Key Takeaways
- Microsoft is showing invasive full-screen Windows 11 upgrade ads on Windows 10 PCs in the middle of work.
- Users are unhappy with the inability to stop ads without upgrading, as the only option is to click “Remind me later”.
- Windows 10 end-of-life support is in October next year.
Microsoft is notorious for showing advertisements on many of its popular apps and services. While it’s a common practice tech firms follow, the Redmond tech firm is widely criticized for pushing things down to people’s throats. In a recent development, Microsoft went beyond showing ads for apps in the Windows 11 Start Menu and has started showing full-screen Windows 11 upgrade advertisements on Windows 10 PC screens in the middle of work, causing a major disruption in users’ workflow.
Microsoft’s Windows 11 upgrade ads, taking the entire screen space, were first brought to people’s attention by Woopinah9 on Reddit. The user claimed to have received a full-screen pop-up advertisement, containing information about the end of support date for Windows 10 and some uplifting words to switch to Windows 11, all while the person was working on something important.
You can’t stop Microsoft from showing the Windows 11 upgrade ads
If getting asked by Microsoft to upgrade to Windows 11 in the middle of work wasn’t bad enough, there is no way to tell the company not to show those pop-ups on your PCs again, other than to switch to Windows 11. For those who don’t want to upgrade, you can make it disappear from your screen by clicking the Remind me later button at the bottom of the page. Long story short, if you don’t upgrade to Windows 11, the only way to get rid of those annoying pop-ups is by granting Microsoft permission to show it again some other time.
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Why is Microsoft showing upgrade ads to Windows 11 on Windows 10 PCs?
In Microsoft’s defense, the company is simply making people aware of the Windows 10 end-of-life support date, on October 14, 2025, and informing them about what happens if they choose to stick with it beyond the support date. However, Microsoft is drawing a lot of flak not because of notifying users about the date, but because of how it’s displaying the ads.
What happens if you don’t upgrade to Windows 11?
If you don’t update your Windows 10 PC even after October 14 next year, Microsoft will stop pushing fixes and security updates, making your system more vulnerable to various kinds of threats. You can opt for Windows 10 Extended Security Updates (ESU) to continue receiving those updates without installing Windows 11, but you’ll have to pay to get an ESU license.
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