[krzrak]

That's weird, I have Windows 11 Home installed by the computer manufacturer but I don't recall having any ads. Is that because I disabled them at the start? (don't remember) or maybe because I have pihole in my network? Anyway - no ads for me.

[flyinghamster]

Any time something like this comes up, there's always people it doesn't happen to. It makes me wonder if some random fraction of users get off the hook just to gaslight us.

[Bellend]

I'm the same but I don't use PiHole. (I am in UK. Does geography matter?). If I seen ads in my windows start menu, I'd suspect I have a cracked windows copy with a 3rd party spamming me. It's literally that far fetched to me. I always use Pro though as well...

[ducknalddon]

I'm in the UK and I get ads. With or without PiHole doesn't seem to matter.

[kcartlidge]

Same here.

I bought (UK) Windows 7 Pro (retail) many years ago, tied to an MS account for licensing. Free upgrade to Windows 8, then Windows 10, followed eventually by my current Windows 11 Pro.

No ads in the OS that I've ever noticed, and the minimal pre-installs (Candy Crush, Office 365 etc) are trivially deleted upon OS installation.

That's 3 upgrades of Windows at no extra cost, and all 4 versions without advertising significant enough for me to remember seeing. And to be honest, even though I'm about 70% a Mac user due to the M1 hardware, and maybe 10% Linux, Windows remains very productive for me (more so than the others) so it's been a bargain.

I appreciate opinions vary, but despite occasional comments in HN about Stockholm Syndrome or not knowing what the alternatives are like I personally enjoy Windows. Yes, even Windows 11. And not just for games.