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To the surprise of no one, the Chicago Bears selected quarterback Caleb Williams from USC with the first pick of the 2024 NFL Draft. Two other quarterbacks followed in the next two picks, with Jayden Daniels from LSU going to the Washington Commanders and North Carolina’s Drake Maye going to the New England Patriots. Six quarterbacks went in the first 12 picks, with the most shocking being the Atlanta Falcons selecting Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 pick, after signing veteran QB Kirk Cousins last month.

More players will find their NFL homes tonight when the NFL Draft resumes with rounds 2 and 3 at 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT). Here’s everything you need to know to watch all the action without cable.

How can I watch the NFL draft live?

Watch live for free: ABC is airing all three days of the draft. If you have an over-the-air antenna hooked up to your TV and get your local ABC station, you can watch for free.

Subscription options: The NFL draft will be broadcast on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and NFL Network. There will also be a livestream on the WatchESPN app or the NFL Mobile app (or ESPN.com or NFL.com). One caveat: You will need to prove you have a TV subscription (from a cable or satellite provider or live TV streaming service) that includes ESPN or the NFL Network in order to watch live on either app.

Cable TV cord-cutters have a number of options for watching the draft via a live TV streaming service, detailed below.

When does the NFL draft start?

The NFL draft continues this evening on ABC, ESPN2 and NFL Network. Here’s the TV schedule (all times ET):

Friday, April 26

• Rounds 2 and 3: 7 to 11:30 p.m. on ABC, ESPN2 and NFL Network.

Saturday, April 27

• Rounds 4 to 7: Noon to 7 p.m. on ABC, ESPN and NFL Network.

On ESPN, Mike Greenberg will serve as host for the first two nights of the draft alongside Mel Kiper Jr., Louis Riddick, Booger McFarland, Adam Schefter and Molly McGrath.

On ABC, Rece Davis will host with Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard and Field Yates from one set, and Sam Ponder and Robert Griffin III reporting from another set. For Day 3 of the draft on Saturday, ABC and ESPN will combine forces with Davis, Kiper, Riddick and Yates covering rounds 4 through 7.

On the NFL Network, Rich Eisen will lead coverage featuring Daniel Jeremiah, Charles Davis, Kurt Warner, Joel Klatt and Ian Rapoport.

What’s the draft order for the second round?

After 32 players came off the board in the first round last night, the Bills are on the clock and pick first tonight with the 33rd overall selection. Here’s the draft order for the first 10 picks in round 2:

33. Buffalo Bills (from Carolina)
34. New England Patriots
35. Arizona Cardinals
36. Washington Commanders
37. Los Angeles Chargers
38. Tennessee Titans
39. Carolina Panthers (from NY Giants)
40. Washington Commanders (from Chicago)
41. Green Bay Packers (from NY Jets)
42. Houston Texans (from Minnesota)

You can track all of the picks with ESPN’s DraftCast.

What are the draft grades so far?

The Bears earned high marks for selecting Caleb Williams with the first overall pick and then pairing him with receiver Rome Odunze from Washington, who they got with the ninth pick. The draft’s other top pass catchers also earned their new teams top grades, including the Cardinals picking Marvin Harrison Jr. from Ohio State with the fourth pick, the Giants selecting Malik Nabers from LSU with the sixth pick and the Las Vegas Raiders nabbing tight end Brock Bowers from Georgia with the 13th pick.

The draft’s first defensive player wasn’t taken until edge rusher Laiatu Latu from UCLA went to the Colts with the 15th pick, a pick that was generally graded positively.

Both the Falcons’ choice of Penix Jr. with the eighth pick and the Broncos opting for Bo Nix from Oregon four selections later received poor marks, with most draft experts considering each pick a reach.

For more, check out the first-round grades from The Ringer, PFF, Bleacher Report and NFL.com.

All of the live TV streaming services above offer free trials, allow you to cancel anytime and require a solid internet connection. Looking for more information? Check out our live-TV streaming services guide.

Google, through its AI Opportunity Fund, is doling out $75 million in grants to workforce development and education organizations to teach Americans how to utilize AI, the company said Friday.

