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.
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GOG Galaxy runs perfectly on Linux via Lutris. I use it all the time.
I made the switch from W10 to Pop_OS for my gaming rig about 2 months ago. Beyond some hiccups with the experimental branch of proton and just getting used to the new UI its been great. Come on in, they water is fine.
Yeah I use Garuda, but generally recommend kubuntu or mint for most people switching. Switching is so much less painful than I expected it to be
My current full-stop is lack of support for a lot of peripherals, particularly music equipment.
Thats fair, I was worried about my discontinued corsiar stuff but was suprised to find that the support was even better than the old driver and managment app I had on my old OS.
Lol
Lol. Another reason to be glad I don’t use Windows as my main OS.
Yet another bullet dodged since my move to Linux, thank fuck. Fuck you cunts at Micro$hit.
So angry
Wouldn’t be if they weren’t constantly trying to load hardware I own with unwanted ads, software and unnecessary shit nobody asked for.
Me, on my Ubuntu machine: 🧐🤔😂😂😂😂😂😂
Ubuntu is in the Microsoft Store. Maybe there will be an ad for that.
“You need these updates!!! But they’re only available with Ubuntu Pro.”
So…
Your comment is hilarious because Ubuntu placed ads for Amazon in the equivalent of start menu way before Microsoft even had that idea. Ubuntu now displays ads for Ubuntu Pro (or Premium, whatever the name is) in the terminal. Ubuntu is the Windows wannabe of the Linux world.
Thankfully I stay away from the terminal whenever possible and I started using this thing after the ads from Amazon were no longer a thing xd
In other words, you hide your head in the sand, like many Windows users.
I just use the GUI since I already wasted six months learning how to use the terminal during 2019. It lost its ‘magic’ after I wanted to just use my computer
That’s honestly cool. Doesn’t negate the fact that Ubuntu has a history with ads in various places. Just because you choose not to look at places where they are, doesn’t mean they aren’t there. I could use Windows without ever opening the start menu. Doesn’t mean the ads don’t exist.
Lol, or we just use the computer and don’t cry about stupid bullshit
Except that it’s not stupid bullshit. It’s like saying “just suck it up and accept the fact that your TV will serve you ads and track you.”
Yup and that’s exactly what people do lol.
Unfortunately, yes.
The
spiceshit must flowWe need to hunt down whoever these ads are working on.
I finally activated windows last week through the cmd… Didn’t pay a cent
Fucking unhinged idiocracy. Capitalism is the cancer of humanity
The direction Windows 11 is taking is terrible but i’ve tried on multiple occasions (even this morning!) to game and consume my content on Ubuntu or Fedora and i run into so much trouble, that ill have to stick with Windows 11. I have been using Ubuntu at work for the last 10 years though as web development is great on it.
Issues i have:
Maybe one day, but for now Windows is probably just the better choice for me and gaming (on a laptop). At least in Windows 11 they now allow you to not group the taskbar by default…
I am just waiting for a malware developer or state actor to use this as a way to infect computers with 0-days.
This is a disaster. Why anybody would decide to use Windows for any serious workloads is unfathomable to me.
Office products are mostly cross-platform (outlook, word, excel).
How did the default attitude toward the user get so hostile? The amount of toggles you need to set just to have a smooth experience with minimal tracking is insane. The people in here defending it by the fact it can be disabled are missing the point: we shouldn’t have to deal with it in the first place.
MS doesn’t care about the desktop operating system except how can they control it like Apple and iphones. All the money is in O365 and Azure these days.
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You don’t give up anything by sharing source code. If anything, you share your power with the world. All other perceived outcomes are attributes of capitalism baked into your thought pattern.
This is a direct result of our Wall Street economy. Wall Street demands that each corporation’s stock price shall increase every quarter. No matter what. If that means the customer is unhappy or that a corporation must consume itself from within. Doesn’t matter.
Fewer people are buying PCs now that Smartphones have replaced the need to have one for most uses, but Microsoft still has to make more money every quarter than the quarter before because the stock market doesn’t value stable profits.
Pretty simple. Stock go brrrr.
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“All you have to do is set some flags in GPO policy editor and relogin the first time and every time there’s an update. Easy”
The post literally tells you that the option to turn it off is in the settings menu at: Settings > Personalization > Start Menu > “Show recommendations for tips, app promotions, and more "
It’s not good, but it’s way better than you are making it out to be.
At least until Microsoft decides to hide it deeper, like they do with all of their most useful options. Nothing like navigating fifteen layers deep into your settings just to change something basic.
Hopefully WinToys will have an update with this option, so it won’t matter where Microsoft decides to move it this week.
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Realistically, how many years do you think Microsoft will support Windows 10? I dread having to switch to 11 some day, at the rate they’re going.
This is my line for biting the bullet and switching to Linux. I hope gaming gets to where I want it to be (braindead easy for anyone with ‘actually’ on their lips)
Gaming is pretty close now thanks to the Steam Deck and Valve’s work on Proton. It depends on what games you play since some anticheat requires Windows or console but I mostly play single player games and have a console if I want to play something competitive.
If you have a specific, competitive game you play, you might want to stick with Windows (or console) if support isn’t there. AMD GPUs are also better for Linux (because they open source their drivers) but Nvidia is getting better since a lot of machine learning customers use Linux. They have a huge financial incentive now that it’s data center customers complaining instead of random Linux users.
I’m thinking the same regarding Linux, but I dunno shit about it and while I’m not totally computer illiterate, switching operating systems like that is very intimidating to me.