How to Disable All of Windows 10’s Built-in Advertising
How to remove those nagging ads from Windows 10
Everywhere you look, ads are all around, even in Windows 10. But you don't have to just accept it in this guide, we show you some of the ways to remove them.
1. Disable Lock Screen Ads
Windows 10 now displays ads on the lock screen via Windows Spotlight. Sometimes, Windows Spotlight will just show off cool wallpapers, but it’ll also sneak in advertisements for games like Rise of the Tomb Raider and Quantum Break in the Windows Store.
To get rid of these lock screen ads, head to Settings > Personalization > Lock Screen and set the background to “Picture” or “Slideshow” instead of Windows Spotlight.
You’ll probably also want to disable the “Get fun facts, tips, and more from Windows and Cortana on your lock screen” option here, too.
2. Stop Suggested Apps From Appearing in the Start Menu
Windows 10 will occasionally show “suggested apps” in your Start menu. Suggested apps aren’t necessarily free, and we’ve seen Microsoft use this feature to advertise $60 PC games from the Windows Store (which, by the way, you shouldn’t buy). But mainly, they just take up valuable space in your Start menu.
To stop suggested apps from appearing in the Start menu, head to Settings > Personalization > Start and set the “Occasionally show suggestions in Start” setting to “Off”.
3. Get Rid of Nagging Taskbar Pop-ups
Windows 10 displays taskbar pop-up ads, which Microsoft calls “tips, tricks, and suggestions”. These tips have included recommendations to use Microsoft Edge for better battery life, and an encouragement to use Microsoft Edge so you can earn Microsoft Rewards points.
If you’d like to just use your own preferred applications without Microsoft nagging you, you’ll need to disable these tips. To do so, head to Settings > System > Notifications & Actions and disable the “Get tips, tricks, and suggestions as you use Windows” option.
4. Prevent Notification Ads From Appearing
In the Creators Update, Microsoft added new “suggestions” that appear as notifications. These ads inform you about various Windows features and appear as normal desktop notifications. For example, you might see a notification telling you to set up Cortana. Like other notifications, they’re also stored in the Action Center so you can see them later.
To disable these “suggestions” that appear as notifications, head to Settings > System > Notifications and set “Show me the Windows welcome experience after updates and occasionally when I sign in to highlight what’s new and suggested” to “Off”.
5. Remove Advertisements From File Explorer
As of the Creators Update, Microsoft is now displaying ads pushing OneDrive and Office 365 with a banner at the top of the File Explorer window. These banners can be disabled in File Explorer’s options window.
To disable these options, open File Explorer’s options window by clicking the “View” tab at the top of a File Explorer window and clicking the “Options” button on the ribbon. Click the “View” tab at the top of the Folder Options window that appears, scroll down in the list of advanced settings, and uncheck the “Show sync provider notifications” option.
6. Banish “Get Office” Notifications
Windows 10 includes a “Get Office” application that sits there, providing notifications suggesting you download Office 365 and enjoy a month-long free trial.
To stop those Get Office notifications, head to Settings > System > Notifications & Actions, scroll down, and set notifications for the “Get Office” app to “Off”. You can also simply find the Get Office app in your Start menu, right-click it, and select “Uninstall”. However, it may come back when you update Windows 10 in the future.
7. Uninstall Candy Crush Saga and Other Automatically Installed Apps
Windows 10 “automatically downloads” apps like Candy Crush Soda Saga, Flipboard, Twitter, and Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition when you sign in for the first time. PC manufacturers can also add their own apps and live tiles that appear installed by default.
These apps are installed as part of the “Microsoft Consumer Experience”. There was a group policy setting to disable this, but it was removed from consumer versions of Windows 10 in the Anniversary Update. Only Windows 10 Enterprise users not even Windows 10 Professional users can turn this off.
You can remove these apps and tiles, however. To do so, just open your Start menu, locate any apps you don’t want to use, right-click them, and select “Uninstall.” Apps like Candy Crush Soda Saga and FarmVille 2: Country Escape will appear as tiles by default, but you can also find them under the all apps list.
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