Microsoft Cheapens Windows 10 with Ads

Microsoft Cheapens Windows 10 with Ads

Like its predecessor, Windows 10 is full of advertising. But unlike Windows 8, Windows 10 places ads directly in the user interface, and it’s gotten worse over time.

To be clear, Windows 10 is a tremendous product, and is in many ways the best version of Windows ever. Indeed, its ability to transform between traditional mouse/keyboard and tablet/2-in-1 functionality, and work well in either, is a testament to Microsoft’s deep understanding of its diverse user base.

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And yet, Windows 10 also represents a tough moment for the Microsoft crowd.

As I’ve recounted many times, Microsoft far too aggressively pushed this upgrade on the hundreds of millions of people still using Windows 7 and 8.1, and I think it crossed the line in secretly and silently upgrading many against their will, and in haranguing those who refused to do so.

For those using Windows 10, the situation is equally dire: Through a strategy called Windows as a service, Microsoft is requiring users to regularly update and upgrade the OS, whether they want to or not. It is doing so for good reasons—keeping everyone up-to-date ensures a better overall level of quality, reliability, and security. But it is doing so poorly, and the many issues that we’ve seen over the past year—from minor problems related to the many monthly updates we’ve seen to the Titanic-like problems with the Anniversary Update—have led me to conclude that, in its current state, Windows as a service simply does not work.

Today, I’d like to address another issue facing Windows 10 users. I am referring of course to the steady increase in advertising that we’re seeing in the operating system.

Advertising in Windows isn’t new: Microsoft first started placing ads directly in Windows starting with Windows 8. Four years ago, at my old gig, I wrote a post called Microsoft Cheapens Windows 8 with Ads in which I explained, simply, “There are ads in Windows 8.”

As I predicted correctly at the time, apologists would try to explain away these ads by stating that they were not in the OS itself, as they were in apps like News and Weather, which were “in” Windows 8 but not “part of” Windows 8. Bullshit, I said, preemptively. But those apologists nonetheless did exactly that.

But my central complaint in 2012 was that advertising was a slippery slope. That is, once you’ve opened the door to advertising of any kind, the door will remain open. And it will widen. And that’s exactly what’s happened with Windows 10.

Well, the apologists will need to try a new tact this time around because—wait for it—now these ads are actually “in the OS user interface,” as I described it in 2012. These ads often take the form of “tips” in which Microsoft recommends its own bundled products over the competition. Most obviously with Edge, a browser that has done nothing less than speed the decline of Microsoft’s browser solutions as users race to more capable solutions like Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. (Microsoft is also advertising “the latest version of Skype for Windows.”)

So Windows 10 pops-up little advertising windows—sorry, tips—on the Edge icon in the taskbar, or in the Action Center UI, or in the Settings interface where you can change your defaults, because it really, really, really doesn’t want you to exercise free will and make a better decision for yourself. It just wants you to use Edge.

For the next version of Windows 10, Microsoft is even experimenting with ads—sorry, tips—that will appear in File Explorer. You don’t get any more “in the OS user interface” than that, folks, unless Microsoft starts displaying ads in event logs next. Don’t laugh.

So repeat after me: There are ads all over Windows. And it’s just getting worse.

But let me address the apologists—yes, they’re still out there, sniffing around the interwebs for any opinions that do not conform to Redmond’s needs—-because you can already imagine the obvious responses to this issue.

You can turn them off. If you know where to look in Settings, you’ll find various options you can disable to slow the steady tide of advertising in Windows 10. You can turn off suggestions in Start, and “get tips, tricks, and suggestions as you use Windows,” which impacts both the desktop and, alarmingly, the lock screen. But people don’t know where to look. And remember, this is a slippery slope. Once the door is open, Microsoft can quietly disable these options one at a time and the next thing you know, ads in Windows will be like those in Minority Report: Personalized and everywhere.

They’re not really ads. This is my favorite reaction to this issue, as if Microsoft wasn’t in fact performing the same bundling activities that got it in trouble with antitrust agencies on four continents 15 years ago. There’s no need for semantics. They’re ads.

They’re subtle, and not in-your-face. This also falls into the “slippery slope” category. They are subtle. But they’re also getting less subtle over time. And that, in a way, is the central issue here: Since the initial release of Windows 10, these ads/tips have gotten more prominent. On the lock screen. And on the desktop.

So let me just repeat what I wrote four years ago, but I’ll remove the version numbers and make these statements more generally applicable to the situation today.

