Look, I love Microsoft products. I own a drawer full of great Windows laptops, I have an Xbox Series X, I use SwiftKey on my iPhone, Microsoft Edge is my daily browser, and Windows 11 is my daily operating system. However, one thing I don't love is the constant ads for other Microsoft services and products, and even sometimes apps, services, and games from other developers.

Arguably, this is fine since Microsoft owns all of these products and can do what it pleases, and these can be seen as mere suggestions or features to try out, but there's a lot of hate. I already subscribe to every single Microsoft service and own every single Microsoft product, so why am I seeing ads and suggestions on what to use and do? It's absolutely frustrating in four places in particular.

1. The ads in the Windows 11 Start Menu

I'll start with the place everyone goes to on a daily basis on Windows: the Start Menu. This is supposed to be the home to your favorite apps and services, but it's not on a fresh Windows 11 installation. Rather, the Start Menu is home to bloatware from your PC manufacturer (like Lenovo Vantage), and links to install suggested apps like Clipchamp (owned by Microsoft), Microsoft Office apps, Prime Video, Solitaire (a Microsoft app), TikTok, Spotify, and WhatsApp. Every time I review a new PC, I have to unpin these apps and remove them before placing the ones I actually use there.

Microsoft doesn't let me sync the apps I already own to my Start Menu, and I wonder if it's part of an aggressive strategy to push ads for suggested apps. And it's not like things are getting better. One of the latest Windows 11 preview builds, build 23435, adds a huge pop-up to highlight the benefits of signing in to your PC with a Microsoft account. This, in theory, is just one giant ad for a Microsoft account, which is Microsoft's way of collecting data from you as you log in to your Windows PC and use its apps and services.

2. The obsession with Bing

If that wasn't enough, Microsoft is obsessed with advertising Bing everywhere. I understand that this is a push for the new AI chatbot that's proving to be fun to play with, useful, and massively successful, but it's frustrating in areas like, for example, Microsoft's SwiftKey mobile keyboard for iOS. While an update on Android lets you remove the Bing button on iOS, it persists on Apple's products. It's also located in the top row, right where my fingers tend to go when typing. I've accidentally triggered it way too many times.

Then, there's the Bing button in Microsoft Edge. It's neat to have the integration to make access to the new Bing easier, but it's now just in the way. The button is way too close to the menu button, which I always click, and similar to SwiftKey, it makes using Edge frustrating. But at least you can turn it off by going to the sidebar settings and disabling Discover.

3. The number of ads for Game Pass on the Xbox dashboard

While I spend most of my time on Windows, I do play Xbox games from time to time. This is yet another place that is bloated with Microsoft ads. I like booting up my Xbox Series X and seeing what new games Microsoft is promoting on the Xbox dashboard. However, just a couple days before writing this article, Microsoft was pushing the option to claim Peacock with my Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription and try out a new Star Wars game. These ads are all in the second row of the user interface by default, under most recently opened and used apps and games.

Granted, you can change the order in which these tiles appear on the dashboard, but it would have been more useful to just show me the games I already own there by default instead.

4. Microsoft Edge bloat👁 Sidebar-edge

Microsoft Edge (back when it was using Edge HTML code) was such a good browser. It might have been lacking in features compared to Chrome, but that's what made it so great. It was simple and efficient with minimal distraction. That isn't so much the case with the new Microsoft Edge.

Now that the browser is more popular, Microsoft is taking advantage of the situation to push more of its products and services on you. Just look at the sidebar, which just features ads for Microsoft services like Bing, search, shopping, and Microsoft Office. It's especially annoying to see these ads when I already access them from the dedicated web browser anyway. And I can't imagine how people who don't use Microsoft products feel about these features.

Can there even be change?

Despite writing this article, I do wonder if anything will change. At least there are ways to tell Microsoft how we feel. There's the Windows Insider Program, where users can submit feedback on Microsoft-specific products, and the Xbox Insider Program for Xbox-related issues. Maybe if enough people come together, changes can be made, and we'll see less of a push for cross-Microsoft product promotion.

Until then, I'll just settle and keep on being a Microsoft fan with some grievances. It still won't be enough to get me to switch to a Mac or the Apple ecosystem, but it'll make the experience a little less ideal.