- Yet more adverts have been spotted in Windows 11
- Ads for Black Ops 6 and Microsoft 365 appear via the notifications panel
- You can turn off these 'suggestions' though
If you don’t like adverts in Windows 11 – the efforts that Microsoft calls ‘suggestions’ or ‘recommendations’ – then steel yourself, because it seems the software giant is stepping up its promotional drive in the OS, in a somewhat left-field way.
Windows Latest calls our attention to these fresh ad-related activities in Windows 11 which amount to nudges to purchase a game, and also Microsoft 365.
Both of these adverts come via the notification panel, labeled as ‘suggestions,’ and the game in question is Call of Duty Black Ops 6 Vault Edition – which Microsoft wants you to buy from, you guessed it, the Microsoft Store. In fact, a ‘Buy Now’ button in the notification will take you straight to the store page for that version of Black Ops 6. The other choice is simply to click to ‘Dismiss’ the nag panel.
Windows Latest also shows us another notification prompt in the exact same vein as the Black Ops 6 affair, except this time it’s advertising the Microsoft Defender app.
Note that this is different than the Defender tool built into Windows 11 (or 10) as an integrated antivirus. This is the standalone Defender app that offers the ability to monitor your security and protection across platforms – Windows 11 and Android – with bits of extra functionality therein.
If you want the Microsoft Defender app, though, you’ll find out the catch if you click on the choice in the notification to ‘Stay Safer,’ which takes you to a page for said app – where you’ll find out that you need to subscribe to Microsoft 365 to use it.
Reaching for the off switch
So, that second ad is Microsoft’s way of trying to drum up some extra subscriptions for Microsoft 365, though we have to say, it’s a pretty flimsy lure. Ditto for the prospect of all that many PC gamers buying Black Ops 6 through the Microsoft Store.
What we should note about these adverts – or suggestions, if you’re inclined to agree with Microsoft’s, shall we say, kinder wording – is that you don’t have to receive them.
All you need to do to get rid of these prompts is to uncheck the box to ‘Get tips and suggestions when using Windows’ in the Settings app, under System > Notifications. You can also get rid of post-update nag panels, and those prompts about finishing setting up your PC that appear periodically, by unticking those boxes, too.
There are, however, embedded bits of ads, or advert-like behavior, elsewhere in Windows 11 that you can’t switch off. Eventually, we’d like to see a system-wide switch to turn off any recommendations for users who’d prefer not to have a single prompt anywhere, but let’s face it, we’re pretty much dreaming here. (Although it does look like Microsoft might be becoming a bit more transparent around its suggestions, though).
Sadly, more advertising seems like a growing trend this year, not just in Windows 11, but also in Windows 10 – where Microsoft’s latest move is to try and push those users on the older OS to switch to Windows 11 via a hardware upgrade to a Copilot+ PC. Again, that’s quite a stretch, especially in these early days, as the AI capabilities of those Copilot+ laptops are still to be fully fleshed out (Recall is finally in testing, mind – for some folks).