Ads are unacceptable in Windows for the same reason they’re unacceptable in the Xbox Dashboard, another place where Microsoft is pushing the boundaries: You pay for these products, so they don’t need to be further subsidized. (And why Xbox Live Gold subscribers still see ads in the Xbox Dashboard is an insult I’ll never understand.) There should be no ads in the Windows user interface. Period.

 

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Conversation 52 comments

  • 442

    21 November, 2016 - 8:51 am

    <p>"They&rsquo;re subtle, and not in-your-face."&nbsp; &lt;- this one.&nbsp; Not quite so in at least some cases.</p>
    <p>I really don’t mind ads that much.&nbsp; I do actively attempt to reduce them if at all possible though.&nbsp; But in the few truly "pop-up" style ads I’ve seen inside of Windows 10, all I can say is Microsoft better get smart about their approach.</p>

  • 1570

    Premium Member
    21 November, 2016 - 9:03 am

    <p>For me, I quite like it when the "Spotlight" (lock) screen promotes new apps, games, movies, or features, in the same way that I actually like the ads on the Kindle lock screen when that also surfaces content I may enjoy. And I think that’s fairly easy to switch off and replace with a fixed personal background or slideshow.</p>
    <p>But I agree with the "tips" that try to convince you against using non-built in apps – I think that’s a bit desperate, and insulting.</p>
    <p>I guess it’s down to personal choice, but that’s my own, personal, "line".</p>

  • 8562

    21 November, 2016 - 9:08 am

    <p>Is there any difference in ads between ‘regular’ and signature editions? &nbsp;Or for that matter home vs pro vs enterprise?</p>

  • 5791

    21 November, 2016 - 10:08 am

    <p>There should be no ads in Windows as long as we have to pay for it and it’s quite expensive also.</p>
    <p>The Home version is $150 in Canada.</p>
    <p>You want to put in ads, give it away for free then.</p>

    • 5234

      21 November, 2016 - 11:48 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#26427">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/RichardP">RichardP</a><a href="#26427">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>"You want to put in ads, give it away for free then."</p>
      <p>&nbsp;</p>
      <p>NO! &nbsp;Value-for-value is the better model. &nbsp;Ads suck!</p>

  • 3216

    21 November, 2016 - 10:14 am

    <p>The MS version of "Just The Tip"…</p>

    • 5234

      21 November, 2016 - 11:52 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#26429">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/gsmith-plm">gsmith-plm</a><a href="#26429">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>I’m sure they’ll have some K-Y ads in there before long.</p>

      • 1377

        Premium Member
        21 November, 2016 - 4:29 pm

        <p><em><a href="#26455">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/Waethorn">Waethorn</a><a href="#26455">:</a></em></p>
        <p>You believe MSFT either wants you to enjoy it or not notice it as much?</p>

  • 7124

    21 November, 2016 - 10:30 am

    <p>I still don’t get what Chrome is so much more capable of than Edge. I use Edge almost exclusively at on my Windows 10 machine. I can’t remember the last time I had to fire up Chrome.</p>

    • 5486

      21 November, 2016 - 10:39 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#26434">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/jkosborn4">jkosborn4</a><a href="#26434">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>Glad you enjoy using Edge. I assume MS are paying you in some way to use it?</p>

    • 5554

      21 November, 2016 - 11:10 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#26434">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/jkosborn4">jkosborn4</a><a href="#26434">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>Chrome isn’t a piss poor, feature barren Metro/XAML mobile app, for starters&nbsp;</p>

      • 7039

        21 November, 2016 - 11:53 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#26446">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/PeteB">PeteB</a><a href="#26446">:</a> Actually, I prefer my text to be legible, on my high DPI displays. I prefer to use touch on my browser. I prefer to keep my battery life up. I prefer my PC to remain silent, instead of constantly spinning it’s fans. I prefer to be able to control how much information Google gets from me. Hence, I prefer Edge.</em></blockquote>
        <p>&nbsp;</p>

    • 5530

      21 November, 2016 - 12:44 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#26434">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/jkosborn4">jkosborn4</a><a href="#26434">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>Edge is indeed capable and is competitive in terms of speed, it’s fast – even beating chrome at some metrics. The problem is it can freeze up or straight up crash, and chrome never crashes. Edge also doesn’t have cross platform support and/or a huge library of extensions. It doesn’t help that the Windows Store kinda still stinks at app discovery, and they put the extensions in there, so some extensions that devs put in the store don’t show up.</p>
      <p>Anyway, just like you, I use Edge everyday.</p>

