Microsoft testing ads on Windows 11’s File Explorer-Information Technology

Microsoft has begun testing ads for some products on File Explorer running on Windows 11 Insider, but has faced negative feedback from users.

This new “feature” was discovered by a Windows user and Insider testing. The screenshot shows a notification bar popping up above File Explorer’s file and folder lists, advertising some other Microsoft products like Microsoft Editor.

Of course, many users have reacted very negatively to this decision. Some people think that File Explorer is “the worst place to show ads”, while others think that File Explorer will become a secondary choice if Microsoft continues to advertise in the final version.

Ad bar on File Explorer in Windows 11 Insider version.

Some users using Windows 11 Insider did not receive this promotional message, possibly because Microsoft is still in the process of A/B testing to assess the success of the new feature or has discontinued the feature. after backlash from users.

This isn’t the first time Microsoft has advertised on File Explorer. In 2016, this technology company also had ads for OneDrive in this file search application. In addition, in 2020, Microsoft has experimented with showing ads for Office applications on the web in the menu bar of Wordpad on Windows 10.