More Ads in Windows 10

[Deozaan]

Lately I've been "buying in" to Microsoft's ecosystem more and more. And by that I mean instead of opening my browser and doing a search for the forecast, or using Google Maps, I'll just use the included Microsoft Weather or Maps apps. And I've also been more open to trying out (free) apps from the Windows Store, since the UWP platform is a lot better about being able to clean up everything when you uninstall something.

I've even considered importing my contacts, email, and calendar accounts into the respective Microsoft apps, but haven't quite gotten that far yet.

But then something like this happens:



I opened the Weather app because it's getting really hot today and I wanted to know what to expect for the rest of the day and week, but I was greeted by an ad for Microsoft News.

This makes me question whether or not I really want to get myself too involved in Microsoft's ecosystem after all. And it also doesn't make any sense to me because Microsoft News comes installed by default on Windows 10. I had to manually uninstall it because I don't want it. They should know this. And yet they're still advertising it to me, trying to get me to install it again?

I guess it's because they're advertising the mobile app for iOS/Android. But still. It's like trying to heat up your food in a microwave, but before the door will open to allow you to put the food in, the microwave says, "Hey! Check out our cool new refrigerators!" (pun intended), and then a permanent button shows up on the microwave which you can press to hear "Hey! Check out our cool new refrigerators!" any time you want.

😒

I found this in the Feedback Hub: Remove get news link on the left side bar.


Other related threads:
Ads On The Windows 10 Start Menu Are Coming

[MilesAhead]

Not computer related but it makes me think of television promos that pimp the show you are currently watching.  Are they deliberately annoying or are these promos inserted by brain dead algorithms?  Somehow I suspect the former.    Grrrrr.

[Shades]

And this is part of software that you now have to pay for first?

If the operating system was still free, then I could imagine Microsoft wanting to recuperate their investments by showing ads in their OS and/or apps. Doing the same in software that is paid for, that is adding insult to injury imo. On the other hand, if you have a Windows 10 computer that for any reason is not activated, Microsoft should be showing you ads. Then they would recuperate funds with legal and illegal Windows 10 setups. If they would add the option to pay for getting rid of the ads, I would be much more understanding about this whole ordeal.

Next questions could be: Are these ads only part of Windows 10 Home editions? Are Windows 10 Enterprise editions and/or LTSB/LTSC editions free from this garbage?

[4wd]

The different versions explained in eloquent style:

ok, I will will hopefully clear this up, windows 10 home version is all about raping you and making money, windows 10 pro is all about omg we need to still sell shit to people that are’nt looking at porn and deciding icecream dates. windows 10 enterprise is all about we need to not fuck up our government contract that makes us ass loads of money. lol

[IainB]

@4wd: ^^   
Very droll. Probably spot-on too.

[Deozaan]

I restarted my computer after an update today and was greeted by this:

[wraith808]

Do you even use OneDrive?

[Deozaan]

Do you even use OneDrive?

Uh... Kind of, but not really.

I keep thinking maybe I should start using it to sync certain files between devices since I have multiple computers with Windows 10. So I have it run when Windows starts. But I don't actively use it for anything since I already have important sync stuff setup through Dropbox and the lazy person in me doesn't want to go through the effort of moving it over to OneDrive.

But as I said in the first post, occurrences like this, with ads in their products, has me thinking again about getting entrenched in their ecosystem.

[wraith808]

I already got entrenched, so strangely enough, I don't see any ads 

O365 was a better option than the other syncing options out there.  1TB per account and O365 to boot.

[Steven Avery]

Isn’t there a rule -

“If you actually have a sync working properly, and it is free — leave it alone”

[Deozaan]

Oh yeah, and I forgot about this one: A fresh Windows 10 install will start you with a notification telling you to download their authenticator mobile app, and also beg you to set up OneDrive instead of just uninstalling it right away.



Thankfully Microsoft included a way to disable all notifications for specific apps, to prevent bad actors from spamming. Too bad Microsoft is one of said bad actors. 



There are various places you need to disable "suggestions" throughout a fresh Windows 10 install. The start menu, the lock screen, Windows Explorer, the notification area. Maybe more.

[wraith808]

Oh... I got the one about authenticator.  It just appears in the sidebar though, so I just ignore it.  I love that I can send all the prior bubbles and notifications to the sidebar and just ignore them...

[exjoburger]

I've got Windows 10 Home on a Desktop at home, and I haven't seen any Ads, but then I run a bunch of heavy duty "Tweakers".

At work Windows 10 Enterprise has never shown any Ads (of course).
Also, the Enterprise Edition actually quite a good OS, whereas the Home Edition is a p.o.c.

I spend so much time trying to prevent "upgrades" getting installed at home that I'm planning on going back to Windows 7, even if it it means reformat and restore from an old backup.

[f0dder]

This makes me question whether or not I really want to get myself too involved in Microsoft's ecosystem after all.

Don't. I have a feeling this is going to get even more ugly.

It's a damn shame, because in many ways, Win10 is the best OS that's out there - it's fast, it's stable compared to the shiny macOS, there's a lot of great under-the-hood security stuff baked in... but it's all fucked over by whatever department at Microsoft that believes embedding ads in the core OS is a good idea. That, and the telemetry you can't opt out of, and the forced updates and reboots that you can no longer control.

I'm seriously considering moving to Linux if they don't stop this crap, but there's a lot of stuff I'd miss from Windows

[4wd]

I love that I can send all the prior bubbles and notifications to the sidebar and just ignore them...

And just like being unable to specify where your icons appear on the Desktop it's an absolute PITA that you can't move it from the right hand side ... so I've just disabled all notifications.

[wraith808]

I'm seriously considering moving to Linux if they don't stop this crap, but there's a lot of stuff I'd miss from Windows

Same.  And your entire post is what I've been saying for a while. A good OS hampered by idiotic decisions.

On another point (I might make another thread) Android has started taking pages from MS.