  • 5486

    21 November, 2016 - 10:44 am

    <p>For people who took up Microsoft’s ‘free’ upgrade offer (and no, nothing is really free), then I guess you’re the guinea pigs MS longed for. They’re testing everything out on you guys first. For the 99.9% who don’t know how to turn off those intrusive ads and tips, MS are looking at you with big smiles. For the 0.1% who do, MS don’t care about you.</p>
    <p>Give it a couple of years, and ads will be mandatory on the lock screen before you log on, they appear in modal windows after you log on, and then pop up randomly thereafter. It was said early on that MS would be monetizing Windows in a different way – now you know how.</p>

    • 397

      21 November, 2016 - 12:43 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#26439">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/ghostrider">ghostrider</a><a href="#26439">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>Which is why Group Editor no longer lets you disable the lock screen unless your running the Education or Enterprise SKUs!</p>

  • 5234

    21 November, 2016 - 10:52 am

    <p>Cortana is heavily advertising new "tips" too – I just received a few while booting up today. &nbsp;This will keep whatever few potential converts away, and many businesses will try to rip it out.</p>
    <p>POINT OF NOTE: In the Anniversary Update, it was said before that Cortana can’t be turned off. &nbsp;They’re right, but the OOBE STILL HAS THE OPTION TO TURN IT OFF, yet it does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. &nbsp;This is FALSE ADVERTISING, and Microsoft needs to be called out on it.</p>
    <p>&nbsp;</p>
    <p>If I didn’t have a number of issues with a KVM switch and the relatively complicated options for non-PnP monitor signaling with Xorg, I’d be using Ubuntu Budgie Remix right now. &nbsp;I never saw the issues with Windows Vista as I do with Windows 10. &nbsp;Other than using a Chromebook for day-to-day stuff, I’ll be looking at moving to some kind of modern Linux distribution&nbsp;for advanced functionality and service work.</p>

  • 5554

    21 November, 2016 - 11:09 am

    <p>And the slippery 10 slope gets slipperier.&nbsp;</p>
    <p>I’m fine on Windows 8.1 with Startisback and WU disabled, &nbsp;thank you very much.&nbsp;</p>

    • 5456

      Premium Member
      21 November, 2016 - 11:42 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#26445">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/PeteB">PeteB</a><a href="#26445">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>Thank god I did go back to Windows 8.1 after the so called "Anniversary Update" came out. I hate it when a company thinks it needs to tell me how to use a product. Since the AU Windows 10 did get worse, not better. But to disable WU is not wise at all. Use the GroupEditor to turn off the free upgrade offer and you will be fine. </p>

  • 6844

    21 November, 2016 - 11:43 am

    <p>These ads are one time only. You see them once. Google has a constant ad on YouTube asking me to switch to Chrome…..ie their OS. Also aren’t these ads being tested in preview builds? I don’t think they’ve made it to production yet.</p>
    <p>Finally, Microsoft is/has been&nbsp;changing the way it makes money with Windows. So perhaps these are a prelude to a free version of the OS.</p>

  • 397

    21 November, 2016 - 12:38 pm

    <p>I stopped using the News app; stopped using Edge because of this.&nbsp; The news app presents "sponsored" stories as though they were "real news items" and Edge just shoves it in my face.&nbsp; Any app that shows ads gets uninstalled or at least unpinned and ignored, and reported to the feedback hub.&nbsp;I’m just waiting for the daily ad (tip) popping up in Action Centre! The day ads appear in File Explorer is the day I go fully to Linux, which I have been experimenting with since the advent of Win 8.</p>

    • 2354

      21 November, 2016 - 4:27 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#26462">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/navarac">navarac</a><a href="#26462">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>And have you notices that MS seemingly don’t gave a shit about what the sponsored ads are for?&nbsp; Numerous times I’ve seen ads for those crappy fake anti-malware suites, and bullcrap clickbait "pregnant women shouldn’t eat this…" ‘articles’.</p>

    • 1377

      Premium Member
      21 November, 2016 - 4:33 pm

      <p><em><a href="#26462">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/navarac">navarac</a><a href="#26462">:</a></em></p>
      <p>Compared to other news aggregators, the News app stinks. Ditto Finance. OTOH, the Weather app is pretty good. I wonder when it’ll start home securing and renovation ads before major wind storms or after floods.</p>

