{"id":417244,"date":"2022-03-17T01:40:40","date_gmt":"2022-03-16T22:40:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/dear-microsoft-putting-ads-in-the-windows-11-file-explorer-is-dumb\/"},"modified":"2022-03-17T01:40:40","modified_gmt":"2022-03-16T22:40:40","slug":"dear-microsoft-putting-ads-in-the-windows-11-file-explorer-is-dumb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/dear-microsoft-putting-ads-in-the-windows-11-file-explorer-is-dumb\/","title":{"rendered":"#Dear Microsoft, putting ads in the Windows 11 File Explorer is dumb"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2d1dfdf32ec\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2d1dfdf32ec\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/dear-microsoft-putting-ads-in-the-windows-11-file-explorer-is-dumb\/#%E2%80%9CDear_Microsoft_putting_ads_in_the_Windows_11_File_Explorer_is_dumb%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;Dear Microsoft, putting ads in the Windows 11 File Explorer is dumb&#8221;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CDear_Microsoft_putting_ads_in_the_Windows_11_File_Explorer_is_dumb%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;Dear Microsoft, putting ads in the Windows 11 File Explorer is dumb&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n                            <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Microsoft often tests new features with its Windows Insider builds. While these are often a sign of good things to come, other times, they need to be nipped right in the bud. Case in point: this week, Microsoft pushed a test to Windows 11 Insiders that placed ads for other Microsoft products directly in the File Explorer, as spotted by<\/span> <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/flobo09\/status\/1502645866204704773\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Florian Beaubois<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a>.<br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Some people will go mad if Microsoft starts adding ads in explorer. <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/rusnyrYyX2\">pic.twitter.com\/rusnyrYyX2<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Florian (@flobo09) <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/flobo09\/status\/1502645866204704773?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 12, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Microsoft later told<\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/3\/15\/22979251\/microsoft-file-explorer-ads-windows-11-testing\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Verge<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that this \u2018feature\u2019 was \u201cnot intended to be published externally and was turned off.\u201d Thank goodness, although the company didn\u2019t guarantee that the feature won\u2019t show up in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So let\u2019s get this out the way before someone at Microsoft gets any more funny ideas: puttings ads in File Explorer \u2014 or most everyday Windows <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>s \u2014 is a very dumb idea. There are better ways for Microsoft to keep its users updated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I get that Microsoft probably tests a whole bunch of features that never see the light of day, even for Windows Insiders. The company even recently announced that it would begin<\/span> <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.windows.com\/windows-insider\/2022\/02\/03\/whats-coming-for-the-windows-insider-program-in-2022\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">testing more experimental features<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in Insiders builds without announcing them \u2014 which is how I initially assumed this ads feature came to fruition.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the fact that this somehow made it out to the wild means that Microsoft is at least considering throwing more ads into Windows. And absolutely nobody wants that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It shouldn\u2019t be surprising though. When Microsoft introduced Windows 10 as \u201cas a service\u201d, making it essentially free for most users, it was only natural to assume that the company would increasingly try to find more ways to monetize the platform.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before the current hullabaloo over ads in File Explorer, Microsoft<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">placed ads in Windows 8 apps<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Then it placed<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ads in the Windows 10 Start Menu<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. And Microsoft has actually<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">placed ads in the File Explorer<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> before, so even this isn\u2019t totally new. My colleague Abhimanyu summed it up concisely at the time:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They might just be small pop-ups, but that\u2019s how it starts, folks. Microsoft has many other products it might want to start slinging, including Office 365 subscriptions and Skype credits \u2013 and who knows whether the company will eventually want to expand to serving up ads from other businesses?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The fact is that companies will tend to gradually sneak in ads into their \u2018free\u2019 products to see how much their users are willing to put up with. In their minds, it\u2019s better to ask forgiveness than permission, and if people are conditioned to accept ads for first-party apps, it\u2019s only a matter of time until the company widens its scope.