“AI offers significant opportunities to accelerate economic growth, particularly if people have access to the right resources and training,” Google’s senior vice president for research, technology and society, James Manyika, said in a release.

The search giant is also launching the Google AI Essentials online course to help teach foundational AI skills and best practices. The course, which costs $49 on Coursera, will teach people how to use AI in day-to-day work. On completion of the 10-hour course, people will earn a certificate. Miami Dade College and Darden Executive Education and Lifelong Learning will provide the course to students and working professionals. Citigroup will also use the course to upskill employees.

Google.org, the company’s philanthropy arm, aims to bridge the skill gap caused by the rapid ascension of technology. Given the demand for tech workers, Google awards grants and develops programs to help create a more tech-savvy workforce. For tech companies, these types of education programs help with brand image while also cultivating local talent and helping them break into emerging markets. Other Big Tech-driven philanthropic organizations include Microsoft Philanthropies, Amazon Future Engineer and Meta Elevate.

An early recipient of Google’s AI Opportunity Fund is Goodwill, a nonprofit that assists in job training and employment.

“We can help US jobseekers attain the core digital and AI skills needed to step into well-paying jobs and greater prospects for economic mobility,” said Goodwill CEO Steve Preston.

This isn’t Google.org’s first foray into AI-driven philanthropy. Generative AI for Educators aims to help teachers use AI tools in the classroom.

It’s the greatest time of year for hockey fans. The animosity that develops between two teams over a seven-game series. The intensity of sudden-death overtime. Playoff beards. The ability of a hot goaltender to lead an underdog team on a deep playoff run. And the Holy Grail that is the Stanley Cup trophy itself. The NHL playoffs have begun and are sure to be filled with drama between now and the NHL finals in June.

Like the NBA playoffs, games for this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs will be split between the Turner (TNT and TBS) and Disney networks (ABC, ESPN, ESPN 2). Here’s everything you need to know to catch all the action on ice, with or without cable.

How to watch the NHL playoffs

The Stanley Cup playoffs are shown on ABC, ESPN, ESPN 2, TBS and TNT. You can watch the games with a cable subscription or a live TV streaming service. Four of the five major services (all but Fubo, which lacks TNT and TBS) offer the five channels needed to watch every NHL playoff game. You can also watch the TNT and TBS games with Max.

What is the NHL playoff schedule?

Here’s the schedule for tonight and the next few days of the Stanley Cup playoffs (all times ET).

Friday, April 26

• Rangers vs. Capitals, 7 p.m. on TNT (Rangers lead series 2-0)
• Canucks vs. Predators, 7:30 p.m. on TBS (series tied 1-1)
• Jets vs. Avalanche, 10 p.m. on TNT (series tied 1-1)
• Oilers vs. Kings, 10:30 p.m. on TBS (series tied 1-1)

Saturday, April 27

• Hurricanes vs. Islanders, 2 p.m. on TBS (Canes lead 3-0)
• Panthers vs. Lightning, 5 p.m. on TBS (Panthers lead 3-0)
• Bruins vs. Maple Leafs, 8 p.m. on TBS and NESN (Bruins lead 2-1)
• Stars vs. Golden Knights, 10:30 p.m. on TBS (Knights lead 2-0)

Sunday, April 28

• Jets vs. Avalanche, 2:30 p.m. on TNT (series tied 1-1)
• Canucks vs. Predators, 5 p.m. on TBS (series tied 1-1)
• Rangers vs. Capitals, 8 p.m. on TBS (Rangers lead 2-0)
• Oilers vs. Kings, 10:30 p.m. on TBS (series tied 1-1)

What does the NHL playoff bracket look like?

The New York Rangers earned the top spot in the East with 114 points, while the Dallas Stars claimed the West’s first seed with 113 points. Here’s what the matchups look like for the 2024 NHL playoffs.

All of the live TV streaming services above offer free trials, allow you to cancel anytime and require a solid internet connection. Looking for more information? Check out our live TV streaming services guide.

Nintendo is planning to use magnets in a fun new way with its upcoming Switch 2 video game console, according to a new report. The magnets will apparently be used to stick the Switch 2’s Joy-Con controllers to the device, rather than relying on the rail-attachment system the current Switch has used since its launch in 2016.