      • 397

        22 November, 2016 - 11:40 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#26563">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/hrlngrv">hrlngrv</a><a href="#26563">:</a></em></blockquote>
        <p>Weather app is fine, I agree.&nbsp; I don’t hold my breath though :)</p>

  • 5530

    21 November, 2016 - 12:41 pm

    <p>I wouldn’t say they are ads at all, Paul. The first thing I did after installing Windows 10 was to turn off all the tips and suggestions. Never seen an ad in Windows 10, ever. I’ve seen the "tips" appear on other computers but it doesn’t seem too intrusive at all. It’s just basically Microsoft saying "hey, try Edge maybe?" and that’s it. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that Microsoft "really, really, really doesn&rsquo;t want you to exercise free will and make a better decision for yourself".</p>
    <p>And let’s be honest – the web is full of Google’s ads, and you actually can’t avoid those without avoiding the web completely or using chrome. When using a competing product to use Google Search (unavoidable) and YouTube (also unavoidable), you’d get ads regularly asking you to "upgrade" to chrome. And they’ll reappear from time to time even after you’ve dismissed it, unlike in Windows 10 where you dismiss it once and it’s really gone forever.</p>

  • 8567

    21 November, 2016 - 1:02 pm

    <p>Your article is misleading and I think you lack the experience and technical hands-on experience to review Windows 10 or any operating system for that matter.</p>
    <p>First, let me give you a little background: I am a systems engineer who has been deploying and supporting Windows for a living since version 3.1. I have been part of a team in charge of supporting over 10,000 Windows users at one of the jobs I held in the states. If you have touched more than 10,000 Windows PCs in your lifetime, and by "touch" I mean support, troubleshoot, optimize, deploy remotely, deploy unintendedly then I may listen to you. Otherwise, please read on and learn.</p>
    <p>Dictionary.com defines Ads as "a paid announcement, as of goods for sale, in newspapers or magazines, on radio or television, etc.". If you have a screenshot of a "paid announcement of goods for sale" in the Windows OS itself, please enlighten us with a screenshot.</p>
    <p>Please learn the difference between applications and the OS itself. Naturally, if you install anything other than licensed paid software it will contain ads. You’re basically making a statement like Apple iOS contains ads, not the apps on iOS, but iOS itself. That’s laughable!</p>
    <p>Windows 10 is the most stable operating system I have come across in my two decades of experience. I ran a stress test (75-100% CPU&nbsp;utilization,&nbsp;100% RAM utilization, 75-100% Disk utilization, 4 concurrent&nbsp;TCP/IP connections uploading and downloading)&nbsp;on a Windows PC using just bare minimum hardware for 180 days and it did not crash once, or hand, or exhibit any signs of performance degradation. In fact, on most computers I have worked on, Windows 10 clean-installed gave a 40% performance increase vs. Windows 7 on the same hardware and over 50% performance increase vs Windows 8 and 8.1</p>
    <p>As for Edge, it’s a trimmed down, small footprint browser designed for the modern web content which is almost all HTML5 and Flash. There is no need to load support for ActiveX controls and many other obsolete things into your PC’s memory just to browse websites. However, some scenarios still require ActiveX controls and those are exclusively in corporate intranet/extranet settings where there are company web applications that must be run. For those, Microsoft included by default Internet Explorer in Windows 10, in case you didn’t know that. Just click on Start and type "internet explorer" to launch it. Keep in mind that Windows 10 runs on phones and tablets too using the same exact OS code, services, and components.&nbsp;There is no sense in loading a huge browser application in a phone’s memory to view websites that only require a few megabytes of compiled code to view.</p>
    <p>Lastly, Microsoft’s free upgrade offer is free. I don’t get how difficult is that to understand. You clicked Accept to the offer, you upgrade to Windows 10 and then you have a free digital entitlement Windows 10 license for the life of your PC. If you have even been asked to pay a single penny, then you have been scammed by malware or something like that. Again, post a screenshot of a prompt asking you to pay for Windows during the free upgrade offer period.</p>
    <p>Tips are not Ads man, please learn to differentiate between those things. Microsoft has had tips in Windows since the Windows 95 taskbar tray bubbles. Remember those? Remember the "there are some unused items on your desktop, would you like to clean those?". If you consider that an Advertisement, please familiarize yourself more with the English language.</p>
    <p>I hope you and your readers have a little more respect for the best operating system there is. Learn the insides of Windows and you will love it. On the surface, it just looks like a plain bare bones code compiled. Under the hood, it’s a beast. Taking an MCSE course will give you that knowledge.</p>
    <p>Good luck in your future articles.</p>
    <p>&nbsp;</p>

