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Microsoft Windows IT Technology

Microsoft is Showing Ads in the Windows 11 Sign-Out Menu (bleepingcomputer.com) 151

Posted by msmash from the shape-of-things-to-come dept.
Microsoft is now promoting some of its products in the sign-out flyout menu that shows up when clicking the user icon in the Windows 11 start menu. BleepingComputer: This new Windows 11 "feature" was discovered by Windows enthusiast Albacore, who shared several screenshots of advertisement notifications in the Accounts flyout. The screenshots show that Microsoft promotes the OneDrive file hosting service and prods users to create or complete their Microsoft accounts.

Those reacting to this on social media had an adverse reaction to Redmond's decision to display promotional messages in the start menu. Some said that Windows 11 is "getting worse in each and every update it gets," while others added that this is a weird choice given that "half of the Start Menu is for recommendations" anyway. BleepingComputer has also tried replicating this on multiple Windows 11 systems, but we didn't get any ads. This hints at an A/B testing experiment trying to gauge the success of such a "feature" on devices running Windows Insider builds or the company pushing such ads to a limited set of customers.
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Microsoft is Showing Ads in the Windows 11 Sign-Out Menu More

Microsoft is Showing Ads in the Windows 11 Sign-Out Menu

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  • I think that you need enterprise version to make t (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Joe_Dragon ( 2206452 ) on Tuesday November 08, 2022 @09:46AM (#63035521)

    I think that you need enterprise version to enable GPO's that make this go away.

  • No... just no. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Akardam ( 186995 ) on Tuesday November 08, 2022 @09:50AM (#63035533)

    Fuck you, Microsoft.

    I used to be excited for a new version of Windows to roll out. Sure there'd be bugs and minor annoyances, but those I could live with.

    These days? I couldn't give two craps about whatever shit like this adds to your bottom line. All I know is I fear every new version of your OS, instead of welcoming it. OSes aren't supposed to make people fearful. And that's the impact to *my* bottom line.

    Make your money somewhere else. Anywhere else. Anywhere I can avoid. Stop turning your base OS into a fucking scene out of every animated-ad-ridden future semi-distopian sci-fi movie ever made.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Rosco P. Coltrane ( 209368 )

      I used to be excited for a new version of Windows to roll out.

      Really? What the hell alternate universe do you come from?

      I've never seen ANY version of Windows that would get me excited, before or after launch. And I'm talking right back to version 3.1. What invariably goes through my mind at each and every new major release is "Uh oh... Now what new and turdy features and bugs will we have to suffer?"

      The best that can be said of Windows is, sometimes after some maturing, some versions of it become really quite okay. Like XP or Win7. But then instead of leaving it alon

      • Re:No... just no. (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Tuesday November 08, 2022 @11:44AM (#63035883)

        The older ones here will remember a time when a new version of Windows also meant new features. As in, real features. Features you actually want. Features you could actually use. Features that benefitted you. Not some other customer of them, i.e. ad companies, spy companies or companies bundling their useless junk with the system without giving you a chance ot get rid of it.

        Win2k came with USB support and finally you could actually play games on an OS that was not a totally insecure mess. WinXP offered better hardware support and Wifi. Vista ... well, it went downhill from there.

        • Re:No... just no. (Score:4, Insightful)

          by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Tuesday November 08, 2022 @02:55PM (#63036465) Homepage Journal

          Everything about Win7 is better than Win2k except maybe disk space use. The resource use is otherwise comparable, the performance is dramatically better, the hardware support is relevant. If you don't want to look at the dressed up interface, you can disable it completely without resorting to third party software, or even registry editing. Win7 does have a driver signing requirement that 2k didn't, but you can disable that too, through the GUI as well. It's only behind some dire warnings.

          The only bad thing about Vista (post updates) is that it wants all your RAM for no apparent reason. Otherwise, it might as well be 7.

          Windows 8 is the beginning of the bad times.

        • Features you actually want. Features you could actually use. Features that benefitted you.

