Microsoft is testing new adverts within the Home windows Begin menu, or what it describes as “new therapies,” for customers logged into native accounts as a part of a “badging” growth.

This “characteristic” has been under testing since a minimum of November 2022, and a few of these “notifications for Microsoft accounts within the Begin menu” are already being exhibited to customers who’ve put in final month’s Windows 11 preview update or this week’s Patch Tuesday safety updates.

“We’re persevering with the exploration of badging on the Begin menu with a number of new therapies for customers logging in with native consumer accounts to spotlight the advantages of signing in with a Microsoft account (MSA),” said Microsoft’s Amanda Langowski and Brandon LeBlanc.

“In case you see one in all these therapies, give us suggestions on what you suppose. As a reminder, it’s regular for us to check out totally different ideas within the Dev Channel to get suggestions.”

The brand new characteristic is rolling out with Home windows 11 Insider Preview Construct 23435 to customers Insiders within the Dev Channel, designed to assist Microsoft check out numerous ideas and accumulate consumer suggestions.

It is necessary to say that options examined within the Dev Channel could by no means get launched or be closely tweaked as soon as made obtainable to common prospects.

On methods the place the brand new “therapies of badging on the Begin menu” roll out, the adverts will present up within the sign-out flyout of the Home windows 11 Begin menu.

The record of latest “therapies” being examined on this Home windows Insider construct contains the next prompts:

• Check in to your Microsoft account. You’ll again up your machine and maintain it safer
• Use Microsoft 365 totally free. Check in along with your Microsoft account to make use of productiveness apps and cloud storage
• Preserve your account safer. Check in to personalize your safety and profile settings in a single place
• Entry your recordsdata from anyplace. You may get 5 GB of cloud storage totally free if you check in

Microsoft is seemingly additionally engaged on including the choice to disable the Begin Menu adverts from the Home windows 11 Settings app (which ought to’ve been  been r

As Home windows fanatic PhantomOfEarth discovered, a ‘Present account associated notifications sometimes in Begin’ choice will quickly be obtainable underneath Personalization > Begin.

This isn’t the primary time Microsoft has promoted its merchandise inside the consumer interface of Home windows apps. 

As a part of an August 2022 marketing campaign, it confirmed adverts for Microsoft 365 Household subscriptions to Office 2021 customers and adverts for numerous Microsoft merchandise, together with Microsoft Editor, in the File Explorer app in March 2022. 

The File Explorer had additionally been injected with OneDrive promotional messages years earlier than, in 2016, whereas the Home windows 10 Wordpad app had additionally displayed adverts for Microsoft’s free Office web apps in 2020. 

Microsoft has additionally marketed its Microsoft Edge web browser within the Home windows 10 Begin Menu, and it by chance broke the Home windows Taskbar and Begin Menu whereas testing Microsoft Groups adverts on some Home windows Insider builds.