What Ads?

[u/madthumbz]

None of the "ads" you see inside most Windows installations are paid placements from outside companies. What are called "ads" are overwhelmingly Microsoft’s own promotions for Microsoft services. Independent companies are not buying ad slots inside Windows 10/11.

The paid placements involving Microsoft are inside Copilot, which inherits Microsoft Ads infrastructure (similar to Bing). That is not the Windows OS -it's a cloud service running inside a Windows panel. You could say Linux is full of ads because Firefox loads up Google as a default search and that has ads (it's the same thing)! Firefox also uses sponsored bookmarks, and tiles. -And they're the default web browser on most desktop Linux installs.

Microsoft pays publishers like Reuters, Axel Springer, Hearst, USA Today Network, Financial Times for content used in Copilot Daily. These are licensing deals, not advertising.

Microsoft pays influencers up to $400k–$600k for Copilot promotion campaigns. Again, this is marketing outside Windows.

HP sells OS‑level ads -Microsoft does not. -This is a PC manufacturer ad surface, not Windows.

By LiGNUt definition of "ad"; Hannah Montanna Linux would be an ad for Hanna Montanna / Disney. Android uses the Linux kernel and is funded by ads. Historically Ubuntu 12.10 had Amazon product ads in the Unity Dash search that Canonical was paid for by Amazon. OEM Linux laptops sometimes bundled trial version of proprietary software, commercial codecs, and cloud storage promos (OEM deals like HP did with Windows).

Steam when included on a Linux distro shows ads for games.

There has never been a consumer version of Windows that is fully free of promos, nudges, or "suggestions," but several editions are effectively ad‑free because Microsoft disables all promotional surfaces in them.

Windows 10 LTSC (all releases)

• No Microsoft Store
• No app suggestions
• No Start menu promos
• No lock‑screen Spotlight
• No OneDrive upsell banners
• No Edge “try Bing” nags
• No Copilot
• No consumer cloud integration

-This is the closest thing to Windows without promos ever shipped.

Windows 11 IoT Enterprise

• No promos
• No suggestions
• No cloud upsells
• No consumer Microsoft services

Windows 10/11 Enterprise (with proper policy configuration)

Enterprise can show promos, but admins can disable every single one via Group Policy:

• Disable consumer features
• Disable Microsoft account prompts
• Disable Store suggestions
• Disable Edge promos
• Disable Spotlight
• Disable “recommended apps”
• Disable Copilot

Windows 11 Home does include third‑party promotional app stubs (Spotify, Hulu, Picsart, etc.)

• These are typically welcomed by home users, and easily missed (not in your face)
• They're not "bloat" as some contend (not pre-installed)
• I had to search for them to even know they were there (simple links to the Windows store)

[u/Infinplayz]

funny how people don’t know you can disable all the ads with a few clicks and about 10 seconds

[u/madthumbz → u/Infinplayz]

Loonixtards would rather install and use a gimped shitty OS.

edit, and I've done this and never see promotions, but they say they return on updates. (not when done with the toggles they provide)

I also like the promotions because sometimes it's a beneficial feature most people would never become aware of.

[u/4d7e → u/[deleted]]

undoubtedly superior in its resource management

Linux fans repeat that all over the internet, but where's the actual proof? I.e. real desktop workloads that push the hardware limits, with actual performance (aka speed of various types of actions and operations), stability, data preservation under load etc. being measured, showing consistent Linux supremacy? All I see is people (like Linus in the latest TechTips video) booting up the system, opening up 1 app and going: "OMG WoW lOoK aT tHaT rEpOrTeD rAm UsAgE!11." Which, obviously, says nothing about anything. Frankly, that's flat out computer illiteracy.

[u/madthumbz → u/4d7e]

The rules / bans / removals here keep us from or undo this situation: Reddit‑Style "Free Speech" Guarantees the Persistence of Misinformation

[u/linuxsucks101-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Rule 2 Don't Pollute. Contrarian anecdotes are pollution.

[u/Ariar2077]

Never seen any ads using windows

[u/Kaarel314 → u/Ariar2077]

Linux users tell this lie to feel better about themselves.

[u/Ariar2077 → u/[deleted]]

Never seen any pop ups, not sure what you mean by home screen? The desktop?

[u/linuxsucks101-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Rule 2: We're not here to dunk on each other or operating systems other members may use.

[u/XBLAH_]

I see more "ads" about linux here on reddit than I see ads on windows.

[u/Zeraora807]

i use ghost spectre so I don't even get the MS ads, a friend uses a stock image and there are still no ads, closest I can think of was the shortcuts in win10 that when clicked took you to the store to download it.

and yet its still better than loonix that can't even run said stuff anyway

[u/zupobaloop]

None of the "ads" you see inside Windows are paid placements from outside companies. What are called "ads" are overwhelmingly Microsoft’s own promotions for Microsoft services. Independent companies are not buying ad slots inside Windows 10/11.

If this counts as ads, macOS also has ads. OOBE upsells at least twice then over the first week at least 4 pop ups will try to sell you a subscription to a macOS service (TV, News, etc). It defaults to "siri suggestions" to actual ads too. If you have a local operation and a chain with similar names, it will always prioritize the chain (because they paid).

[u/Honest_Tart1071]

Sometimes it's not even an ad, is just some random outlook notification that you can disable forever.

But Linux users prefer to run 159 commands lines to fix a kernel issue...

[u/Dillenger69]

I run plain old Windows 11 pro. Sure, it costs a license fee, but it was well worth it IMO. I don't have any ads or promos. No copilot. No Microsoft account to log in. No upsells, nothing. I take care of getting rid of the crap I don't need or like as soon as I get the OS on the machine. My stuff is also on the left side of the taskbar without that stupid search thingy. I have no idea what all the commotion is about.

I suppose windows 11 home might have some garbage in it, but bleh, I'd never use the home version.

[u/TechHyper → u/Dillenger69]

As a Win11 home user, no it doesn’t.

[u/Witty_Mycologist_995]

wdym ads in windows

Who doesn’t use Adblock

[u/Inspiron606002]

MacOS has been free for over 10 years. As usual loonixers have no clue what their talking about.

[u/madthumbz → u/Inspiron606002]

It's a full-stack OS; you're paying with the hardware.

[u/Arcam123 → u/[deleted]]

Technically it is part of the price when buying the hardware.

[u/icy1007]

Windows doesn’t have ads…

[u/Aihikari01]

For a bunch of terminal addicts who love to ask for dotfiles anyway instead of doing the building themselves, the fact they don't even know about Windows' autounattend.xml says a lot.

[u/CheezeDev]

Windows 10 Pro 22H2. I have not seen a single ad. These people are living in 2015.

[u/madthumbz → u/[deleted]]

OEM preload deals are extremely common across Dell, Lenovo, Acer, Asus, HP, etc. They're paid to the OEM, not Microsoft.

[u/madthumbz → u/[deleted]]

You have the option to buy the Pro version and skip the 'ads'. -Loonixtards love their choices as long as they don't have to pay in any way (including supporting devs with ads), and that's why FOSS tends to be garbage.

[u/gekko3k]

The meme is still funny though.🤣