Microsoft Sneaky Advertising Caught On Windows 11

Microsoft is apparently experimenting at a new point in the Windows 11 user interface with the placement of an offer that appears well-intentioned at first glance but is then subject to a fee. So basically it is advertising.

Anyone who clicks on the user name in the Windows start menu, for example, to change the user profile, will apparently be shown advertising for OneDrive in the future. According to a post by the Twitter user and Windows specialist Albacore, the whole thing is disguised as a request to back up your own data. Other users have not yet discovered such advertising at this point.

“Back up your files,” says a new button in the menu. If you click on this, a data backup function integrated into Windows is not started, but OneDrive, via which larger amounts of data can only be backed up for a fee. OneDrive has long been deeply embedded in Windows and provides Microsoft with additional revenue when Windows users opt for a cloud storage subscription.

Windows used for advertising

Microsoft has been trying for some time to draw attention to its other in-house services and products with more or less conspicuous advertising. There is now advertising in the file explorer and you are repeatedly prompted to install the Microsoft Edge browser.

The Redmond company has long since made no secret of its efforts to use Windows as an advertising vehicle in order to generate more revenue from the operating system. There have recently been corresponding reports, according to which one is even working on an officially advertising-financed version of the operating system, which is to be distributed on inexpensive notebooks.

Advertising in the style shown here shouldn’t really be a problem for most users, but some people feel disturbed by it because they don’t have freedom of choice. So far, Windows only offers the option to disable the “recommended content” displayed in the start menu – but no general disabling of advertising.