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Microsoft made a lot of changes in Windows 10 that helped it put the mistakes of Windows 8 in the rear view mirror. Not all of Microsoft’s ideas are good, though. The company has shown a tendency to get a little too casual with how it promotes its services within Windows. You might even call these “ads.” Microsoft would, of course, dispute that description. Some of these things that look very much like ads have started showing up in File Explorer. Specifically, Windows 10 has started nagging people to buy a subscription to OneDrive.
Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud storage service is built into Windows 10 and tied to your Microsoft account. Everyone gets 5GB of space free, but you can pay to get as much as 1TB for a single user. That also includes an Office 365 subscription. Depending on your needs, that might be a good deal. That does not necessarily mean you want to be made aware of said deal while browsing your files.
The ad appears as a banner at the top of File Explorer, reminding you that OneDrive and Office 365 can be had for a mere $6.99 per month. You can take Microsoft up on the offer or dismiss it. It may just reappear at a later date, though. Some users reported seeing this a few months ago, but the incidence has ticked upward in the last week or so. This is not the first time Microsoft has crammed ads into the Windows UI — there are the lock screen ads disguised as backgrounds, notification ads for Edge, and a strange pop-up ad for Microsoft’s personal shopping assistant in Chrome.
The OneDrive advert in File Explorer is much less subtle than some of Microsoft’s past Windows promotions. It’s also not controlled by the same option as other ads in Windows 10. If you want to disable this pop-up, go to View > Options in File Explorer. Scroll down and turn off the option for “Show sync provider notifications.” The drawback here is that you won’t see any sync provider notifications, but if you don’t use OneDrive, it shouldn’t be an issue.
It’s odd that Microsoft has suddenly become so enamored with ads in Windows 10. Maybe it assumed we’ve all become so accustomed to ads on the internet that a few more in the OS won’t bother us. However, people pay for Windows. Even if you got a free upgrade, you’ve probably paid for at least one Windows license on your PC. Putting ads on it seems mighty shady, Microsoft.
Kelvin Alexander
