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Recently, we have covered some of the popular third-party utilities that help enthusiasts shape Windows to their will.
For example, Wintoys recently got a slew of updates and the most recent release has some changes related to the SYSTEM account. The other previous updates also had bug fixes related to the UX and UI of the app. You can find all the details in this dedicated article.
Another popular third-party tool which lets users automate debloated Windows images is tiny11 builder. The app’s latest update now adds support for ESD files in addition to WIM.
Following this, yesterday, Winpilot has also received a new update and with the latest version, the says the aim is to remove ads on Windows 11 with a few toggles. The latest update also relies on the same principle that Winpilot works on, to make it easy to remove such bloat, similar to how the previous versions have done so for AI-related bloatware.
In the release notes section of the update, the developer explains what prompted them to make the change:
Winpilot 2024.5.5 Adblock
Adblock for the Windows 11 UI now integrated into Winpilot. Sounds strange, but it’s also unfortunately a strange development on @Microsoft’s part.https://t.co/LrKCWINsLl#winpilot #Windows11 #Ads #adblock #clippy pic.twitter.com/0b1cvtSa5F
— Belim (@builtbybel) May 3, 2024
Seems like we’re all getting tired and annoyed by the new advertising on the Windows 11 UI, right? That’s why Winpilot is introducing a new feature/plugin called Adblock for Windows. It focuses solely on removing ads from the Windows 11 UI. Special thanks to elevenforum for the inspiration!
In the best-case scenario, everything should look like this. All toggles are set to 0/disabled
You can download it from its GitHub page if you want to try it out. As always, do bear in mind that this is a third-party software which may adversely affect your system too.
If you haven’t been following, Microsoft started stuffing more ads in the Windows 11 Start menu recently and even seemingly outright admitting later that “ads” are indeed a part of the Start menu development now.
The poor Start menu performance led an ex-Microsoft engineer to criticize it for the “comically bad” performance, and another one, a former Windows UX head, indirectly took a bit of a sarcastic dig at the decision.