In a move that surprises no one, Microsoft continues to annoy its users with more pop-up windows that present various offers and subscriptions that users didn’t ask for. Most recently, Windows 11 is once again urging (or more like nagging) users to use OneDrive as an online storage and backup medium, reports Windows Latest.
Windows 11 displays a prominent notice in the Start menu that reads: “Action advised — back up your PC.” It’s preceded by an exclamation mark with a yellow background, implying a warning of sorts, and it also says Microsoft just wants to ensure that you always have access to your files, apps, settings, and passwords via these cloud backups.
If you click on “Continue,” you’re taken to the OneDrive-based Windows backup. You can also close the window by clicking on the X in the top right-hand corner. In any case, this is a very intrusive method of encouraging Windows 11 users to use OneDrive, and it’s presented in a way that gives the impression that there’s a problem when in reality it’s no more than an ad for another Microsoft product. Windows Latest found no way to permanently disable the annoying notice.
This is all the more annoying because OneDrive is only free up to a maximum of 5GB of storage. If you need more storage space, you have to pay for it with a Microsoft 365 subscription. Plans start at $1.99/month or $19.99/year for Microsoft 365 Basic, which offers 100GB of storage. Going up to Microsoft 365 Personal for $9.99/month or $99.99/year gives you 1TB of storage and access to the desktop apps for Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
Windows 11 shows the notice once and then hides it again as long as you are not using OneDrive—unless you’re in the EU, in which case you’re currently spared of the nagging ad. Current EU regulations prevent Microsoft from advertising OneDrive in this way, but it remains to be seen whether Microsoft will find other ways of advertising OneDrive and Microsoft 365 subscriptions to users in the EU.
Further reading: How to disable Windows 11’s most annoying ads
This article originally appeared on our sister publication PC-WELT and was translated and localized from German.
