An ad for Microsoft 365, full screen advertising, is preventing access to the Windows 10 desktop to an indeterminate number of users. The screen is displayed after performing clean installs or installing feature updates and is included in the program Windows Out of Box Experience (OOBE), which is far from the best experience.
The Redmond boys continue to do their thing… We are not saying anything new when we say that Microsoft uses the huge market share of Windows to promote its own services. We see it in the Windows installations themselves, full of Bloatware, or when opting for alternative applications such as changing the browser in Windows 11. Not to mention the obsession for users to migrate to Windows 11 from Windows 10, whether they want to or not. they don’t want, with the use of “dark patterns” included as we saw last week.
The Microsoft 365 announcement
Let’s face it, many Windows users religiously pay for a Microsoft 365 subscription, considering it the best option in online productivity suites. And of course, Microsoft has the right to advertise it. But not by bothering your Windows users, much less by blocking access to the operating system.
And hope there is more. Different variations of these ads have been reported, but there is one particularly troublesome one posted by a user on Reddit. Its titled “Access Granted: We’re Offering You a Free Trial of Microsoft 365 Family” and as you will see, it includes two buttons “Try for free” and “No, thanks”.
It turns out that the function of each of the buttons is completely different from what its name indicates and if you click on “No thanks” (which should cancel this advertisement and go directly to the desktop) it takes you to a test and purchase screen the subscription to the suite. There you have to leave your credit card and although it is free for a certain time they will charge you 100 dollars if you forget to cancel it. It’s hard to believe that a company like Microsoft has mistakenly changed the behavior of the buttons…
Solutions to prevent it (or try)
There is a general way to avoid all this advertising and its problems when you have to perform a clean installation of Windows 10 or 11. Simply disconnect from the internet during the installation process and choose a local account and not a Microsoft ID.
Another recommended option is to manage the options present in Settings> System> Notifications, disabling them, both from Microsoft and from other senders, especially the Windows “welcome experience”.
All this is avoidable by suspending this type of advertising “welcome” that the company uses in a perverse way to promote its services. Microsoft 365 is a fantastic suite that doesn’t need to be bothering users, let alone crashing the system.