          Yeah well ultimately there's two issues here:

          a) OSes don't need features. It was much like the early days of Android and iOS. Multitouch! Amazing *smashes the upgrade button*. A clipboard! Oh holyshitballs I want *smashes the upgrade button*. But just like desktop OSes mobile OSes have everything now. There's little you can do feature wise these days that isn't some minor incremental thing or some niche. And even when they add useful features (e.g. multi desktop) all that happens is they get mocked because

          • A "feature" in an OS is basically "support for certain hardware out of the box or ease of use of certain technologies". Not needing to install a separate driver for every USB device you plug in is a good thing in my books.

        • Win2K you had to reboot your computer each time you unplugged your mouse. People forget over 20 years ago OSes were not as mature as the USB was not a filesystem yet

          • I don't say 2k was better than any of its successors. All it was was better than its predecessor.

            Now make that case for Win11.

        • It all went to hell about the time the "ribbon" came out.

      • Re:No... just no. (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Akardam ( 186995 ) on Tuesday November 08, 2022 @11:54AM (#63035919)

        Really? What the hell alternate universe do you come from?

        The universe in which people have differing opinions and are free to express them.

      • Re:No... just no. (Score:4, Informative)

        by Scoth ( 879800 ) on Tuesday November 08, 2022 @12:43PM (#63036031)

        I go way back. I saw Windows 95 shortly after release and it blew my mind how much better than 3.1 it was in interface, speed, and even little things like the alt-tab popup instead of just cycling though open windows. To say nothing of straightforward built-in internet support.

        I got Windows 98 day one for better USB support and multiple monitors. I happened to have an old PCI video card and small monitor kicking around and having a second monitor was fantastic. I had hoped to use the MLPPP support it added too but we never had a second phone line :D

        I got into Win2k in the late betas and switched over to it almost immediately upon release because it supported nearly every game I wanted to play at the time and was significantly more stable than Win9x. My dad and I had our neary-identically-specced computers next to each other at a long desk and I'd consistently get a little better and smoother framerates on my Win2k vs. his Win98. Once VDMSound was a thing even DOS stuff ran pretty well.

        I switched to XP pretty quickly (FCKGW baby, although I actually had a legal copy) mainly because I kept a pretty high-end machine at the time and the added visual features didn't slow it down too much. I was also doing tech support at the time and wanted to stay current on things. The compatibility modes were great too because it got several games running that wanted Direct3D but assumed NT meant it didn't have it (Win2k eventually got them, but it was after XP's release). And of course the later service packs added a lot of security and junk that never got fixed on Win2k.

        After that my excitement died down a lot. Skipped Vista, Went to 7 pretty soon on its release and it was fine but while I ended up really liking the look in the end, it didn't really add a whole lot that I didn't already have on XP from mods/etc. DirectX 10 was neat but by that point in my life I wasn't doing a whole lot of high-end bleeding-edge gaming so it didn't add a lot. Skipped 8 entirely. Got 10 was mainly because 7 was getting close to end of support and I figured I'd better get used to it. It was fine too, but again nothing really exciting. So yeah, I used to be genuinely excited for new versions of Windows because they actually added some cool stuff that improved the experience and features for day to day use. Actually improved games, or better network stacks, or better entire kernel and driver model in the case of Win98->2k, but it's been a long time since I felt that. I still think Win2k or maybe XP was about the pinnacle - simple interface that stayed out of the way and was mainly just a program launcher and driver framework instead of trying to do everything and the kitchen sink. I wouldn't have minded things like the Windows Store for convenient access to programs if so many of them weren't questionable from a microtransaction standpoint or just shady in general. Plus I already had Chocolatey and a couple other package manager options so I wasn't hurting for simple installs of stuff.

        I do agree very much with you that they tend to mature an interface or UI setup or whatnot and then immediately make it worse for some reason. Part of why I dislike 11 after 10 finally fixed most of the sins of 8.

      • If microsoft pays me enough I will be a windows enthusiast all day.

      • I've never seen ANY version of Windows that would get me excited, before or after launch. And I'm talking right back to version 3.1

        I don't know if excited is the right word, but those of us who have had to use Windows professionally did enjoy Windows 2000 and 7 very much given the context.

