One of the reasons I like using a Mac most of the time, despite enjoying my Lenovo Yoga Pro 7i, is because you don’t get nagged with offers and upgrades and even ads that Microsoft PCs seem to bombard you with, especially right after you set up a new computer. I sought and found ways around most of the annoying, nagging prompts from Microsoft to help make my PC feel less like a software sales tool for Microsoft and more like my personal machine.
Whether the taskbar widgets that lead you to consume content on MSN, or the nags to use Copilot, or that never-ending “Let’s finish setting up your PC wizard”, we can make the experience much less annoying.
Here are the steps I took to stop my PC from pushing so many Microsoft services.
That “Let’s finish setting up your PC” wizard
No thanks, never again
This has happened to all of us — you get a new PC and Windows hits you with the full-screen “finish setting up your PC” wizard that doesn’t seem to go away for a very long time. Here’s how to end that.
To stop this, go to Settings > System > Notifications > Additional settings > uncheck all items, like “Suggest ways to get the most out of Windows” or “Get tips and suggestions when using Windows.”
Good try, Microsoft
By default, Microsoft puts Bing search results in your Start menu search (and will soon add a sytem toggle to disable it), which is not only distracting, but annoying. You can clean up your Start menu and stop the Bing search results with a simple registry tweak.
First, press Windows + R to open Run and type “regedit”. If you get a warning, just press yes.
Then do the following:
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Go to this path manually or by pasting this into the top address bar:
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwarePoliciesMicrosoftWindows - Look for Explorer under the Windows folder.
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If Explorer is not there (it wasn’t for me), you can add it by right-clicking an empty space, then go to New > DWORD (32-bit) value and name it:
DisableSearchBoxSuggestions -
Double-click on the new
DisableSearchBoxSuggestionsentry, and change the value data to1, then click OK.
Once you do that, you can reboot your PC and the search results will be gone from the Start menu.
Don’t make any other changes to your registry than the tweak mentioned above, or you could cause harm to your PC.
I don’t need suggested content
I’m just not interested in offers and recommendations
Another place you’ll get bugged by Microsoft is through the bevy of personalized offers where Microsoft analyzes your usage patterns for marketing purposes, like to target suggestions in the Microsoft Store or prompts to upgrade cloud storage.
To do this, just open Settings and go to Privacy & Security > Recommendations & offers. I turn off the following: Personalized offers (which will customize ads based on your usage and in some cases prompt you to buy more OneDrive storage or offer trial deals for Microsoft 365), and Recommendations and offers in Settings (which can trigger nudges from Microsoft to set up Game Pass, Windows Backup, and other Microsoft services).
They add clutter and use system resources
Microsoft has tried to bring us desktop widgets before, most famously with Windows Vista with “gadgets” directly in the sidebar of the desktop. Most people didn’t like that, and in Windows 10 they tried again with News and Interest, which is a persistent ticker that lives in the taskbar by default, often showing you the weather that when clicked will reveal your full widget panel which will display sports scores, news, and other information. Then in Windows 11, we got the full widget board, though some people use a third party tool to turn your desktop into a full widget dashboard. These widgets add distraction and use system resources in the background.
The truth is that most of the content in widgets is just a conduit to Microsoft’s MSN service, which lets them generate ad revenue from this feed of content that lives in your taskbar. And while there are actually helpful third party widgets available, like from Spotify and Facebook, I think it’s best to just turn off taskbar widgets entirely and stop the nagging from Microsoft.
Doing this is easy. Just right-click the taskbar > Taskbar Settings > uncheck Widgets.
Uninstall Copilot
Not interested
Microsoft’s Copilot AI can be an unwelcome guest when it nags you to set it up. I personally use other AIs like Claude and I don’t appreciate Microsoft pushing Copilot on me at every opportunity. So, you can uninstall it (just go to Settings > Apps > Installed Apps > Copilot > three dots > Uninstall). If you don’t see Copilot listed in the apps list, it might be integrated into your build of Windows.
Also remove the icon from the system tray
If you want to keep Copilot but remove the persistent taskbar icon, if you have one, you can do that by going to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Other system tray icons > uncheck Copilot.
Cut down on the noise
After making these changes, my Lenovo laptop feels a lot less cluttered. I have to say the most impactful changes have been the first two mentioned above—disabling Bing search results and stopping the “let’s finish setting up your PC” nudge.