The new report, which comes by way of Spanish site Vandal and was translated by Eurogamer, says that accessory manufacturers have had opportunities to interact with prerelease versions of the new Nintendo console, which is widely expected to be released within the next year.

Nintendo representatives didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The new details about the Switch 2’s purported magnetic controllers underscores how Nintendo may be aiming to improve and refine its popular Switch console’s design, rather than invent a new gaming device altogether. Previous reports have also claimed Nintendo’s next-generation Switch will have more powerful processing chips, a better screen and possibly even replaceable batteries.

Read more: Nintendo Switch 2 Expectations: Is It Coming in 2024?

Nintendo has long been known as one of the most innovative developers in the tech world. It launched a virtual reality headset in 1995, two decades before Meta released the Oculus Rift. Its motion controllers for the Wii in 2005 touched off waves of investment in motion-control technologies. And its Game Boy handheld gaming console from 1989 is still so beloved that people have been clamoring for emulator apps that can play its games on today’s smartphones.

Compared to those innovations, Nintendo adding magnets to its controllers may not seem as big a deal. But magnets have proven to be popular features for consumer electronics.

Apple’s MagSafe charger cords for its laptops are widely praised, for example. And the company’s move to add MagSafe magnets to the back of its iPhones has become so popular that a variation of that approach was adopted as part of the tech industry’s broader Qi2 wireless charging standard.

It’s unclear if Nintendo will expand its new use of magnets beyond its controllers, but we’ll likely find out in the next year.

Whether you need a new USB-C charger for powering your stuff at home or a portable battery pack for taking the show on the road, Ugreen makes some solid models. There are tons to choose from with different ratings and ports, and now you can save on a number of them thanks to a collection of Amazon discounts. Some of them are limited-time discounts, while others require that you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber. The best offers right now can get you savings of up to 46% off.

There are a ton of options available from Ugreen right now, and we won’t get into each and every one of them here, but a couple of them are worth calling out. Those begin with the Ugreen 145W power bank with a 25,000-mAh capacity. It’d normally sell for $150, but if you order now it can be yours for $81, or 46% off the retail price. It has an LED display to show the current battery capacity and three different ports for charging phones, laptops and more.

Looking to add a little whimsy to your life? The Ugreen Nexode Robot is a fast charger rated for 30W that looks like a little computer wearing headphones. It might just be the coolest way to charge your phone, and now it can be yours for $18 instead of the usual $26.

Portable battery packs are convenient for most day-to-day needs, but sometimes you need a little more than they can provide. For those instances, our collection of the best generator deals will have you back up and running in no time at all.

“It’s important you save your vote for the November election,” a voice that sounded an awful lot like President Joe Biden’s told Democrats in New Hampshire during a January robocall that discouraged them from voting in that month’s primary.

But it wasn’t Biden. It was an AI-generated voice that one of the men behind it now says was intended to draw attention to how AI can be harnessed to influence voter behavior.

Technology has long been used to sway voters. In the last two presidential elections, it was primarily social media, where manipulated content — like videos of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, which went viral after they were edited to make her appear incompetent — spread like wildfire. By 2023, nearly two-thirds of US internet users said misinformation and/or fake news were widespread on these platforms.

The advent of generative AI tools, which can easily create realistic text, images and videos (and audio like the fake-Biden call), only exacerbates the potential for misinformation in 2024. It’s a new reality that government, tech companies and voters will be grappling with in the coming months.

It’s something that software giant Adobe, maker of Photoshop, is mindful of. Last week, Adobe released the results of a study, Future of Trust, in which 6,000 consumers in the US, the UK, France and Germany were asked about online misinformation and generative AI. The study found that a majority are concerned, particularly within the context of elections.

Adobe itself has a gen AI tool, Firefly, that’s part of a growing landscape that includes chatbot and image-generation options from the likes of Anthropic, Google, Microsoft and OpenAI. As these tools become more sophisticated — like, say, offering the ability to create lifelike images and videos — they increase the potential for creativity, as well as for misuse. The tech companies behind them have guardrails to limit the creation of harmful content, but users have found loopholes. The cat and mouse game will continue through Election Day 2024 and beyond.