      • I used to be excited for a new version of Windows to roll out.

        Really? What the hell alternate universe do you come from?

        Personally I was excited about the new releases.. NT4, W2k, W2k3, even W2k8.

        Now it seems clear Microsoft is no longer interested in producing better products. All they care about is rent seeking, data collection and pushing ads. The windows platform is a total loss.

    • You're not excited for new features, like Solitaire and Minesweeper to be several hundred MB downloads with a subscription fee to play them?

    • Cool your jets there buddy, it's just a prompt to set up an included, free, service.

  • Laugh all you like at the Cupertino idiot tax... (Score:3)

    by Viol8 ( 599362 ) on Tuesday November 08, 2022 @09:55AM (#63035541) Homepage

    ... but you don't get this shit in MacOS.

    Yes, Linux too but I'm comparing paid for OS's.

    • Re:Laugh all you like at the Cupertino idiot tax.. (Score:4)

      by Ziest ( 143204 ) on Tuesday November 08, 2022 @10:02AM (#63035561) Homepage

      After 30 years of Linux I think anyone who is voluntarily running Microsoft Windows has nothing to complain about, this is self inflicted harm. There is a choice, Linux and MacOS, they choose Windows with all its problems.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by ArchieBunker ( 132337 )

      Yeah, about Linux https://news.slashdot.org/stor... [slashdot.org]

      • That is sleazy AF, and Mark Shuttleworth doesn't see why, because he is a toolbag.

        However, you can remove the component responsible, so that does set it apart. It's called ubuntu-advantage-tools.

      • There are many other Linux distributions that don't have this ad, so you should have said "about Ubuntu," not "about Linux."

        And even with this ad, the raw amount of advertising in Windows still dwarfs anything in Ubuntu.

        And, if you apply a little bit of Linux power user know-how, you can turn this off. Or you can just get one of the many community-supported Ubuntu derivatives that don't have this. And, lastly, if enough Ubuntu users complain to Canonical about this, they will nix it (something Microsoft w

        • Ubuntu has by far the largest market share, nearly 34% https://www.enterpriseappstoda... [enterpriseappstoday.com]

          There is money to be made in Linux and you don't think this tiny terminal advert was a test run just like the Microsoft story?

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Good thing you can skip Ubuntu and go with vanilla Debian.

    • Re:Laugh all you like at the Cupertino idiot tax.. (Score:4, Informative)

      by omnichad ( 1198475 ) on Tuesday November 08, 2022 @10:26AM (#63035655) Homepage

      If you think Apple doesn't constantly ask you to create an Apple ID, you haven't used a Mac. There is basically a permanent red alert icon in System Preferences until you set one up.

      • The Mac also pops up a "please login" modal every few hours. It's really annoying.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by imidan ( 559239 )
        I have an Apple TV (the hardware, not the streaming service) and I've had to delete my Apple account from the device because it can't seem to remember my password for more than a day or two and then will start presenting me with login requests sometimes four times in a row. I know this isn't the same issue, but still, it seems like Apple needs a staff member in charge of eliminating annoying behavior across their platforms. May drive user satisfaction up.

      • is hardly the same as adverts in your face. Try comparing like for like.

    • Yeah, you might get this in Linux too. Something similar came up only within the last few weeks where Ubuntu/Canonical (unsurprisingly) shoved something resembling deceptive design pattern urging sysops to sign up for a Free 5 seat license to... do something I'd have to find the article, posted on Slashdot..

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by leonbev ( 111395 )

      Actually, you do get a lot of this same crap in Mac OS and iOS now. They're trying to upsell people to buy Apple+ subscriptions during device setup.

    • Haven't had Windows since 7. Even then, I dual booted. Has it really got that bad? That's going to make people with older versions of Windows even less likely to want to upgrade. I can see Microsoft painting themselves into a corner... yet again.

    • People do not run operating systems and find it weird autie nerds obsess over them.They run programs.

