Microsoft has began testing advertisements within the Home windows 11 Begin menu, a brand new experiment the corporate says will assist customers discover new “nice” apps within the Microsoft Retailer.
The trial is now rolling out within the Beta Channel to what Redmond describes as a “small set of Insiders” who’ve put in Home windows 11 Insider Preview Construct 22635.3495.
“Constructing on high of latest enhancements like grouping lately put in apps and displaying your regularly used apps, we at the moment are making an attempt out suggestions that will help you uncover nice apps from the Microsoft Retailer beneath Beneficial on the Begin menu,” the corporate said.
Microsoft says the app advertisements will seem solely on Home windows Insiders’ methods within the U.S. and never on managed gadgets in enterprise environments.
These advertisements can be displayed within the Begin menu’s Beneficial part, amongst lately added purposes and regularly opened information and packages, as The Verge first reported.
Throughout this take a look at part, customers can flip the advertisements off from Settings > Personalization > Begin by toggling off the “Present suggestions for suggestions, app promotions, and extra” choice.
This is not the primary time Microsoft has experimented with advertisements within the Home windows 11 Begin menu. In November 2022, the corporate started promoting some of its products (together with the OneDrive file internet hosting service) within the Begin menu’s sign-out flyout menu.
Whereas initially rolled out as a part of an A/B testing experiment, the brand new “characteristic” was expanded one yr in the past with new “remedies,” that are now shown to users who’ve put in the March 2023 preview update or newer updates for Home windows 11.
In March 2022, Microsoft additionally displayed advertisements for some Microsoft merchandise (together with Microsoft Editor) in the File Explorer app as a part of one other Home windows Insider take a look at and Microsoft 365 Household subscriptions to Workplace 2021 clients in March.
Redmond additionally promoted its Microsoft Edge web browser within the Home windows 10 Begin Menu two years in the past and by accident broke each the Begin Menu and Taskbar whereas testing Microsoft Teams ads on some Home windows Insider builds.
“As a reminder, we commonly check out new experiences and ideas that will by no means get launched with Home windows Insiders to get suggestions,” Microsoft added as we speak.
“Do you have to see this expertise on the Begin menu, tell us what you suppose. We’re starting to roll this out to a small set of Insiders within the Beta Channel at first.”