    • 5456

      Premium Member
      21 November, 2016 - 9:19 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#26471">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/Samwel_Kazungu">Samwel_Kazungu</a><a href="#26471">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>My god you are so arrogant, want to teach Paul a lession? And then why is it those who bought Windows 10 in the store and paid around 150 &euro; or $ for it also seeing these ads/tips? I have an example in my family. Windows 10 wasnt free for them. MSFT doesnt make a difference between free upgrades and bought copies. </p>

      • 8567

        23 November, 2016 - 6:37 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#26607">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/SherlockHolmes">SherlockHolmes</a><a href="#26607">:</a></em></blockquote>
        <p>Thanks. Yes,&nbsp;actually, I teach at universities so there is always room for one more student :)&nbsp;If you reserved your free Windows 10 upgrade (by accepting the notification prompt that appeared all year long) during the 1 year offer period then you did not have to pay anything. If you waited&nbsp;until after&nbsp;the offer expired then, naturally,&nbsp;you would have had to pay. This was communicated very clearly by Microsoft and a full one year period is pretty sufficient I think.</p>
        <p>Microsoft never before&nbsp;gave away free Windows licenses (except if you worked for large retail chains like CompUSA or Computer City, etc.) so this offer gave many people who normally cannot afford to buy a legal Windows copy a chance to run a clean, legal, supported operation system.</p>

    • 54

      21 November, 2016 - 9:28 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#26471">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/Samwel_Kazungu">Samwel_Kazungu</a><a href="#26471">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>While agree that Paul is playing with semantics, I don’t agree with your assertion that he doesn’t know what he is doing. Paul has been reviewing Windows since the 95/NT era, and possibly even before that (I can’t remember exactly when Paul started the&nbsp;Supersite for Windows, his old site).</p>
      <p>I agree with Paul, however, that some of the popups in Windows 10 are extremely annoying, and borders on their old habits. For example, change the default browser from Edge to Chrome, and Edge/Windows 10 will pop up a notification requesting that you leave the default as is. Microsoft should not be doing that at all. It’s my choice to use whatever browser I want, not theirs. That’s the major point Paul was trying to get across, and one that you ignored completely.</p>
      <p>As for the actual tips/feature notifications, there are some I would like to turn off, but am unable to, the rest I tend not to notice. Tips, as you have stated, are not ads, but as I said, that’s also semantics.&nbsp;Paul has his reasons for calling them ads, and that is his right. That doesn’t automatically give you the right to dismiss the rest of what he says as drivel, or the writings of someone&nbsp;"new" to journalism.</p>
      <p>Yes the ads in Windows apps and games are annoying, yes the popups in Windows 10 aren’t all ads, but yes some of them shouldn’t be there at all, which is the bigger problem, and that shouldn’t be brushed aside so dismissively…</p>

      • 8567

        23 November, 2016 - 7:09 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#26608">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/c.hucklebridge">c.hucklebridge</a><a href="#26608">:</a></em></blockquote>
        <p>I’m curious. Can you please help verify a couple of things for others to hopefully benefit from?</p>
        <p>1. Have you tried setting your default programs profile to a non-Microsoft or a Custom one and still g<img src="d:\temp\winxcontrol.jpg" alt="" />et annoying notifications that Edge is not your default browser? This is in Control Panel –&gt; Default Programs –&gt; <em>Set Program Access and Computer Defaults </em>then select either the <em>non-Microsoft</em> option or the <em>Custom</em> one and change the browser to Chrome there.</p>
        <p>2. In the Settings app, Notifications and Actions, is "<em>Get tips, tricks, and suggestions</em>" disabled? Disable it if not.</p>
        <p>3. In the Settings app, Personalization, Lock Screen, is "Get fun facts, tips, and tricks" disabled? Disable it if not.</p>
        <p>If after doing the&nbsp;3 setting changes above you still get annoying "tips" or "ads" or "adips" then please post back and I’ll smack Microsoft PSS for you.</p>

    • 5646

      22 November, 2016 - 12:46 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#26471">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/Samwel_Kazungu">Samwel_Kazungu</a><a href="#26471">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>So basically you’re saying you are the reason why Windows has been crap since 3.1</p>

