Recently, we covered some of the popular third-party utilities that help hobbyists customize Windows to their liking.
For example, Wintoys has recently received a bunch of updates and the latest release has some changes related to the SYSTEM account. The other previous updates also have bug fixes related to the app’s UX and UI. You can find all the details in this dedicated article.
Another popular third-party tool that allows users to automate promiscuous Windows images is tiny11 Builder. The latest app update now adds support for ESD files in addition to WIM.
Following this, yesterday, Winpilot also received a new update and with the latest version, it is said that the aim is to remove ads in Windows 11 with some changes. The latest update also relies on the same principle that Winpilot works on, to make it easier to remove such bloat, similar to how previous versions did for AI-related bloatware.
In the version notes section of the update, the developer explains what motivated them to make the change:
Winpilot 2024.5.5 Adblock
Adblock for Windows 11 UI is now integrated into Winpilot. Sounds weird, but unfortunately it’s also a weird development from @Microsoft.https://t.co/LrKCWINsLl#winpilot #Windows11 #Ads #adblock #clippy pic.twitter.com/0b1cvtSa5F
— Belim (@builtbybel) May 3, 2024
We all seem to be getting sick and tired of the new Windows 11 user interface advertising, right? That’s why Winpilot introduces a new feature/plugin called Adblock for Windows. It focuses solely on removing Windows 11 UI ads. Special thanks to elevenforum for the inspiration!
At best, everything should look like this. All switches are set to 0/disabled
You can download it from his GitHub Page If you want to try it.
If you haven’t been following along, Microsoft started stuffing more ads into the Windows 11 Start Menu recently and even seemingly outright admitted later that “ads” are indeed part of the Start Menu development now.
The start menu’s poor performance led one former Microsoft engineer to criticize it for its “comedically poor” performance, and another, the former head of Windows UX, indirectly took a bit of a sarcastic dig at the decision.