(For more on generative AI tools, along with all the latest AI news, tips and explainers, see CNET’s new AI Atlas guide.)

Misinformation 2.0

According to a July 2023 report from the Brennan Center, a nonprofit public policy institute at New York University, gen AI tools help blur the lines between organized disinformation campaigns and recipients’ world views. That is, they make it easier to tell voters what they want to hear. And though traditional social media posts can be outed by, say, grammatical errors or strange turns of phrase, gen AI can help bad actors sound much more convincing.

These actors can also use large language models — the engines behind AI chatbots — to generate millions of posts and create false impressions of widespread belief in certain narratives. And they can use chatbots to personalize interactions based on voter characteristics.

Not surprisingly, the Adobe survey found that voters believe that deepfakes, or manipulated media, will once again be used to influence what happens at the polls.

Adobe found that 84% of US respondents are worried that online content is vulnerable to manipulation, and are therefore concerned about election integrity. Meanwhile, 70% believe it’s becoming difficult to verify whether online content is trustworthy, and 76% say it’s important to know if content was generated by AI. Social media platforms like Meta, TikTok and YouTube now require users to label digitally generated and edited content. And generative AI tools like Adobe Firefly, Dall-E 3 and Copilot include where a photo, video or document originated and who created it, as well as details about any subsequent alterations.

Potential solutions

Following the faked Biden robocall in New Hampshire, the US Federal Communications Commission made AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal. But there’s still a lot of work to do.

Nonprofit think tank the Brookings Institute says the government should invest in media literacy to help students learn how to distinguish factual content from misinformation. States like California, Colorado and Illinois have already implemented these programs. (84% of Adobe respondents in the US agreed that children should be taught media literacy in school.)

The Brookings Institute also called for an effort to reduce the ability of foreign interests to spread misinformation in US elections.

In Adobe’s survey, 83% of US respondents said they believe the government should also work with tech companies to protect election integrity.

The Brennan Center suggests lawmakers focus their efforts on regulating AI. It also wants to see developers refine election-related AI filters, and it wants social media platforms to develop policies to better balance political discourse with the potential harm from disinformation.

How to protect yourself

You can do your part. AI-generated content, especially images and video, has some telltale signs you can look for. Check where the content came from: Is it a reputable source?

There are fact-checking tools, too, like digital watermarks on social media or Adobe’s Content Credentials, which identifies where content comes from and whether it’s AI-generated. (In Adobe’s survey, 88% of US respondents said they believe it’s essential to have tools to verify the trustworthiness of online content.)

Residents of New Mexico and North Carolina can access state-run resources to help fact-check information about local elections. But no such resources are yet available on a national level.

We’re also starting to see voter education campaigns emerge.

In March, the nonprofit AIandYou released one such campaign, Behind the Headlines, in partnership with LeanIn.Org, Voto Latino and TelevisaUnivision. It targets women and Black and Hispanic communities and seeks to educate these voters about AI’s potential impact on misinformation and the electoral process.

In the age of generative AI, we’re going to need all the help we can get.

Editors’ note: CNET used an AI engine to help create several dozen stories, which are labeled accordingly. The note you’re reading is attached to articles that deal substantively with the topic of AI but are created entirely by our expert editors and writers. For more, see our AI policy.

Apple hasn’t said much publicly about its plans to join the many companies offering generative AI products, but this week it did open up a window into its behind-the-scenes work on the kind of system that powers AI chatbots and image generators.

On Monday, it released OpenELM, which it calls a “state-of-the-art open language model.” Language models are the massive sets of information that tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Dall-E draw on to respond to the prompts you type when you want an AI to whip up an email, write computer code or create a fanciful image.

So it’s not yet the Apple AI product we’ve all been waiting for, but it is a logical step in that direction — and potentially hints at the AI capabilities Apple might offer in its upcoming iOS 18 software for iPhones.

OpenELM’s release comes just weeks ahead of Apple’s WWDC event in early June, where the company traditionally talks about its next wave of software offerings.

Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

But during a quarterly earnings call in February, CEO Tim Cook hinted that Apple would reveal its plans for generative AI at some point in 2024. Also around that time, Apple reportedly shuttered its long-running electric car project to focus on generative AI and the Apple Vision Pro, the wearable that went on sale that same month and that CNET reviewer Scott Stein calls “Apple’s wildest and strangest device.”

It’s not clear yet how OpenELM fits into these plans. However, in a research paper posted in March, Apple discussed multimodal large language models, or those that can generate a variety of content formats.

While Apple has been holding fire, most tech giants and a rash of startups have already rushed out one or more generations of gen AI products. Adobe, Anthropic, Google and OpenAI are in a race to release increasingly capable models that not only understand a wider variety of queries, but produce more realistic images and videos. They’re even keen to highlight internal research projects in fields like video games and music composition to tease what they may be able to offer to capture your attention and lock in your potential loyalty as users of their AI products. (For all the latest AI news, plus product reviews, explainers, tips and more, check out our new AI Atlas guide.)

Some takeaways on OpenELM

A paper posted to Apple’s Machine Learning Research site notes that the OpenELM release includes everything needed to train and evaluate the language model on publicly available datasets, including training logs, checkpoints and pretraining configurations. (The ELM part of the name stands for “efficient language model.”)

On LinkedIn, Maxwell Horton, a machine learning researcher from Apple, wrote that OpenELM is part of a new open-source repository called CoreNet, which is available via GitHub. This resource also includes code to convert models to an array framework for machine learning research on Apple chips, which allows for inference and fine-tuning on Apple devices, as well as vision and language models with training recipes and code release for 11 Apple research publications.

The OpenELM paper said the goal is to pave the way for future open research endeavors.

“The reproducibility and transparency of large language models are crucial for advancing open research, ensuring the trustworthiness of results and enabling investigations into data and model biases, as well as potential risks,” the paper added.

Large language models are measured in what is known as parameters, or the number of variables in a mathematical calculation used to produce an output from a given input. As the number of parameters increase, so does the model’s ability to make sense of language. Apple’s pretrained and instruction-tuned models have 270 million, 450 million, 1.1 billion and 3 billion parameters.

By way of comparison, ChatGPT 3.5 has 175 billion parameters. The latest version of Meta’s Llama 3 model has 70 billion parameters.

Reports emerged last July that Apple was working on an AI chatbot called Apple GPT and a large language model called Ajax, but the company has not commented.

“We have a lot of work going on internally, as I’ve alluded to before,” Cook said of generative AI during the February earnings call. “Our M.O., if you will, has always been to do work and then talk about work, and not to get out in front of ourselves, so we’re going to hold that to this as well.”

Editors’ note: CNET used an AI engine to help create several dozen stories, which are labeled accordingly. The note you’re reading is attached to articles that deal substantively with the topic of AI but are created entirely by our expert editors and writers. For more, see our AI policy.

Between scam artists, flat-earthers and married couples looking for a third wheel, it can be tough out there for online daters. Trust me.

A new survey from antivirus and anti-malware company Norton underscores this point, finding mixed reactions to AI among singles looking for love. On the one hand, there’s excitement about AI’s potential to improve the online dating experience for app-using singles. On the other, AI is helping bad actors make it harder than ever to find love.

As generative AI tools improve, we’re moving beyond the “grotesque abominations” of the AI-generated images of 2023 when hands were missing fingers and mouths were disjointed, though many AI images still have some glitches. Now companies like Adobe, Google and OpenAI are releasing tools that allow virtually anyone to spruce up a profile image — or cook up a stunning but completely fictitious one.

AI chatbots are also wizzes at creating and refining emails, essays, poems and more, so why not a dating profile? These word-savvy tools could help even the most tongue-tied of lonely hearts render a heart-stopping profile and pickup line(s) that would put Casanova to shame. (For reviews of AI chatbots and image generators like Gemini, ChatGPT and Dall-E, along with explainers, tips and the latest AI news, check out our new AI Atlas guide.)

For online daters, this is both a blessing and a curse, as bad actors also have access to these tools and it’s increasingly difficult to determine what’s really real at first blush.

AI for good

A majority of respondents to the Norton survey (64%) said they’re intrigued by the idea of using AI as a “dating coach” and to increase their chances of finding The One.