  • 3272

    Premium Member
    21 November, 2016 - 1:12 pm

    <p>My experience with Windows 10 across all of my devices is getting worse by the day. I’m having a sync issue that is so bad right now across my devices that I am at the point that I can’t wait for Google Andromeda so I can drop everything MS. This coming from a guy that&nbsp;absolutely hates Google. I am literally speechless at every misstep they make like the above mentioned advertising, upgrade issues, sync problems and on and on. Even this site doesn’t display properly and the comments don’t work properly with Win 10 mobile. The upgrade situation is a disaster. The syncing problems are driving me insane. I honestly have never been more disgusted at a company that I support and the products they make than I am now with MS. As trashy as the ads are, I wish that was the only issue there was, it’s the least of my concerns.</p>

    • 4800

      Premium Member
      21 November, 2016 - 5:18 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#26473">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/Awhispersecho">Awhispersecho</a><a href="#26473">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>What are you trying to sync?</p>

      • 3272

        Premium Member
        21 November, 2016 - 8:51 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#26574">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/lvthunder">lvthunder</a><a href="#26574">:</a></em></blockquote>
        <blockquote><em>a</em></blockquote>
        <blockquote><em>At this point, just my favorites. My win 10 laptop synced my favorites from my phone which was great. It then stopped syncing in real time so any new favorites weren’t syncing between devices. So in Edge on my laptop I had 2 of each favorite folder I created, 1 folder would have most of my favorites in it, 1 folder would have even more of my favorites in it but neither folder would be kept up to date. </em></blockquote>
        <blockquote><em>The end result ended up being that on my laptop I had 2 of each favorite folder, neither was syncing in real time and any favorite I create on any other device would only remain on that device. They would not all sync. 4 win 10 devices, none of them syncing favorites unless I force a sync and they sync up to that period but do not sync anything after that. </em></blockquote>
        <blockquote><em>So last night I decided to delete all my favorites from the laptop. I deleted Edge favorites then went into users folder and deleted all favorites in there. My hope was it would sync with my phone again and I would at least be somewhat up to date. Now it won’t sync at all. I restored my favorites back onto the favorites folders under the users folder but they don’t show up in Edge.&nbsp;</em></blockquote>
        <blockquote><em>I had to import favorites from IE which means I don’t have any of the favorites I have saved the last few months and it still isn’t syncing with my phone now. Sync is and always has been on on all my devices and none of them will sync with each other. </em></blockquote>
        <p>&nbsp;</p>

  • 1777

    21 November, 2016 - 1:40 pm

    <p>What do you think about the ads in the Roku dashboard?</p>

  • 6067

    21 November, 2016 - 2:31 pm

    <p>As someone who has followed and used Windows Phone/Windows/7/8/8.1/10 I think Microsoft is looking for ways to get people to use more apps.&nbsp;Paul has written TONS of articles about the lack of tier 1 apps on Windows/Windows Phone… all the things MS has done over the last year or two with Windows 10 has been an attempt to get more people using Windows 10 (free upgrade… almost tricked/forced) and more people downloading apps for Windows 10… &nbsp;"ads" for apps in the start menu, and tips to use the store, etc… As a former Windows developer I know Microsoft has a ton of work to do to get people using "apps" on Windows 10… people rail on Windows for not having a good app ecosystem but it has to start somewhere… they need to increase market share for Windows and educate the end user that there are apps in the store, etc… I think MS is trying to do those two things… it needs to if Windows is going to survive outside of the enterprise in the near future.</p>

    • 1377

      Premium Member
      21 November, 2016 - 4:48 pm

      <p><em><a href="#26507">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/jjaegers">jjaegers</a><a href="#26507">:</a></em></p>
      <blockquote><em>. . . [Windows 10]&nbsp;has to start somewhere… [MSFT] need to increase market share for Windows . . .</em></blockquote>
      <p>Windows 7 and prior don’t provide a starting point? MSFT has market share problems on PCs?</p>
      <p>Yes, I understand you mean other than PCs or other than the Windows desktop. If MSFT truly needs something other than the Windows desktop, MSFT is doomed. Apple with iOS and Google with Android got there first, and no matter how good MSFT makes Continuum, people would have to buy Windows phones to use it and most (over 97% worldwide) just aren’t buying them.</p>
      <p>MSFT’s problem is that many PC users have over 2 decades (some of us over 3 decades) experience using PCs, and we’ve gotten used to functionality not yet provided by apps.</p>

