Microsoft is experimenting with displaying ads in the Windows 11 Start menu to entice people to use more products and services.
The new ad was first spotted by Twitter user Albacore. Ads appear at the top of the user sessions flyout. Two examples we’ve found so far promote OneDrive with suggestions to “back up your files” and “sign up for a Microsoft account” to allow for a tighter integration with Microsoft.
For now, this experiment is limited to Windows 11 Dev Channel builds, but it gives a good idea of where Microsoft hopes to add advertising to Windows 11 experiences in the future. As you may remember ads were added to File Explorer in Windows 11.
Like it or not (I think most people don’t), Microsoft will continue to make other products and services available to Windows users. And just as you can no longer disable or uninstall the Edge browser, it’s also unlikely that they will provide a way to disable them.