The script looks something like this. It's written from memory and I don't have a Windows machine nearby to test it, but it's better than nothing.
$path = %windir%\systemapps\microsoft.windows.startmenuexperiencehost*
get-process *startmenuexperiencehost* | stop-process -force
takeown /f $path /r /d y
icacls $path /grant "${env:UserName}:F" /inheritance:d /t /c
rm -recursive -force $pathhttps://www.howtogeek.com/224159/how-to-disable-bing-in-the-...
I already had disabled Cortana, if not also create CortanaConsent dword with value 0
I agree that a lot of Win10 defaults are derpy. But just tune it a bit and its reasonably power user friendly. Maybe not what you want to support personally, but sufficient for professional use.
Like I said, maybe not the crap you want to put up with in your personal life, but as a professional tool... worth tweaking to suit your needs.
(Oh, and in a full professional environment, can also be set by group policy)
Though as Hanlon's Razer said: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."
Part of me wants Microsoft to be so evil they have deliberately made the start menu search so impossibly poor that you end up opening a web search half the time and making them money. But I know deep down, that they are just incompetent and can't be bothered with the desktop anymore.
Yes, but: "Sufficiently advanced stupidity is indistinguishable from malice"
FWIW on a Windows PC, Windows Spotlight shows me nature and city photos with a bit of info about the place. I think I've seen a game wallpaper maybe once in all the time that PC's run Windows 10. It was pretty (some sort of anime-style game?) and not exactly a typical ad.
Looking at Google Images, looks like most of these 'game ads' are similar -- but I can understand how they can be annoying if you aren't a gamer.
If memory serves, I removed them and moved on with my day. Think the occasional big update will add a new one, but then you remove it as well and you're good for a while.
That's interesting though. I game heavily on my Windows 10 instance. Most web browsing is gaming related and this is done in Edge as well. All I get are the scenic/animal lock screen images. Really wish they'd get some images that support 3440x1440 because it looks pretty rough (Windows Store looks even worse).
I run Windows 10 (pro) with nearly all the default settings. It took me a while to even realize what these "ads" were that people were complaining about. A free game that gets included with the OS! That's it.
The quality of image and curation is surprising
Problem solved. It is a shame that the default is so garbage but there's an easy solution.
Not only do they install, but they immediately fill the start menu tiles with this spam.
Office 365 that is interesting because on a clean install, I still had to go to office.com to install it. I didn't have icons for Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc. and certainly not the GBs of data already consumed by it. I'm looking at my work machine at the moment and it has an "Office" tile that I can sign in and use the web versions, but it doesn't appear to be a full Office install.
E.g., googling turns this up: https://www.howtogeek.com/243263/how-to-disable-ads-on-your-...
But as I mentioned in my other comment, for me it's been literally once and I leave 'Windows Spotlight' on, because I like the random city/nature photos it shows.