'm going to use Linux even harder now!
- What does it mean, Michael?
  
  I reflexively read that in Dwight’s voice.

God, they're poison. I literally paid for Windows.
- EDIT: Settings > Personalization > Start and turn off the toggle for “Show recommendations for tips, app promotions, and more.”
  Don't even have to dig into the arcane realm of the Group Policy or the Registry. It's incredibly straightforward.
  Original comment: I would be surprised if this isn't easily toggleable through the Settings menu, Group Policy, or Registry keys.
  Microsoft isn't going to pull this shit on their Business and Government customers without an easy way to disable it. 99% of the time those same options can be used on Pro installs through having the same Group Policy options. Maybe 80% of the time you can also just find what the Group Policy option changes in the registry and then apply it to Home installs as well, but I find that Pro license is worth the slight price difference (or slight effort to spoof your license for free).
  With most of these sorts of articles, they're more interested in clicks than putting any effort into guiding people to the solution.
  To be crystal clear, it is bullshit that Microsoft keeps pulling this shit. I've just also never encountered them doing anything like this without leaving a workaround or way to disable it.
  
  Starts as proof of concept to get you used to it. Toggle it off, hide it, but it exists. It's there in the code. Next step is to gradually remove the option to say no. They already tried forcing people to upgrade to Windows 11. They'll just try harder. It's too much money for them to ignore.
  
  Pro and Ent are way easier to "spoof"
- The last time I paid for a Windows license was around 2012. I bought a Windows 8 Pro license for $40. I have been using the same one ever since, and it has never given me an issue. I even used it on a few friends' PCs.
  My laptop is Linux, but my desktop is still Windows 10. My work laptop is Windows 11, and I even used Windows 11 on my desktop for about 6 months before I decided to wipe it and go back to 10. I have given Windows 11 a very fair chance, but when Windows 10 goes EOL, I will be migrating my desktop to Linux as well.
  I just find things like modding games much easier with Windows rather than having to jump through a bunch of hoops to get them working in proton. Hopefully they can improve that in the next year before I switch.

Imagine paying for an OS to have ads in it. 🐃💩
Thankfully we have Linux/BSD
It doesn't matter that you can disable it, this stuff shouldn't be in the OS in the first place
- Seriously. I paid for the computer, it should not be constantly begging and nagging to subscribe to my own hardware. Sympathies to people unable to get out, but I was done a long time ago.
- Yeah, it really sux that Ububtu made this acceptable and Windows copied them.
  You'll downvote me, but it's true. They did it first with fucking Amazon ads over a decade ago.
  
  Yes, they did it first, but they removed it because it wasn't acceptable and everyone hated it
- Imagine paying for windows

Glad i shifted to linux about a year ago, so far so good!
- I finally deleted Windows 10 on Sunday. Ubuntu too. Now Debian is my only OS. I realized that every time I log into my Windows partition, it's got a trillion updates to install because it'd been weeks since I last logged in. So why bother?
  If I really need it for something again, I'll just virtualize.
  
  Windows Update Blocker (WuB) is great, has CLI to use in scripts, and effectively turns off Windows updates and prevents the dickhead "Windows update medic" or whatever service from re-enabling updates. No need to modify registry or GPO. When you want to check for updates, you just click a button in WuB! I love it and even use it in my VM for work.
  
  I realized that every time I log into my Windows partition, it's got a trillion updates to install because it'd been weeks since I last logged in. So why bother?
  I remember that feeling. It's like a rite of passage.
  It would be a hallowed moment in my memory, except I think I remarked "well, fuck this noise!", which kinda spoils the moment.

