A new Windows 11 update is rolling out this week.

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.

    • GladiusB@lemmy.worldEnglish
      7·
      7 months ago

      Where did you come up with that figure? I have two PCs and they have two separate licenses. One is custom built and the other was prebuilt.

      • sfgifz@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        7 months ago

        Pretty much everyone I know has a pirated copy unless it’s in an enterprise setting or pre-installed with the hardware.

        Been the case since Windows 98, might be longer too.

        • dev_null@lemmy.mlEnglish
          5·
          7 months ago

          Why would anyone pirate Windows and risk malware? You can download it for free straight from Microsoft, and you can just skip the product key step during installation, it works without a key just fine.

        • GladiusB@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          7 months ago

          So you guessed? You don’t have any kind of way of confirming that figure? I see 37% from some studies. Microsoft itself has monetary estimates but no percentages of stolen software.

    • femboy_birdEnglish
      3·
      7 months ago

      Even if that’s true, custome pcs are a tiny fraction of client computing, oem desktops and especially laptops completely own client computing, most people only ever get a laptop