These are the 6 places where Windows 11 shows the most ads: this is how you deactivate them

As you surely know by now, Microsoft is no longer releasing improvements, optimizations or new features for Windows 10. Until October 14, 2025, the company only offers bug and vulnerability fixes for this operating system.

This is a mechanism to force users to move to their new operating system. Windows 11 adds new features, some more or less controversial, such as Copilot+, a set of AI tools. Furthermore, this operating system is more invasive, showing a greater amount of spam, which can be disabled.

Turn off the “Let’s finish setting up your PC”

Said assistant appears occasionally and is quite tiring. There is no button that allows you to exit this message, it only allows you to indicate “Remind me later.” In a few days this message will appear again and you will have to repeat the operation. Something that not many people know is that you can eliminate this wizard in the following way:

1. Press the “Win ​​+ i” key combination, which opens “Settings.”
2. Within the left bar of the window we must click on “System”.
3. Now, you must access the “Notifications” section.
4. Scroll down to the bottom and click on “Additional settings”.
5. In the expanded menu, turn off “Suggest ways to get the most out of Windows and finish setting up this device.”

Now, this tired assistant should no longer appear to you. Of course, Microsoft has carefully hidden it.

No ads on lock screen

A new feature of Windows 11 is that the lock screen now shows ads. You can remove us or “turn them off” as follows:

1. You have to access the desktop
2. Right click on any part of the “blank” desktop.
3. Within the context menu we click on “Customize”.
4. We look in the “Personalization” window for the “Lock Screen” option and access it.
5. We select the “Image” or “Slide Show” option. The “Windows Spotlight” option always shows ads, the other two do not.
6. Now, in the expanded menu, we need to uncheck the “Get fun facts, tips, tricks, and more on your lock screen” box.

After performing this action, no ads should be displayed on the lock screen.

Disable taskbar widgets

There is nothing I hate more than the damn widgets that appear in Windows 11 and that drive me crazy. If it happens to you like me, you can get rid of them all in one fell swoop as follows:

1. Right click on the Windows taskbar.
2. Now, we have to click on “Taskbar settings”.
3. In the “Taskbar Elements” section we must click on “Deactivate” the “Widgets” button.

All annoying Windows 11 widgets are now disabled. If you want in the future you can reverse this action, that depends exclusively on you.

Remove search highlights

If you click on the Windows search engine, featured searches appear on the right. If you don’t want these elements to appear, which are usually quite irrelevant and useless, you can delete them. To do so follow these steps:

1. Click on the Windows search engine to open it.
2. Click on the three dots that appear in the upper right corner.
3. Inside, you must click on the “Search Settings” option.
4. Scroll down until you find “Web Search”.
5. Click on the switch to turn off this function.

You now have a much cleaner search panel, without the irrelevant suggestions that Microsoft shows.

Turn off web searches in Windows Search

Something that Windows does when you use the operating system’s search function is give you internet search options. If you only want to search for applications, folders or files on the system, you will surely want to turn off this function. To do so, you must follow these steps:

1. Press the “Win+R” key combination to open the Run dialog box.
2. Type gpedit.msc and then click OK.
3. Follow the following route:
   1. User configuration.
   2. Administrative templates.
   3. Windows components.
   4. File Explorer.
4. Once inside, sort it by name by clicking on “Settings”.
5. Now, look for the option “Turn off displaying recent search entries in the File Explorer search box”
6. A new window opens and we must mark the “Disabled” option.
7. Press “Apply” and “OK” to finish the process.
8. Restart the computer.

When you perform a search within Windows Search, it will no longer show you internet suggestions.

Remove startup applications

Startup applications are those that are determined “basic” and that start automatically when we start Windows. You have the option to see what these applications are and deactivate all of them or simply those that you consider useless. To do so follow these steps:

1. Right click on the Windows taskbar.
2. Now click on the “Task Manager” option.
3. You will see in the left column the option “Startup Applications”, which is where you should enter.
4. A list of all the applications that start as soon as Windows starts will appear.
5. Click on the one you want and then click on “Disable” which is on the right in the top bar.

I recommend not deactivating those that have to do with drivers such as audio or video drivers. If you have any lighting management software or hardware and/or peripheral management application, you should also leave it.