Windows 11 users, watch out - youre in for an upgrade you cant ignore thanks to mandatory adverts

Date:
Tue, 30 Apr 2024 15:52:22 +0000

Description:
Microsoft's push for ads in Windows 11 includes intrusive pop-ups promoting Edge and other Microsoft services, frustrating users with relentless promotions.

FULL STORY ======================================================================

Microsoft seems intent on making ads disguised as recommendations a fact of life in Windows 11 , and the tech giant has apparently begun testing promotional recommendation pages that take up your whole screen, urging users to install Edge and other services - similar to the page you see when you first set up your device or install Windows 11.

Thinking back, I recall a few times when this screen appeared on my own Windows 11 PC after an update, and it caught me off guard as my PC is already set up to my liking. Like myself, some users would be greeted with Lets
finish setting up your PC automatically after a Windows Update had been installed. Before this, this sort of notification might appear if you bought
a PC and set it up for the first time, but now it looks like anyone already
up and running could also see it. (Image credit: Shutterstock/Space_Cat) A breakdown of the new notification in Windows 11

The new notification screens were spotted by Windows Latest following Microsofts monthly Patch Tuesday update in April 2024. As shown in a screenshot provided in Windows Latests report , the notification screen explains that the set-up process will involve backing up your files using OneDrive , restoring Microsoft recommended settings (read: setting Edge as your default browser), backing up your phone on your PC, setting up Windows Hello , as well as getting a Microsoft 365 subscription, and turning on Phone Link between your phone and PC.

You are then given two options, neither of which is to opt out of the notification if youre not interested. You can choose to Continue or select Remind me in 3 days, and the pop-ups will eventually return. Windows Latest tried the Continue option, which led to a Lets customize your experience page which prompts users to customize their Start menus Recommended section. As shown in a provided screenshot, users would be given some control over the apps that appear in this section.

If you decide not to make any adjustments youll be guided to a page with the heading Use recommended browser settings. The top option, not by coincidence, is Microsoft Edge - Windows 11s default browser. This is accompanied by Bing as the default search engine, which again no surprise. Enabling these also pins the Edge icon to the taskbar and creates a desktop icon (if youve
removed these). Luckily, if youre not interested in using Microsofts web browser and search engine, you can click on Dont update your settings, (which sounds like youre getting left behind), and you can keep your previous settings. (Image credit: Shutterstock/Gorodenkoff) A closer look at Microsoft's promotional tactics

This isnt the first of Microsofts heavy-handed attempts to get people to use its software and services, and not the first to be met with distaste from users. As Windows Latest points out, Edge already comes preinstalled, and its difficult to remove for users running Windows 11 outside of Europe.

If you make it through all of these option screens and have any patience
left, youll be met with more promotional pages for other Microsoft services, like the offer to try Microsoft 365 Family with a free trial. You could forgo this and subscribe to Microsoft 365 Basic , which includes ad-free OneDrive and Outlook , along with 100GB of cloud storage. In the screenshot that Windows Latest includes, no prices are stated - just a Continue button. After this page, users are urged to set up Microsofts Phone Link app, which works
in a similar way to Apple s AirDrop feature, and allows you to access data on a linked Android phone on your PC.

Each page does at least have an option to skip that particular step and
finish the PC setup process, but this is strange wording, because as I mentioned earlier when I saw the notification, and as Windows Latest stated while documenting this process, our PCs were already set up to our liking.

This has been happening in parallel with Microsoft adding ads disguised as recommendations in the Start menu and experimenting with adding Xbox Game
Pass ads on the Settings page . I dont like this direction for Microsoft, and if its not careful, it could end up annoying users rather than encouraging them to try out the software. We live in a time when peoples attention spans can be short, but frustrations and annoyance can live in peoples minds for a pretty long time. YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE... Microsoft targets another corner of Windows 11 with you guessed it adverts, and were getting a bit fed up with this Microsoft could add yet another advert into Windows 11 - and users are running out of patience Bad news, Windows 11 users: ads are coming to the Start menu, but theres something you can do about it



======================================================================
Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/windows/windows-11-users-watch-out-youre-i n-for-an-upgrade-you-cant-ignore-thanks-to-mandatory-adverts


--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 (Linux/64)
* Origin: tqwNet Technology News (1337:1/100)