Windows 11 Start menu ads are now rolling out to everyone

ForgottenFlux@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.world – 988 points – Windows 11 Start menu ads are now rolling out to everyone
theverge.com

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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Think I will try Linux for real now

Two big things to do before you decide that.

  1. Do you run nvidia graphics? cause they are a PITA and influence your distro choice (you'll want a distro that has nvidia drivers baked in.)

  2. If you game, go to https://www.protondb.com/ and check out a handful of the games you play. 99% of games work on linux with steams Proton (lets windows games run on steam), the only ones that dont are ones with invasive anti-cheat, so use protondb to see if any of your important games have issues.

and as a final note of encouragement.. I made the swap years ago, it was daunting..and there were a couple issues, but overall, far more easy than I ever expected it to be. (for me, cause I built the PC with the switch to linux in mind, so all my hardware is AMD). I am not a sysadmin or anyone who had any significant experience linux before my swtich, and I switched cold turkey after a brief weekend of basic researching. In other words, I'm a moe-ran. So if I can do it, pretty much anyone can. Good luck with it if you do try to make the switch :D

Thanks for the advice, my PC is already full AMD so I guess that makes it a bit easier? :D lucky

Yeah I've been thinking that too. Not sure I have time to learn it though so I keep sticking with windows. But I really have to make the effort to switch.

I'd suggest a cheap used or spare laptop/desktop with a beginner friendly distro like Linux Mint Cinnamon to learn on. Just use it for casual stuff -- you'll pick up what you need to learn as you go.

That way if something breaks or you don't know how to do something while you're learning you're not "stuck".

I just switched to Manjaro with KDE Plasma. The most complicated thing to set up was forcing steam to run games with the nvidia drivers, which took 5 minutes of adding a start parameter to my games.

From a consumer perspective i even find many things easier than in Windows. It works out of the box. The package manager provides every tool you need, and if you want to change a setting, it is as easy as typing the name of the setting into the start menu.

Seriously, if you do not want to dive deep, you can do everything without more complication than under windows, often even easier.

I will just dual boot at the beginning and play around with Linux for a bit.

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Linux is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be.... unnatural.