      Wake me up when grandma can run quick books by point and click from the cdrom on her business or check email with ease and setting a meeting like in Outlook. Thunderbird still doesn't do free/busy for work stuff in an office with a scheduler assistant. Pretty darn essential if you ask me. ... not including the line of apps each profession has that are Windows only such as AutoCad, Great Plains Accounting, MS

    • ... but you don't get this shit in MacOS.

      Yes, Linux too but I'm comparing paid for OS's.

      But you do get the exact same thing [appleinsider.com] in iOS.

  • It's just not that important any more (Score:4, Informative)

    by kalpol ( 714519 ) on Tuesday November 08, 2022 @10:03AM (#63035565)
    I've been off Windows for years now, since Linux gaming started working so well. OpenSuse for the family, and those of less techy persuasion get the Cinnamon window manager instead of KDE. Everything works. LibreOffice is different than MS Office, but quite capable and no one has complained about it. There's Google Docs for the rest. It's extremely stable, printing works, lots of software, very easy to use, works on really old machines....it's hard to see why people who are not tied to Outlook/Exchange/Office have to bother with Windows any more.

    • How is OpenSUSE these days? I haven't touched it in years as a server OS and never used it on the desktop. I can't think of a better terminal-based package manager than YaST, though.

      I jumped to Ubuntu LTS for servers and when I occasionally use a desktop Linux it's still the LTS version of Ubuntu. Mostly laziness and popularity, since I don't have to do a lot myself when there's documentation on how to get almost anything running under it.

      • I have been using the rolling release version for about year and a half now.
        No complaint really beyond needing to setup media codecs separately.
      • OK. I would like to edit. I do know something that annoys me about Tumbleweed specifically and not OpenSUSE.
        Sometimes something will update faster than others cause weird problems for a week or 2.

        So when I reinstall it, because I keep doing all kinds of dumb shit, I will be installing Leap instead.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by kalpol ( 714519 )
          I never had that trouble - I "zypper dup" once every week or two, and one time in two years the Nvidia driver dd not work and so I rolled back and waited a bit. Leap is good too though.
          • IIRC, the last couple of times it was with emulators.
            I do recall a mess or two with the Packman repo, but that could easily be my fault. I don't that has happened lately.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by kalpol ( 714519 )
        OpenSUSE is pretty sweet. I use Tumbleweed on my desktop since I can deal with it breaking on updates. But it's astonishingly stable. I think I've had to roll back once in two years. The rest of the fam is running Leap and I can't think of anything they've had trouble with. And this is on some really old machines, updated with SSDs but that's about it. Typical users with gmail, Netflix, etc. Evolution is a nice mail client that looks kinda like Outlook.

  • Ads, more ads, and even more ads... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by bradley13 ( 1118935 ) on Tuesday November 08, 2022 @10:13AM (#63035597) Homepage

    Haven't we reached a point of diminshing returns? Do so many ads actually accomplish anything? More to the point, surely the more educated/affluent people are increasingly using ad blockers, pi holes and other means to *not* be flooded with ads?

    Just as a data point. My wife and I both use browsers wtih ad-blockers, both on our PCs and our phones. Neither of us uses Win-11. Nonetheless, I see that PiHole has blocked more than 2000 queries just today. Even though that likely includes a lot of "phone home" stuff, it is still a seriously insane quantity of unwanted cr@p.

    • you never reach that point. And if Microsoft is anything like any other big company the OS team can charge off that "revenue" to the other teams.

      One of the worst things that happened with modern companies is when departments started "billing" other departments. That and stack ranking are two of the worse things to happen to mankind.

    • More to the point, surely the more educated/affluent people are increasingly using ad blockers, pi holes and other means to *not* be flooded with ads?

      It may be worth actually reading TFA and seeing that this has nothing to do with ads, and isn't blockable vi pi holes or any other adblockers. This applies to when you log into windows without a Microsoft account and click your account picture, basically it's just telling you to link your Microsoft account using a few different euphamisms for features which don't work e.g. "Backup your files" - Need to log into Microsoft account and enable Onedrive for that one, e.g. "Complete your profile" - the profile in

  • Yeah. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by muh_freeze_peach ( 9622152 ) on Tuesday November 08, 2022 @10:23AM (#63035629)

    BleepingComputer has also tried replicating this on multiple Windows 11 systems, but we didn't get any ads.

