Microsoft starts testing ads inside the Start menu on Windows 11 in the Insider builds in the US, and says the app promotions can be disabled in Settings
Microsoft says it's starting to test ads inside the Start menu on Windows 11. The software maker will use the Recommended section of the Start menu …
The VergeTom Warren
Context & Ripple Effects
Microsoft had already tested promotional placements elsewhere in Windows, including a File Explorer ad test that it later said was unintended. The Start menu is a more consequential surface because it is a primary entry point for apps and system functions.
The Insider experiment became a near-term product change when Microsoft began rolling out Start-menu app recommendations to users. The sequence shows the company using preview builds to validate a promotional format before wider distribution.
First-order effects
US Windows Insider users can encounter promoted apps in the Start menu’s Recommended area, while retaining a Settings control to turn those promotions off.
Microsoft gains a new in-product placement for a limited group of app developers, shifting part of Start-menu discovery from user activity and installed apps toward curated promotion.
Second-order effects
Developers seeking Windows distribution gain another potentially valuable discovery channel, while Microsoft must balance promotion revenue or partnerships against the risk that users disable recommendations altogether.
The placement raises the stakes for the Recommended section’s design: useful recent files and apps now compete with commercial suggestions for limited attention.
Third-order effects
If this model persists, Windows’ core navigation surfaces could increasingly operate as managed distribution inventory rather than purely utility-driven interfaces, with user controls serving as the boundary for acceptability.
The pattern may make Microsoft’s choices about promotion, curation, and opt-out defaults a more durable product-trust issue across Windows surfaces.
The trend: This is part of a broader shift toward monetizing and managing software distribution through high-frequency operating-system interfaces.
Microsoft says it's starting to test ads inside the Start menu on Windows 11. The software maker will use the Recommended section of the Start menu, which usually shows file recommendations, to suggest apps from the Microsoft Store. Trillion dollar corporation is so poor. …
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