  • 5510

    21 November, 2016 - 2:47 pm

    <p>Paul is complaining about ads, saying that it cheapens Windows 10? Uh… Excuse me, but…. Wasn’t Windows 10 free?</p>

    • 1377

      Premium Member
      21 November, 2016 - 4:40 pm

      <p><em><a href="#26519">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/Bats">Bats</a><a href="#26519">:</a></em></p>
      <blockquote><em>. . .&nbsp;Wasn’t Windows 10 free?</em></blockquote>
      <p>For people who had already bought a license for Windows 7 or Windows 8.x, yes. For people who had been in the Insider Program before 1607, then opted to convert 1607 Insider to 1607 regular (outsider), yes. For people who buy new PCs with Windows 10 preinstalled, no, not free.</p>
      <p>OTOH, WaaS may mean Windows with Ads (WwA).</p>

  • 4800

    Premium Member
    21 November, 2016 - 3:09 pm

    <p>If the tip is pointing out features in Windows like Edge does I’m fine with that. &nbsp;How else are you going to learn about new features. &nbsp;It’s not like they make books anymore. &nbsp;Now if the edge icon or the notification center gives me an ad for $500 off of a BMW then that’s a different story.</p>

  • 3229

    Premium Member
    21 November, 2016 - 3:12 pm

    <p>Someone at my place of business (who has managed to get himself a Lenovo-Surface in spite of being in a Mac shop) was complaining about just this exact thing today. The kicker: it was Windows 10 <em>Enterprise.</em></p>
    <p>&nbsp;I wonder if Server 2016’s lock screen is similarly impacted.</p>

  • 2354

    21 November, 2016 - 4:21 pm

    <p>I HATE it that the day after you do the ‘right-click – never show recommendations’ option, they’re back again trying to get me to download an buy useless crap I don’t want or need or are interested in in the slightest.</p>

  • 1377

    Premium Member
    21 November, 2016 - 4:26 pm

    <p>20 years ago people bought paper newspapers and magazines. People PAID for them. And insult of insults, those newspapers and magazines had ads.</p>
    <p>Plus &ccedil;a change.</p>
    <p>I agree ads are annoying, and I do everything I can to disable or bypass them. However,&nbsp;MSFT and only MSFT gets to decide what comes with a Windows license (or Xbox Love Gold).</p>

  • 1792

    21 November, 2016 - 4:56 pm

    <p>Agreed. &nbsp;There should be no ads in Windows. I have managed to turn most of mine off. However in the longer term you just undermine Windows. Isn’t Google supposed to be the advertising company with in your face advertising? Isnt Microsoft the company that wants to sell their OS and services?</p>
    <p>The quid pro quo is if they want advertising in Windows then Windows has to be free – permanently. Actually the advertising convinces me to uninstall Microsoft apps.&nbsp;</p>

  • 5639

    Premium Member
    21 November, 2016 - 5:03 pm

    <p>Windows has slowly progressed from smoldering to an inferno consuming dumpster fire.</p>
    <p>bad updates, poor test quality, operational quirks, ads… &nbsp;I just hate using windows right now&nbsp;</p>
    <p>&nbsp;</p>

  • 7932

    21 November, 2016 - 6:36 pm

    <p>I’d like to propose that we be paid to receive advertisements in general. I mean, if they are so sure that I want to see this ad, then they won’t mind paying me to view it? Even from Microsoft, give me credits with each ad, and someday I might just up and blow the wad on an app I don’t need, just because the credits are about to expire!!</p>

  • 6014

    21 November, 2016 - 8:01 pm

    <p>Interesting. I’ve never seen any ads in Windows 10, I’ll try to keep my eyes open.</p>
    <p>I don’t understand the Edge hate. I use Firefox on Windows 7 and Android, and Chrome, Firefox, and Edge on Windows 10, but mostly Edge. I really don’t understand why people think Chrome is so great. It’s no faster, doesn’t do anything better, and isn’t as pretty as Edge. Firefox offers the best ad-blocking experience on Android, but if they built a version of Edge for Android I’d give it a try. </p>
    <p>&nbsp;</p>

  • 5496

    21 November, 2016 - 9:31 pm

    <p>Ads and tups are two different things.</p>
    <p>The apps itself have ads, not Windows.</p>

  • 1109

    Premium Member
    21 November, 2016 - 10:15 pm

    <p>Here’s a revenue idea for Microsoft, be like Amazon with the Kindle ads, pay a once off fee of $20 and no more ads. I would happily pay</p>

