Windows 11 Start Menu ads are now rolling out to everyone

Microsoft has started enabling ads in the Windows 11 Start menu for all users. After briefly testing these updates with Windows Insider earlier this month, Microsoft has begun distributing the update KB5036980 This week for Windows 11 users, that includes “recommended” apps from the Microsoft Store in the Start menu.

“Some Microsoft Store apps appear in the Recommended section of the Start menu,” Microsoft says in the update notes for the latest public version of Windows 11. Windows 11 will help users discover more apps, but they’ll mostly benefit developers as Microsoft tries to develop more Windows apps. .

Microsoft only started testing these announcements a few weeks ago. Therefore, it is surprising that this “feature” was released from the beta channel in such a short period of time. During the initial testing, it was stated that Microsoft “may decide to remove these ads” if enough feedback indicates that they are not popular, but two weeks of feedback is certainly not enough to determine that.

Fortunately, you can turn off these ads, or “recommendations” as Microsoft calls them. If you have the latest update KB5036980 installed, go to Settings > Personalization > Start and turn off the “Show recommendations for tips, app ads, and more” switch. Although KB5036980 is currently optional, Microsoft will push it to all Windows 11 devices next week.

Microsoft’s move to enable ads in Windows 11’s Start menu follows similar ads in Windows 10’s lock screen and Start menu. Microsoft began testing ads in File Explorer last year before disabling the trial version and explaining that the test was “not intended for external deployment.” .” Hopefully this experience remains a test.