Are full-blown adverts coming to Windows 11's Start menu? We hope not, but it looks that way

The saga of Microsoft jamming more nudging and prodding into Windows 11 continues, with a fresh rumor now indicating that future plans might just involve outright ads in the Start menu.

As regular Microsoft leaker Albacore highlighted on X (formerly Twitter), there's been a telling addition to the option to enable recommendations and tips (or app promotions) to include a specific mention of "ads."

Windows Latest, which spotted the above post, also noted that they've observed this change in testing in the Canary channel (build 26200 to be precise).

What this hints at is that Microsoft may be mulling the idea of placing full-on adverts in the Start menu, or maybe other parts of the Windows 11 interface, alongside the typical recommendations and suggestions.

This would be a move to further monetize Windows 11, and as we've argued in the past, there's nothing wrong with trying to obtain revenue from a free product in this way - but not a paid one. You've already forked out money for Microsoft's OS, so in our books, being subjected to advertising is kind of like paying twice.

Feedback is key

As ever, though, we shouldn't get carried away with experiments in preview builds. Especially if testers give ideas negative feedback, they may never make the cut for the release version of Windows 11. And with concrete adverts appearing, we'd be surprised if that didn't prove a bone of contention - or indeed an entire contentious skeleton - with Windows Insiders.

As ever, we'll watch how this one develops, but Microsoft is clearly leaning more towards leveraging different forms of advertising in Windows 11.

The recent preview update deployed for Windows 11 carries ads for Microsoft Store apps in the Start menu, and while this may be a relatively small presence in the UI, it's again a telling sign of what Microsoft wants to do.

That move is technically still in testing in an optional update, but the April preview update becomes the May cumulative update on May 14, and we fully expect this addition to be part of the stable version of Windows 11 when that date rolls around. Unless Microsoft has a last-minute change of heart, which seems unlikely.

What full-on adverts might look like in Windows 11 is anyone's guess, but the use of the term "ad" - where any nudging has been couched in vague terms such as recommendations previously - suggests that these could be more blatant and therefore irritating. And we can perhaps hope that's the case in some ways - so that testers come down on the idea hard, and let Microsoft know where most users stand on this matter.

• Read more: It looks like Microsoft could cram more adverts veiled as 'recommendations' into Windows 11
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