Literally 5 seconds in Google to find how to disable. No need to dig into Group Policy or the Registry.
Settings > Personalization > Start and turn off the toggle for “Show recommendations for tips, app promotions, and more.”
Same setting that controls a lot of the anti consumer shit I've been seeing articles about lately, like it trying to force you onto a Microsoft Account when you have a local one. Do yourself a favor and just skim through the Settings menus and disable any settings related to reccomendations. They mean ads.
It's bullshit that Microsoft keeps pulling this shit, but the setting is straightforward as hell. Plus, I've never had this setting reset itself due to updates (yet).
- It's only a matter of time before it's not an option anymore. Every shitty new behavior they put in is an easy-to-use option at first, then a registry setting or policy, then even that goes away and it gets baked in.
  
  its because people are too attched to using the native option. Theres nothing stopping people from using 3rd party start bars for years now. Conceptually to me, complaining about the start bar is almost akin to complaining about things in internet explorer, when 3rd party options exists.
  Think how agressive Microsoft puts ads in edge. theres absolutely nothing stopping a user from switching browsers to ignore that. Start bar is the same.
- That's you and me, somewhat tech savvy users. Your usual user won't find that.
- It's a matter of trust. This is just the latest in a long and increasing train of Microsoft abusing their market power. They have proven, time and again, that they cannot be trusted.
  Anyone who tries to pull an "I have altered the deal, pray I do not alter it further" gets a lifetime boycott.
- This plus the installation of bullshit games like Candy Crush (glares at Samsung)...
- You are here:

Now for the waiting game as people discover the registry keys to disable the ads.
- So far, the toggle is built in:
  Either way, these recommendations can be disabled by going into the Windows 11 Settings app, so you can avoid them. However, app recommendations are tied to other content in this section, so you'll miss out on some features by turning it off.
  Not sure what else will be "missed". But, my guess is they will be "missed" in the same way that one misses a case of chlamydia.
  
  To me that sounds like you can turn off targeted advertising and now get general random ads.
  
  Really. My start menu has been nagging me "To show your recent files and new apps, turn them on in Settings." since the day I installed Windows 11. Why would I want the start menu randomly changing? I wish you could just turn the section off completely instead of breaking it and making it smaller.
  Everybody hates Windows 8 but the Windows UI peaked at 8.1.
  
  Is this tied to a registry key though? I do all my Windows cleanup and customization from Powershell/Ansible so having a GUI settings option isn't super useful.
- Unless they've anticipated this and blocked it like they do with OneDrive. Which they do to frustrate you into buying more storage you don't need to fix the problems they've created intentionally..
  
  What? Just make a local profile. Or use a Pro license and disable One Drive through Group Policy. Or uninstall the functionality through PowerShell.
  There's a ton of reliable ways to stop One Drive, you just have to look them up. They have to have these options to disable it for business and government customers. Why are you talking like you don't have any control?
  Why does everyone talk about Windows like you can't disable all this shit?
  
  I am sure corporate and government customers will be furious if there is no way to disable this with Group Policy or Registry Keys.
  They don't mention which versions of 11 are getting this so I assume all are getting it. There must be a way disable it on an enterprise level.
  The EU is kicking up a stick with Meta atm about forcing its users to pick between ads or a monthly payment.
  MS already makes business pay either directly with once off OEM/volume licenses or through your M365 subscription. No way EU will be fine with pay for the software and force ads.
- I've used a start menu alternative since I switched to 11. I get the hate for the os but it's all just been a non issue for me.
  
  ExplorerPatcher + Open-Shell = ❤️
- I think you can disable it in settings, it's just on by default
  
  but does it disable the adverts entirely or does it just disable the targeted (recomeded) adverts.

I still don't understand how this is any different from the "recomended" in the past? Nobody in these articles actually explains the change, they just say the same "It's here now" and don't even show a screenshot of it. Maybe if they're nice they say how to turn off "recommended".

Still don't have them!
Signed: A Canadian pretending to be from the UK in Windows
- Fellow Canuck here. How did you pull that off?
  
  Don't you have an option to choose N version made for European market when you install Windows?

That is what everyone has been waiting and longing for!
I wonder how they decide what ads to put there
- wonder how they decide what ads to put there
  Me too. I figure the answer will be incredibly invasive user behavior tracking, since lately that seems to always be what we learn has been happening, when we finally learn about it.

