Ads in Windows 11 are becoming the new normal and it looks like they’re heading to your Settings home page
It looks like Microsoft is making progress on its mission to push more ads into parts of the Windows 11 interface, with the latest putting an ad on the Settings home page.
Windows Latest noticed the ad, which is for the Xbox Game Pass, is part of the operating system’s latest preview release in the Dev channel (build 26120). For the uninitiated, Game Pass is Microsoft’s subscription service that gives you access to a wide range of games for a monthly or annual subscription fee.
However, not every tester will see this ad, at least for now, as it will only be rolling out to those who have chosen the option to ‘Get the latest updates as they become available’ (and that includes the other features provided by this preview – build). Additionally, the ad will only appear to those signed into a Microsoft account.
Furthermore, Microsoft explains in a blog post introducing the build that the Xbox Game Pass ad will only appear for Windows 11 users who are “actively playing games” on their PC. The other changes in this new preview release are also helpful, including fixes for multiple known issues, some of which are related to performance issues with the Settings app.
Going too far is a clear risk for Microsoft
While I can see that this new advertising push won’t work well for Windows 11 users, Windows Latest has tried the new update and reports that it is a significant improvement over the previous version of 24H2. So that’s good news anyway, and the tech site goes on to note that here’s a fix for an installation error (stop code error ‘0x8007371B’ apparently).
Windows 11 24H2 has yet to be officially rolled out to all users, but it is expected to be the pre-installed operating system on the new Snapdragon X Elite PCs expected to ship in June 2024. A rollout to all users on existing Windows 11 devices will happen a few months later, perhaps in September or October.
I’m not the biggest fan of Microsoft’s strategy regarding promoting its own services (and even outright advertising as is the case here) or the company’s efforts to get people to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11. Unfortunately, next year Windows 10 users will be faced with the choice of migrating to Windows 11, or missing out on security updates when support for the older operating system ends (in October 2025). That is, if they can upgrade at all: Windows 11’s hardware requirements make this a difficult task for some older PCs.
I hope for me personally, and for all Windows 11 users, that Microsoft considers showing that it values us all by not subjecting us to more and more ads creeping into various parts of the operating system.