Of those currently using a dating app or service, 71% said they’d consider using AI to write pickup lines and conversation starters, while 70% said they want AI for profile optimization and 64% are interested in AI for photo enhancement.

Others want help from AI in writing breakup texts, and some are even interested in using AI avatars to go on virtual dates.

A February study from computer security company McAfee found that 45% of men were considering AI to write messages for Valentine’s Day, which turned out to maybe not be the best idea.

Norton attributes this willingness to experiment with AI to the investment that modern-day daters make in finding love. The survey found that the average single person who uses dating apps spends six hours a week on these apps and $300 over the course of their dating journey, though it wasn’t clear on what exactly.

AI for bad

At the same time, online dating scams have increased by 72% since just 2023, Norton found.

Nearly one-third (27%) of Americans who’ve used a dating app have been targeted by a scam, and 42% of this group have been duped, according to the survey. Another 30% report being catfished.

“Romance scams aren’t new, but AI is changing the game and making these types of scams more common and much harder to spot,” Leyla Bilge, director of Scam Research Labs for Norton, said in a statement.

How to protect yourself

According to Norton, education and awareness are the best ways to shield yourself from dating scams, AI-enabled and otherwise. But there are additional steps you can take to keep yourself safe.

First, ask for recent photos to verify the identity of the person you’re talking to. If they sidestep or refuse, it’s a red flag.

Also be wary if a potential match continues to delay meeting in real life.

It’s important to remember that potential matches can record video chats and then use that material to blackmail you, so proceed with caution.

Never click on links from matches. Scammers can pose as members to send links to porn or webcam sites — or malicious sites that download malware or steal your credit card information.

Finally, if the conversation doesn’t seem quite right, you could be interacting with a bot. Once again, the objective is to get you to click on links. And it’s better to be safe than sorry.

“People need to stay vigilant for signs of romance scams, such as individuals who avoid video or phone calls, have very few images on their dating profiles or attempt to progress the relationship quickly,” Bilge said.

The Norton study was conducted online in the US in March among 1,003 adults ages 18 and older.

Editors’ note: CNET used an AI engine to help create several dozen stories, which are labeled accordingly. The note you’re reading is attached to articles that deal substantively with the topic of AI but are created entirely by our expert editors and writers. For more, see our AI policy.

If you’re in the market for a new laptop and want to get something that’s thin and light yet supremely quick, you don’t need to look much further than Apple’s latest M3-powered 13-inch MacBook Air. It’s one of the best laptops in its class, and the go-to if you aren’t tethered to using Windows. Right now it’s even a bit of a bargain thanks to a discount that means you can pick one up for just $989 in your choice of color. That’s the best price we’ve seen this MacBook Air sell for and a $100 savings.

Those who’d rather buy at Best Buy can do so, but it’ll cost an extra $10. The discounted $999 price is still a great one, however, and is well worth checking out if you’d rather go that route. You can also trade in your old laptop and get up to $900 back, too.

No matter where you buy your new MacBook Air you’ll get a gorgeous 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display and an M3 chip that sports an 8-core CPU and an 8-core GPU. It’s also paired with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD.

Other features and specifications of note include a 1080p FaceTime HD selfie camera and a Magic Keyboard with built-in Touch ID sensor for biometric authentication and Apple Pay. Color options include black and essentially three different shades of silver, so pick the one you like best before adding anything to your cart.

Prefer your MacBooks to be a little more Pro or need a bigger display? Our list of the best MacBook deals will have you saving money in no time at all.

Ads in Microsoft Windows’ Start menu are nothing new, and it’s no surprise that they’re coming to Windows 11. Microsoft has been testing ads in beta releases, and this week the update that places advertising in the Windows 11 Start menu began rolling out to regular users.

According to Microsoft, the Start menu ads will be comprised of Microsoft Store apps chosen from a “small set of curated developers.” The ads will appear in the Recommended section of the Start menu which previously only showed documents and images that the user had recently used. When you click on an ad, you’ll be redirected to the Microsoft Store to download the app.