    • Did they try disabling their adblocker?

      • How would an ad-blocker affect the presence of the "Backup your files"/"Sign up for a Microsoft Account"/"Complete your profile" buttons in the OS? They're not really ads in the same way as ads on websites that an adblocker targets are. Same as on iOS the buttons for free trials for Apple TV+ and Apple Music aren't something an ad blocker will affect.

    • It wasn't even an ad. It was an option for OneDrive file back up. Good God the anti MS people are raving today

  • When a windows install got to the state windows 11 is, you would assume it is infected to the brim with malware and probably reinstall the thing from scratch.

  • "This new Windows 11 'feature' was discovered by Windows enthusiast Albacore..."

    Is "Windows enthusiast" really a thing? I can't help but think "Windows victim" or "Windows hostage" might be more accurate.

    And no, I am not commenting from the lofty heights of the Linux Experience, or the safety of Apple's Walled Garden. I, too, know the deep shame of having my psyche and my hardware violated by the Redmond Tallywhacker of Ignominy.

    • Re:A poor choice of words (Score:5, Funny)

      by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Tuesday November 08, 2022 @11:40AM (#63035873)

      Hey! I'm a Windows enthusiast!

      I'm also a security consultant...

    • I am not sure why tunas would be enthusiastic about Windows, but I've never tried using a computer underwater, so maybe the experience is actually better?

    • I, too, know the deep shame of having my psyche and my hardware violated by the Redmond Tallywhacker of Ignominy.

      I used windows daily and linux/unix for recovery/admin jobs for twenty years, then windows 10 happened. When I got a new faster machine I dual booted it for about two months. Not good enough, make linux your daily driver and only vnc/rdp into old windows systems for odd chores and infrastructure needs. Windows is like my toilet, I need one or two but I don't want to spend much time with them. You can fight back, windows should serve, not rule.

  • Being sold ads when youve bought a legit OS is garbage. With ads, your system is even more vulnerable to exploits. Sorry MS, you failed and am no longer a customer.
    • No don't go! You're the 1 user that is propping them up!

    • Probably there's a senior VP at Microsoft how cries because not enough people like OneDrive's malware, and another who cries because they can't monetize all the customers who don't have a Microsoft Account.

  • I'll take bets (Score:3)

    by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Tuesday November 08, 2022 @11:39AM (#63035871)

    How long 'til malware takes a hold of that feature? We'll be lucky if it's just gonna display some shock pics.

    • I'll bet against you. Easiest money I'll ever make since you clearly didn't even so much as look at the screenshot let alone bother to understand what these "ads" are, and why they are on the profile context menu and all directly related to not signing into a Microsoft account.

      How do you want to transfer money? Paypal?

  • Where you pay for something evil (Windows 11), and you get your evil and as a bonus, advertising to make it just that little more evil.

  • I think maybe someone buried the lede. Are you telling me that there are still people who sign out of their home computer?

  • I hate you microsoft. We should riot outside of Microsoft HQ

  • ...when I try to post
    Run cee-emm-dee dot exe, then enter shutdown /s /t 0 in the subject line.

  • With Windows 11, people are taking a hard look at Microsoft's privacy transgressions, pointless hardware requirements, and user-interface stupidity.

  • It wasn't an ad (Score:3)

    by Billly Gates ( 198444 ) on Tuesday November 08, 2022 @03:31PM (#63036597) Journal

    It was an option to back up files if you enabled OneDrive

  • When M$ has to restort to "Free PC" tactics of roughly 25 years ago, Windows is done.

    Nothing new, useful, or innovative can be added, and it's all shit turtles from this point on.

    Just release 11 as the final and most stable Windows (with all the crap stripped out), and take the company into a whole new direction not involving desktop operating systems, or continue to run Windows completely into the ground like they are doing now and possibly take the entire company with it. Either way they are abou

  • makes me appreciate Linux all the more, i hope Microsoft bleeds more users over to the freedom of Linux

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