Linux Mint at home and Windows 11 Enterprise at the office.
- I still don't see a single actual advantage of W11 over 10. The OS drains more system resources so it's less performant, and every other "feature" I've seen looks like a double edged sword at best, or an anti-feature at worst.
  
  The OS drains more system resources so it’s less performant
  I have had literally the exact opposite experience. Performance is better, "resource usage" is more or less the same, and most importantly battery life was like 50% better (still awful on my machine, but less bad).
  
  I still don’t see a single actual advantage of W11 over 10.
  From the user's perspective there really aren't any. MS could have stopped with W10, or even W7, and things would have been just fine.
  
  Currently, DirectStorage and the thread scheduler for those with current Intel processors.
- Only if you absolutely need Win11 features. There's very little at work that I actually need a Windows computer for, I'd do way better with a Linux desktop.
  Office 365 is fine for some people, but all I need is a plaintext editor, SSH capabilities, and a couple HTTPS communications utilities. LibreOffice would be fine for the few documents I need to share, most of the rest is a git wiki.
  
  Did you miss "in the office"?
  Most people don't have a choice, their OS is decided upon and managed by their employer.
  Plus, there's definitely benefits to using the most popular setup if you have to interact with the normal business side folks more. LibreOffice's cross compatibilty with Microsoft formats can still be sketchy with some of the more complex features.
  
  I do all my work inside WSL anyway. I only use Windows at work because that's what IT gave me. They also offer macbooks.

Accelerationist devs bringing down the platform internally. Clever move.

The simps will make excuses and say all you need is some sketchy third party apps that neuter the unwanted "features" of windows. You have to do more work now on windows just to get to an acceptable baseline than you do for installing most flavors of Linux.
- To be fair, you can use just a couple open source tools like ExplorerPatcher and Open-Shell to vastly improve the UX.
  I'd actually say it's easier to get a modern environment in Windows 11 as it natively has a tabbed file manager and terminal.
  I say this as someone who has to use Windows, versus wanting to use Windows.
  
  haha you just did the exact thing I predicted. No offense meant honestly, you don't seem like a simp, but it's just funny that in response to what I said you recommended two different apps I've never heard of to un-fuck windows
- Or you can just set it up like if you were living in Europe...
  
  "set it up"? ...what?

Is this for Home edition and Enterprise as well? 🤔
- All of them https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/april-23-2024-kb5036980-os-builds-22621-3527-and-22631-3527-preview-5a0d6c49-e42e-4eb4-8541-33a7139281ed
  
  I'm really annoyed by this, thanks for verifying. Still bound to a employer laptop which uses Win11 in a Microsoft collaboration setting but eager to learn how to turn it off.
- For Enterprise/Education you can disable the 'recommended' section entirely via group policy. Doesn't work for Pro/Home versions though, from what I remember.
  
  That would be odd. Usually Pro supports all the same group policy settings, and group policy settings usually just mess with registry keys that also work on Home edition.
  It's not 100%, but I've not run into any significant differences between Enterprise and Pro yet (besides the ability to centrally manage group policy etc).
  Edit: On 10 Pro you can disable it entirely via Group Policy. It's how I have mine configured.
  For all types you can easily manage it in the GUI too.
  Settings > Personalization > Start and turn off the toggle for “Show recommendations for tips, app promotions, and more.”

Use OpenShell

I'll keep using Windows as long as programs like Open Shell and OSSU are able to deal with the bullshit. But if there comes a day when they no longer work...well, Linux awaits.
- With the fact that I can run WSL and Docker Desktop, while the performance differences between Proton vs native windows drivers during gaming are orders of magnitude different, it's still hard to justify, and this is coming from someone who daily drives a Chromebook running Arch linux and owns Android phones.
  
  I stopped using windows a while ago and have noticed no dip in performance while running the same hardware

Windows Users:
"I AM BECOME 🤡 FACE PAINT MEME"

I'm using old mac osx with some arbitrary california name? on a tower from 2009? I had to hack the shit out of it to get it to run anything modern. did I win?

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