Ads aren’t particularly a new phenomenon across Microsoft’s products and services. Last year, during build 2022, the company incorporated ads and promos to the Microsoft Store with the aim of expanding the developers’ reach allowing them to connect to a wider audience and establish connections.
There was also a time when Microsoft started showing ads for Microsoft 365 to Office 2021 users that featured discounts for Microsoft 365 Family plan subscriptions. And most recently, some users lodged complaints highlighting that ads were appearing in Windows 11’s sign-out menu.
While the incorporation of ads across the company’s products and services has not gotten a positive reception, it seems that they are still lurking. As spotted by whatsurissuebro on Reddit, Microsoft is now displaying a full-screen Microsoft 365 Family trial ad. The user was using a device running on Windows 10 and this occurrence transpired during the out-of-box experience (OOBE).
The user further indicated:
Windows 10 preventing me from booting into desktop without first non-consensually being forced to accept their free trial and $100 monthly thereafter (obviously I cancelled after but WTF Microsoft),
Per the image shared by the Redditor, Microsoft gives you two options when this ad pops up. You can either opt to select the Try for free alternative or No, thanks. While you’d expect to close the ad by selecting the latter, this is however not the case, instead, the user is reportedly redirected to a payment confirmation page.
Once you get to this stage, you apparently have no other option other than selecting the option Start trial, buy later. There’s currently no way to avoid these ads, however, you can key in your card information and then cancel your subscription via your Microsoft account.
The subscription will cost you $99.99 per month in case you decide to continue using the services after the trial period lapses. This may be just a bug, but to avoid such an occurrence you may want to disconnect your internet connection while going through OOBE.
In other related news, we saw Microsoft indicate there were plans to introduce cost-effective PCs, but with a slight twist, they’ll be powered by Windows 365 cloud computing and ads.
Do you embrace Microsoft’s incorporation of ads across its services and products? Share your thoughts with us in the comment section.
via: BleepingComputer
