How to disable ads from Windows 11 start menu: A step-by-step guide

Microsoft rolled out a new update (KB5036980) to all Windows 11 users. This update that brings ads to Windows 11’s start menu will be available to all users in the coming weeks. The tech giant has been testing this feature in the Windows 11 Insider Preview for a few weeks now and has now planned to introduce it to all users. Users will soon start seeing “Recommendations” for apps from the Microsoft Store in the Start menu.

In its blog post, the company claims that these apps come from a small set of curated developers and that the new feature will help users discover some of the great apps that are available.

However, for users who find these ads annoying, Microsoft will offer them the capability to disable these “Recommendations”. Here’s a step-by-step guide you can follow to stop seeing these ads on the start menu of Windows 11:

How to disable ads in Windows 11 start menu

Open the Start Menu

Search and launch the ‘Settings’ app

Click on ‘Personalization’ option

Tap on ‘Start’ from the left pane

Turn off the ‘Show recommendations for tips, app promotions, and more’ option to disable the ads

The Start option within the Settings menu also allows users to customise their Start menu according to their preferences. For example, users can choose to:

Show more tiles: This increases the number of tiles that appear in the Start menu.
Show app list in the Start menu: Toggle this if you want to see a list of all apps directly in the Start menu.

Show recently added apps: This controls whether apps you recently installed appear at the top of the Start menu.
Use Start full screen: Toggle this if you prefer the Start menu to occupy the full screen when opened.