Microsoft is Testing Ads in the Windows 11 File Explorer

Microsoft has started testing promotion for some of its products in the file explorer app. A user discovered the new Windows 11 feature. Microsoft will use these advertisements to promote other Microsoft products based on the screenshot shared.

This is not the first time Microsoft added promotional messages to File Explorer, as in 2016, Microsoft also showed a OneDrive ad in the Windows application. This can be explained by the company running an A/B testing experiment trying to gauge the success of such a feature or by the company disabling it after the visible user outcry.

However, Redmond didn’t stop with File Explorer; two years ago, it tested ads for its free Office web apps in the menu bar for the Windows 10 Wordpad software, a campaign that drew comparable customer backlash. When customers searched for a competing browser on the  10 Start Menu, the business began presenting adverts for Microsoft Edge, urging people to download the new Microsoft Edge.

The company broke the Windows Start Menu and Taskbar when testing a Microsoft Teams promotion on Insiders, so some of these experiments had unforeseen repercussions. Jen Gentleman, Microsoft software engineer clarified that right-click performance had been juiced up. Windows 11 tester noticed that the context menu felt faster with the latest preview build; Gentleman said they did some work with 22572 to improve the context menu performance.