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s an unfortunate reflection of most of the software we use in 2022 \u2014 you rarely have true ownership of software when everything is a service. Google and<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Apple<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> aren\u2019t innocent in this regard either; if companies can find a way to make more money off of you, chances are they will.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mind you, I don\u2019t really have a problem with companies trying to inform users about their new products and features. Microsoft Editor <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is quite good<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and people should know about it!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But there are better ways of keeping users informed. For example, the company already has a tips Widget loaded into your Widgets pane by default. It\u2019s nice! It has some useful tips for everyday users, and the company could promote more of its stuff there.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1382677 js-lazy\" alt=\"Windows 11 Tips widget\" width=\"387\" height=\"534\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 387px) 100vw, 387px\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2022\/03\/Snag_19eaf08e.png\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2022\/03\/Snag_19eaf08e.png 387w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2022\/03\/Snag_19eaf08e-152x210.png 152w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2022\/03\/Snag_19eaf08e-98x135.png 98w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2022\/03\/Snag_19eaf08e-196x270.png 196w\"\/><figcaption><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"#\" data-url=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Feditorial.thenextweb.com%2Fplugged%2F2022%2F03%2F16%2Fads-windows-11-file-explorer-how-about-no%2F&amp;via=thenextweb&amp;related=thenextweb&amp;text=Check out this picture on: That\u2019s a useful tip, and it\u2019s placed somewhere where it won\u2019t bother anyone. It\u2019s also easy to disable permanently.\" data-title=\"Share That\u2019s a useful tip, and it\u2019s placed somewhere where it won\u2019t bother anyone. It\u2019s also easy to disable permanently. on Twitter\" data-width=\"685\" data-height=\"500\" class=\"post-image-share popitup\" title=\"Share That\u2019s a useful tip, and it\u2019s placed somewhere where it won\u2019t bother anyone. It\u2019s also easy to disable permanently. on Twitter\"><i class=\"icon icon--inline icon--twitter--dark\"\/><\/a>That\u2019s a useful tip, and it\u2019s placed somewhere where it won\u2019t bother anyone. It\u2019s also easy to disable permanently.<\/figcaption><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1382677\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2022\/03\/Snag_19eaf08e.png\" alt=\"Windows 11 Tips widget\" width=\"387\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2022\/03\/Snag_19eaf08e.png 387w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2022\/03\/Snag_19eaf08e-152x210.png 152w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2022\/03\/Snag_19eaf08e-98x135.png 98w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2022\/03\/Snag_19eaf08e-196x270.png 196w\"\/><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I even like Beaubois\u2019 suggestion of bringing back the old-school Windows Tip of the Day:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Maybe Microsoft should consider bringing back Tips of the day for stuff like this. I mean, advertise other Microsoft services, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JenMsft?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@JenMsft<\/a> &#8216;s secret keyboard shortcuts, stuff like this. <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/EiTMfI3Awr\">pic.twitter.com\/EiTMfI3Awr<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Florian (@flobo09) <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/flobo09\/status\/1503695008377065472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 15, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At least that had an obvious way of letting users opt out, and it doesn\u2019t interfere with other apps and features people use on a regular basis.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s when these ads clash with your workflow and cannot be disabled in a highly intuitive manner that it really becomes an issue. Rather than a potentially useful suggestion, these ads are intrusive, reminding you that Windows was never really yours to own in the first place. PCs are supposed to be, you know <em>personal<\/em>; ads strewn about in random places are anything but.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I don\u2019t know if File Explorer ads will ever become a reality, nor do I expect users will run away to Linux in droves if they ever do. But I do know this won\u2019t be the last time Microsoft considers sneaking more ads into Windows; let\u2019s just hope the company is more considerate when it does.<\/span>\n                        <\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/ads-windows-11-file-explorer-how-about-no\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Dear Microsoft, putting ads in the Windows 11 File Explorer is dumb&#8221; Microsoft often tests new features with its Windows Insider builds. While these are often a sign of good things to come, other times, they need to be nipped right in the bud. Case in point: this week, Microsoft pushed a test to Windows&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":417245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img-cdn.tnwcdn.com\/image\/plugged?filter_last=1&fit=1280,640&url=https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2022\/03\/Windows-11-ads-copy.jpg&signature=b825ac6b6670095bc5656bffb2e2d482","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-417244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}