Microsoft recently started showing ads on the File Explorer in Windows 10. The company is certainly getting more and more aggressive with ads in Windows 10 lately, promoting things like OneDrive, Microsoft Edge, and other third-party apps. One of the most advertised app in Windows 10 is probably Microsoft Edge — the browser’s performance and efficiency features are promoted across Windows 10, mostly to users using Google Chrome or other rival browsers. Microsoft, in the past, displayed ads for Edge when Chrome started using more power, and it also promoted Edge’s security features on the taskbar before. And now, it’s promoting Microsoft Edge on the Start Menu too.
As you can see in the screenshot below, Microsoft is now promoting Edge’s efficiency features on the Start Menu under the “Suggested” area. In this case, Microsoft is promoting Edge’s ability to stream videos longer — once clicked on the ad, Microsoft takes users to a page where the company compares Edge’s battery usage with Google Chrome. In the page, Microsoft states that users can “get up to 32% more battery life than Chrome when we browsing with Microsoft Edge”.
Gallery
It is worth noting that the Suggested section was mostly used to promote Windows Store apps in the past, and it can also be turned off from the Settings app in Windows 10. Microsoft is obviously not the only company who promotes the first-party apps in their OS — companies like Apple also promote Safari on macOS, but Microsoft just seems a tiny bit more aggressive than the others.
Thanks for the tip and screenshots, Jakub!
