It’s official: Ads are coming to the Windows Start menu

Do you like dealing with advertising, even in software that you’ve already paid for? Of course you do! According to Microsoft, anyway, which continues to shove ads for its own products into every corner of Windows. A new glimpse at an upcoming Windows 11 “feature” from a prolific leaker said that the Start Menu was going to get some ad injections soon.

And now it’s official, Microsoft added on Friday.

Phantom Ocean, a Twitter leaker who’s been rock-solid on Microsoft topics, previously said that the Windows 11 Start Menu is testing “app promotions” in an upcoming build. They’ll appear in the Recommended section of the menu, which at present includes applications that have recently been installed or frequently run by the user. This area of the Start menu also shows tips and shortcuts.

The Twitter user’s leaked photo shows Opera Browser with a “Promoted” tag indicating that it’s an advertisement, along with the “browse safely” promo text. The Windows Game Bar appears next to it, in an example of a more standard Recommended app you might see today.

A screenshot from Phantom Ocean shows the personalization settings for the Start Menu with a toggle for recommended “tips, app promotions, and more,” whereas the current version of that setting is labeled “tips, shortcuts, new apps, and more.” In some beta builds these promotions had been labeled as more straightforward “ads.”

As it turned out, Phantom Ocean basically had it right. Microsoft rolled out Windows Insider Preview 22635.3495 in the Beta Channel on Friday, and confirmed that these changes are coming. And this is the Beta Channel, which means that Microsoft has it slated to hit your desktop sooner or later.

“We are now trying out recommendations to help you discover great apps from the Microsoft Store under Recommended on the Start menu,” Microsoft wrote. “This will appear only for Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel in the U.S. and will not apply to commercial devices (devices managed by organizations).”

Can the ads be turned off? Yes, it sounds like it, thankfully.

“This can be turned off by going to Settings > Personalization > Start and turning off the toggle for ‘Show recommendations for tips, app promotions, and more.’” Microsoft wrote.

Advertising is becoming a ubiquitous sight in Windows. We’ve been reporting on Microsoft’s encroaching advertising in its flagship operating system for the better part of a decade now, and it’s only getting worse. Advertising isn’t bad in concept — it’s how this website stays in business, for example — but Windows is still a product that you pay real money for, either outright via a license or as an extra cost of buying a PC.

This, to use a highly technical industry term, sucks.

This story was updated at 3:04 PM on April 12 with new details from Microsoft. It was written by Mark Hachman.