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Windows 11 Promotional Suggestions: Why They Appear and How to Turn Them Off

By Freedom251 Team · · 4 min read

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Windows 11 shows promotional suggestions because its Personalized offers feature can use Windows activity and diagnostic data, Microsoft account information, and data from other Microsoft products and services to tailor tips, ads, and recommendations. To turn off those personalized Windows offers, go to Settings > Privacy & security > Personalized offers and switch off Get personalized tips, ads, and recommendations based on my Windows activity. The advertising ID is a separate control, so turning it off does not disable these Settings suggestions.

What Windows 11 means by promotional suggestions

Microsoft describes Personalized offers as tips for customizing or optimizing Windows, along with ads and recommendations for Microsoft and third-party products, services, features, apps, and hardware. That can make a message in Settings look like a sales pitch even when it is presented as a suggestion.

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Microsoft’s examples include a Microsoft Store streaming-app recommendation and a suggestion involving OneDrive or storage hardware when a drive is low on space. These are examples of content Windows might show; they do not establish that you need the suggested product or service. Microsoft says most promotions on Windows surfaces are for its own products and services, while those surfaces have user controls (Microsoft DMA Compliance Report: Windows Section 2 Annex).

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What data can personalize the offers

When Personalized offers is on, Microsoft says Windows may use required diagnostic data, including information about device settings, capabilities, and performance. If you have chosen to share optional diagnostic data, it may also use app and feature usage and additional device-health information.

Personalization may also draw on Microsoft account and cross-product information. Microsoft lists Edge web activity when you have granted the relevant permission, Bing and Microsoft 365 usage, subscription and purchase history, and data shared from third-party websites. Microsoft says some personalization can happen locally on your device. The data used therefore depends in part on your diagnostic-data choices, account activity, and granted permissions (Microsoft Support: Privacy settings for Recommendations & offers in Windows 11).

Turn off Personalized offers in Windows 11

  1. Open Start > Settings.
  2. Select Privacy & security > Personalized offers.
  3. Turn off Get personalized tips, ads, and recommendations based on my Windows activity.

This is the Windows control for personalized tips, ads, and recommendations. Microsoft notes that the page name and navigation may differ on installations that have not received the relevant update.

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Why your privacy page may say General or Recommendations & offers

Windows 11’s privacy navigation has changed over time. Microsoft Support says, “The General privacy settings page is being replaced by the Recommendations & offers privacy settings page in more recent versions of Windows 11.” An installation that has not received the relevant update may still show General.

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If your device still has the older General page, Microsoft identifies Show me suggested content in the Settings app as the setting for suggested content in Settings. Use the label actually present on your device rather than expecting every Windows 11 installation to show the same page (Microsoft Support: General privacy settings in Windows).

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Personalized offers and advertising ID are different controls

The Windows advertising ID is an identifier that apps using it can use for personalized advertising. It is not the switch for offers shown in Windows Settings. Microsoft states that turning the advertising ID off “will not reduce the number of ads you see, but it may mean that ads are less interesting and relevant to you.”

Control What it affects Scope and effect
Personalized offers Windows tips, offers, ads, and recommendations personalized using Windows activity and other eligible data. Windows; Microsoft says contextual messages may still appear after it is off.
Advertising ID Personalized advertising in Windows apps that use the identifier. Does not control website-cookie advertising or every advertising method, and switching it off does not reduce the number of ads.

If you have disabled the advertising ID but still see a suggestion in Settings, that alone does not mean the ID setting failed. To turn off personalized Windows offers, use the Personalized offers control. The advertising ID setting does not govern ads in third-party products with their own privacy policies (Microsoft Support: Privacy settings for Recommendations & offers in Windows 11).

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What can still appear after you turn offers off

Turning off Personalized offers is not a guarantee that every message or promotion disappears. Microsoft’s Privacy Statement says contextual device data and some basic account data may still be used to show appropriate messaging in Windows, with language and age-appropriate content given as examples. The setting also does not control offers in other Microsoft products.

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More broadly, opting out of personalized advertising does not mean ads disappear; Microsoft says ads may continue but be less relevant. The practical distinction is reduced personalization, not an ad-free experience (Microsoft Privacy Statement).

What Microsoft reported for the EEA

Microsoft’s Windows DMA consumer-profiling report says that, as of 31 December 2024, it did not engage in consumer profiling in Windows in the European Economic Area. The report also says Microsoft began gradually replacing the prior Tailored Experiences consent with a Personalized Offers consent on EEA PCs in November 2024. This is a dated, region-specific statement from Microsoft’s own regulatory filing; it should not be read as a current worldwide description (Microsoft DMA Consumer Profiling Report: Windows Section 2 Annex).

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Personalized offersWindows 11Windows privacyWindows Settings

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