Microsoft isn’t just adding advertisements to the Start menu. The update changelog also notes that frequently used apps already installed on the user’s machine will also appear in the Recommended section alongside the ads. Apps will appear there only if they aren’t already pinned to the taskbar or Start menu.

For the time being, the update is optional. You can find it by navigating to Windows Update > Advanced Options > Optional updates where you can install update KB5036980.

In addition to Start menu ads, the update includes some additional fixes and improvements. Notably, this update fixes an issue where widget icons on the taskbar can be pixelated or fuzzy. Lock screen widgets are also improved, and Microsoft says that they’ll be more reliable moving forward. Some of minor bug fixes include fixing an issue with the Japanese 106 keyboard layout and a freezing issue with the Settings app. The full documentation is available on Microsoft’s support website.

So far, I’ve had the update installed for a bit and have yet to see any ads, although some users and publications have been able to get them to show up. It’s likely that Microsoft hasn’t turned on advertising for the majority of users yet and will wait to do so until the update rolls out to more machines.

Ads in Windows are nothing new

The Start menu is only the latest victim in Microsoft’s plan to add advertising to as many parts of Windows as it can. However, advertising has been in the operating system for a long time already. Microsoft’s Search UI recommends web articles, apps, games, and other promotional materials. For the most part, users either turn these ads off or have tuned them out.

Windows 10 also had advertising directly in its Start menu, so this is something Microsoft has done before. It was done exactly the same way with promoted apps showing up as tiles that you had to manually remove so you could use that space for other things if you wanted to. In all honesty, it’s surprising that it took Microsoft this long to start adding ads to the Windows 11 Start menu.

When will I get the update with Start menu ads?

The update is available now as an optional update in Windows Update. However, Microsoft lists the KB5036980 update as its April release, so it should start rolling out to everyone within the next couple of weeks. My machine automatically installed the update on its own Wednesday, so it’s not optional for everybody.

You can check to see if you’ve installed it by opening Windows Update and then checking your Update history. If it shows KB5036980, you have the update installed. Should you want to install it yourself, go to Windows Update > Advanced options > Optional updates to see if it’s there.

Regardless of whether it’s Wednesday or Thursday, the update is coming eventually, as it is an official Windows 11 update. There is no way around it, and you will have to update eventually if you want to keep your system current.

What do the new ads look like?

The Recommended section of the Start menu will look exactly the way it does right now. However, you’ll occasionally see a recommendation for an app. It’s easy enough to ignore, especially if you already don’t use the Recommended section very often.

There seem to be two designs floating around. Microsoft’s promotional materials show the design above, where you’ll see an app with an app icon and a tagline. In the example, the advertised app is 1Password with the tagline “Save passwords safely.” Clicking on it will send you to the Microsoft Store, where you’ll be immediately directed to 1Password’s store page so that you can download it. If you ignore the ad, then it just sits there harmlessly.

Another design was spotted by Windows Latest. Its screenshots look like the one above, except its has a small box next to the tagline that says “Sponsored” along with the other details.

With other Start menu recommendations, users can right-click on them and dismiss the recommendation. This may also apply to ads, but until they roll out to the general public, this is untested.

How do I turn off Start menu ads?

Microsoft includes a way to remove advertising from Windows 11. Here is the easiest method to turn Start menu ads off.

• Open your Start menu.
• Right-click any blank space and click Start settings
• Scroll down until you find the Show recommendations for tips, shortcuts, new apps, and more.
• Toggle that setting off.

You can also reach that setting by opening Windows Settings and then going to Personalization > Start. Or you can hit the Windows key on your keyboard and type Start settings to find it through search.

Do this while you’re at it

During Windows setup, it’ll ask you if you want Microsoft to share your “advertising ID” with third parties so that the ads you see are better targeted to you. The idea of sharing personal information with unnamed third parties makes a lot of people squeamish, so a lot of people turn that setting off. Here’s how:

• Open Windows Settings.
• Navigate to Privacy & Security > General.
• Find the Let apps show me personalized ads by using my advertising ID and toggle it off.

You can also find this setting by opening Windows Search and typing “advertising ID” to get to the setting immediately. With that ticked off, Microsoft shouldn’t share anything with third-party advertisers, which means any ads you do see won’t be personalized directly to you.