Microsoft has released an update in Windows 11 that incorporates ads in the start menu. This initiative was developed through beta testing a few weeks ago and follows the company’s “tradition” of including advertising in its operating systems, something it has already done in previous versions of Windows.
The ads in the Start menu will be composed of apps from the Microsoft Store that “come from a small set of selected developers,” according to Microsoft. These ads will appear in the “Recommendations” section, previously dedicated to showing recent documents and images from the user. When clicking on an ad, the user will be redirected to the Microsoft Store to download the advertised app.
In addition to the ads, the update also includes a feature that displays the most used applications in the “Recommendations” section, as long as they are not pinned to the taskbar or start menu. For now, the update is optional and can be found in Windows Update under the “Optional updates” section, identified as KB5036980.
The update also fixes a number of issues and makes several improvements. Among them, a problem with pixelated or blurry icons in the taskbar widgets has been resolved, and the lock screen widgets have been improved. In addition, minor bugs have been fixed, such as issues with the Japanese 106 keyboard layout and crashes in the Settings app.
Although some users have reported seeing ads after the update, others have not yet seen them, suggesting that Microsoft may be activating them gradually. This measure is part of Microsoft’s strategy to introduce advertising in various parts of Windows, following the model established in previous versions.
The technology company has been experimenting with ads within Windows for over 10 years, including ads in the start menu and the Windows 10 lock screen. Additionally, Microsoft began testing ads within the Windows 11 File Explorer in 2022, but ended up disabling the experiment in the beta versions of Windows 11.
