As we hurtle toward a boring corporate-flavored version of the future of late capitalism, Microsoft is once again testing ads in the Windows 11 Start menu. by BleepingComputer (opens in new tab) that these ads are included discovered once again. At this point, insider users are beginning to wonder if they are just testing Microsoft's ads rather than the operating system's functionality.

This new ad insertion comes as part of the non-security (open in new tab) release of KB5023778 Windows 11. Being a non-security update, it is optional, at least for now, and of course not all that bad; it includes some welcome updates, such as improvements to Microsoft Defender. It is not an advertisement. It is never an advertisement.

Microsoft, of course, does not call it an advertisement, preferring instead the term notification. They pop up in the Start menu and tell you about Microsoft products, just like an advertisement.

We began to suspect late last year that this might be the case (opens in new tab), but our concerns seem to have been confirmed. Users have shared screenshots of notifications advertising Microsoft's OneDrive backups and urging users to complete registration for a Microsoft account.

I recently had to go through and turn off every place OneDrive was automatically backing up. I didn't even want to use OneDrive in the first place. I already see OneDrive as a program that annoys me personally on almost every device I own. I really don't want OneDrive to show up in my Start menu.

Perhaps worst of all, I don't expect it to end there. Windows Insiders have already spotted the ads in Explorer (open in a new tab) and Microsoft claims this is just an experiment, but I can't be that naïve about corporate intentions anymore. If Microsoft can get away with stuffing ads in every possible place in Windows 11, that's almost certainly what will happen.

Our lives are constantly bombarded with product messages. Every time you open an app on your phone, you will almost certainly have to see an ad. Sony is working on putting ads on the front of our cars (open in new tab) and beer companies are trying to get into our dreams (open in new tab). Microsoft, put ads in my start bar. Put ads in my start bar. And in my face. Do I look like I have money?