Samsung finally stopped showing notification ads on its high-end, premium smartphones, and it appears that Microsoft might want to try a similar strategy on Windows 11. Microsoft was found to be showing ads in File Explorer, trying to promote its services to users. In the newly posted screenshot, we found that the company recommended users to try out Microsoft Editor.

A Twitter user Florian B, who is a Windows Insider MVP, shared the image confirming the new ad in File Explorer. The new advertisement is reportedly showing up on the latest build in the Windows Insider Dev channel, build 22572 (via XDA).

https://twitter.com/flobo09/status/1502645866204704773

The advertisement doesn’t seem too intrusive, and it makes sense for Microsoft to promote some of its applications and services, but File Explorer is a tool, and not a platform where advertisements should ever be displayed, not even Microsoft’s own products. Another user under the tweet mentioned that they’d seen a message “inviting me to go check out PowerPoint templates on the official website,” which appears to confirm that Microsoft is testing multiple advertisements.

Windows 11 contains a lot of advertisements, including in Outlook in a banner form, and even in the start menu, in the form of pinned applications – remember Candy Crush. That’s not the only way Microsoft tracks users, as it also forces every single person to sign in to Windows 11 to collect personal information, which is a key to offering a more personalized experience, and to serving better ads both on the desktop and on the web.

It’s also worth remembering that Windows 11, just like the Office 365 suite and Office applications, are all paid software; therefore, seeing advertisements in such software could hurt Microsoft a lot in the long term as more users get angry at the tactics. In other news, Micorosft was recently confirmed to bring tabs to the File Explorer. Whatever the case, if the ads roll out to the stable channel, we’ll likely hear a lot more complaints from many people.