GoKawiilMicrosoft spent four years stuffing Windows 11 with ads, forced Copilot integrations, and bloatware, now they want applause for promising to remove it.
Microsoft just announced a 7-point plan to fix Windows 11, and the tech press is treating it like a redemption arc. Pavan Davuluri, the Windows president, admitted in January 2026 that "Windows 11 had gone off track" and said Microsoft was entering a mode called "swarming" where engineers would be pulled off new features to fix existing problems.
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I saw this headline and my first thought was: it's like being in an abusive relationship. They beat you, then show up with flowers saying they've changed. And everyone around you says "see, they're getting better." But the bruises are still there and the apology only covers the hits people noticed.
I want to walk through what Microsoft actually did to Windows 11 over the past four years, because this "fix" announcement only makes sense when you see the full damage list and realize that the worst offenses aren't even part of the repair plan.
microsoft_abuse_timeline.log click to replay
The Copilot invasion started September 26, 2023, when Microsoft pushed their AI chatbot into Windows 11 ahead of the formal 23H2 release. The icon appeared between your Start menu and system tray, you couldn't move it, you couldn't remove it through normal settings, and it hijacked the Win+C keyboard shortcut. Over the next two years, Copilot buttons metastasized into Snipping Tool, Photos, Notepad, Widgets, File Explorer context menus, Start menu search, and system Settings. Microsoft even planned to force-install the Microsoft 365 Copilot app directly onto Start menus of "eligible PCs." The new plan promises to remove all of that. They want credit for pulling their hand out of your pocket.
23H2 release
On April 24, 2024, Microsoft shipped update KB5036980, which injected advertisements into the Windows 11 Start menu's "Recommended" section. These showed up labeled "Promoted" and pushed apps like Opera browser and some password manager nobody asked for. And the Start menu was just one surface, they also placed ads on the lock screen, in the Settings homepage hawking Game Pass subscriptions, inside File Explorer pushing OneDrive, and through "tip" notifications that were thinly veiled product pitches. The "fix" promises "fewer ads." Fewer. The operating system you paid $139 for at retail should have exactly zero ads, and the fact that "fewer" is supposed to impress anyone shows how thoroughly Microsoft has lowered the bar.
KB5036980
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