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Category: Home Tech Topic: Privacy & Security Type: Guide

How to Turn Off Personalized Ads and App Tracking in Windows 11

Windows, Microsoft accounts, Edge, applications, and websites have separate personalization controls. Turning off one advertising switch does not disable every other tracking or recommendation system.

Updated 4 min read Researched Not hands-on tested

What to know

  • Windows, Microsoft accounts, Edge, applications, and websites have separate personalization controls. Turning off one advertising switch does not disable every other tracking or recommendation system.
  • Turn off the Windows advertising ID, launch tracking, suggested content, tailored experiences, Microsoft-account personalization, and browser-level advertising separately.

Open:

Settings → Privacy & security → General

Turn off:

  • Let apps show me personalized ads by using my advertising ID
  • Let websites show me locally relevant content by accessing my language list
  • Let Windows improve Start and search results by tracking app launches
  • Show me suggested content in the Settings app

Turning off the advertising ID does not remove advertisements. It limits use of that identifier for personalization.

Turn off the Windows advertising ID

The advertising ID is a per-user Windows identifier that applications can use for advertising and analytics.

Set:

Let apps show me personalized ads by using my advertising ID → Off

Turning it off prevents applications from using the ID for personalized advertising. Turning it on again can generate a new identifier.

This does not stop an application from using its own account identifier, cookies, device information, purchases, IP address, or information collected outside Windows.

Review the application’s privacy controls separately.

Turn off application-launch tracking

Set:

Let Windows improve Start and search results by tracking app launches → Off

This reduces personalization based on which applications are opened.

It does not erase browser history, application account history, recent-file lists, search-provider history, or cloud activity.

Turn off suggestions and offers

Set:

Show me suggested content in the Settings app → Off

Then open:

Settings → Privacy & security → Recommendations & offers

Review every available switch.

Windows has separated some recommendation, notification, and promotional controls into this page in current builds. Menu names can vary as releases continue their sacred tradition of relocating privacy settings.

Disable tailored experiences

Open:

Settings → Privacy & security → Diagnostics & feedback

Turn off:

Tailored experiences

This controls use of diagnostic information for personalized tips, advertisements, and recommendations.

Required diagnostic data remains subject to Windows configuration and organization policy. Turning off tailored experiences does not necessarily disable every optional diagnostic-data setting.

Review Microsoft-account advertising settings

Windows settings apply to the device. Microsoft-account personalization can operate across Microsoft services.

Open Microsoft’s privacy dashboard and advertising controls while signed into the correct account.

Review:

  • Personalized advertisements
  • Search activity
  • Browsing activity
  • Location activity
  • Application and service activity
  • Other stored categories

Opting out changes relevance rather than the total number of ads shown.

Repeat the review for every Microsoft account used by the household.

Review Edge separately

Edge can use browsing activity for personalized advertising, recommendations, shopping, and Microsoft experiences.

Review:

  • Personalization and advertising
  • Browsing-data sharing
  • Tracking prevention
  • Cookies
  • Shopping features
  • Search suggestions
  • Microsoft account synchronization

Disabling the Windows advertising ID does not remove website cookies from Edge, Chrome, Firefox, or another browser.

Review every browser profile

For each browser profile:

  1. Clear unwanted cookies.
  2. Review site permissions.
  3. Disable third-party cookies where appropriate.
  4. Review synchronized activity.
  5. Remove unused extensions.
  6. Check the search-provider account.
  7. Review advertising settings for signed-in services.

Private browsing limits what the browser saves locally during that session. It does not make the user anonymous to websites, providers, employers, or account services.

Review application permissions

Open:

Settings → Privacy & security

Review access to:

  • Location
  • Camera
  • Microphone
  • Contacts
  • Calendar
  • Notifications
  • Files
  • Account information

Advertising personalization and access to sensitive device capabilities are separate questions.

Managed computers

Work or school policy can disable controls, enforce diagnostic collection, configure Edge, install managed applications, and apply organization-specific retention.

Do not bypass administrative settings. Ask the organization what data is collected and retained.

Bottom line

Turn off the Windows advertising ID, launch tracking, suggested content, tailored experiences, Microsoft-account personalization, and browser-level advertising separately.

There is no master switch because every layer independently discovered that your behavior is commercially fascinating.

Sources reviewed

Limits and cautions

  • Not hands-on tested
Sources reviewed

Source notes

  1. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/general-privacy-settings-in-windows-7c7f385e-1e84-1fd0-a2c2-25b38d5c9978support.microsoft.com
  2. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/diagnostics-feedback-and-privacy-in-windows-28808a2b-a31b-dd73-dcd3-4559a5199319support.microsoft.com
  3. https://account.microsoft.com/privacy/ad-settings/account.microsoft.com

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