Microsoft seems determined to include ads wherever it can in Windows 11, and the latest test sees them appear in File Explorer.
The ads were spotted by Twitter user @flobo09 (Florian), who has access to the latest Windows 11 Insider build (22572) and posted a screenshot of how the ad appears in File Explorer.
As you can see, a bar pops-up above the list of files in Explorer and includes a "Learn more" button, which no doubt triggers Microsoft Edge to load and a promotional page displayed for Microsoft Editor in this case. As Thurrot reports, Florian is already a user of Microsoft Editor, which made this ad appearing rather pointless.
Microsoft included similar ads in Windows 10, but thankfully you could turn them off. So it therefore seems likely this experiment in Windows 11 will end up making its way into final builds eventually. Will we still be able to turn them off, though?
For a company so focused on getting its carbon footprint to zero, serving ads to millions of Windows 11 installations make little sense, and is there a single Windows user out there who wants this? If there is, I have yet to meet them.