  • 473

    22 November, 2016 - 5:26 am

    <p>I think if you paid for the privilege&nbsp;of having their product you should not have to see adverts. I cancelled my Sky subscription in the UK because I was sick of the adverts and the cost of the service rising continually.&nbsp;</p>
    <p>I think in the western world we should start taking a lead and refuting this notion that our economies and our companies are not doing well unless they are increasing growth every year.&nbsp;</p>
    <p>To me that is not sustainable and because we live on a planet that has finite resources we should look to grow our businesses in the early days and then when we get to a sensible sustainable maximum output&nbsp;we should be happy to stay at that level.</p>
    <p>Shareholders should accept that when a company reaches that point they will get the same revenue every year and any improvement in revenue should come from economising the business and making it produce the same output with fewer new resources or by recycling resources.</p>
    <p>If we keep on this pointless attempt to consume more resources to make even larger profits we are doomed as a species. The likes of Microsoft shouldn’t be trying to squeeze even more profit by ruining the Windows Experience with adverts just produce the same profit with the same number of people but by consuming less resources, win-win for everyone!</p>

  • 6171

    22 November, 2016 - 9:52 am

    <p>Paul, Paul…you are still writing at the level you started with a couple of decades back…;)&nbsp; Don’t you understand that your audience keeps changing because it keeps outgrowing you?&nbsp; Instead of writing at the n00b level constantly, and simply complaining for the sake of complaining–try something constructive and write an article showing people how to turn these things off.&nbsp; I have a suspicion, however, that your chief objection to Microsoft offering "tips and tricks" is that it eats into *your* market for selling "tips and tricks" booklets and so on…;)</p>
    <p>Here’s the thing…<em>I don’t see any ads/tips/tricks</em>.&nbsp; Probably it’s because I’ve turned the things I don’t want on, off.&nbsp; I didn’t see them in 8 and I haven’t seen them in 10.&nbsp; My wife doesn’t see ads in 10. (She’s using 1607 &amp; I am strictly running Insider builds.)&nbsp; If I run across an application that throws ads at me without giving me an option to turn them off then I don’t use that application. Period.&nbsp; Anything that bugs you in Win10 you can turn off.&nbsp; End of complaint.&nbsp; You even admit you can turn all of this stuff off, but then your attitude is that you can’t.&nbsp;</p>
    <p>This reminds me of those silly and stupid "default settings" articles people used to write years ago.&nbsp; They were stupid complaints because their premise was that the user could never change the default settings–ah, but he can!&nbsp; Which destroys the argument completely.&nbsp; If it’s "too hard" for people to learn the simple ins and outs of using an OS then I suspect it’s "too hard" for them to use a computer and I might suggest something like a chalk board, instead…;)&nbsp; What happens in your automobile if you turn the radio on and leave it on?&nbsp; Gee, gosh–it’s just "so hard" to learn how to turn the radio off before exiting the vehicle, isn’t it?&nbsp; Most of the appliances we use in every-day life–refrigerators, stoves, blenders, etc., have *options* that need to be learned if the device is to provide the owner with benefits.</p>
    <p>I do see adds in outlook email, however.&nbsp; But they are off to the side and I rarely notice them. The Internet is chock full of ads–but people can and do use ad blockers. Etc.&nbsp; I’m of the opinion that people should control the software and hardware they use as opposed to letting it control them simply because they can’t be bothered to learn how to use it.</p>
    <p>Almost forgot the important point–I actually know people who enjoy watching TV commercials, believe it or not…;)&nbsp; One size does not fit all.&nbsp; If the ads/tips/tricks bug you–turn them off.&nbsp; When I watch TV, for instance, when the commercial pops up I hit the mute button on my remote.&nbsp; Drives other people in the room bonkers, but I like it…;)</p>
    <p>&nbsp;</p>

  • 268

    Premium Member
    22 November, 2016 - 10:26 am

    <p>Windows Insider here. I got a advertisement for Edge a week or two ago. It was terribly invasive having that use my bandwidth to download it and then display it coming from the taskbar. It took a few minutes, but I found where to turn it off. But, the next two Windows Insider builds both changed my default browser to Edge. It is pretty well known that early Insider builds had done that – and then it had been fixed and an apology issued. Now it is doing it again. Bug? Maybe. Or perhaps they just want to see how many Insiders don’t change it back – sort of an A B test. Not appreciated at all. "Gee, thanks for changing my default browser to Edge – it is SO much better than my prior browser", said nobody. Ever.</p>

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