How to Disable Microsoft Ads in File Explorer in Windows 10

The way Microsoft worked for more than 20 years seems to have changed. In the past, Microsoft advertised about their products in the newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, websites and various tech or sports events etc. People looked at these ads and if they were convinced, they bought and paid for the Microsoft products. But now they are busy serving the ads directly to the end consumers who are using Windows 10 operating system. Previously, they have known to show the advertisements on the lock screen, include “Get” apps in the Windows 10 installations and so on. But now they have targeted the most used feature of Windows PC – the Windows File Explorer.

Now they have been showing the OneDrive cloud storage services and Office 365 ads right inside the Windows File Explorer for all Windows 10 users. Here are three methods to turn off these ads:

Method 1 : File Explorer Ads Disabler

  1. Download File Explorer Ads Disabler from https://www.trishtech.com/downloads/DisableFileExplorerAds.zip.
  2. Extract the contents on your desktop and launch DisableFileExplorerAds.exe.Windows File Explorer Ads
  3. Click on the Disable Windows File Explorer Ads button. The ads will be disabled but you have to log out from Windows and login back again. Or you can reboot your PC.
  4. You can click on the Enable Windows File Explorer Ads button to re-enable the ads once again.

Method 2 : File Explorer Options

  1. Open any folder in Windows File Explorer
  2. In the File Explorer ribbon bar select View and then Options.
  3. In the Folder Options window, select the View tab. Scroll down and uncheck the option Show sync provider notifications.Windows File Explorer Ads
  4. Click on the OK button.

Method 3 : Registry Editor

  1. Press Win+R hotkey to launch Run dialog.
  2. Type regedit.exe in the Run dialog and press Enter.
  3. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
  4. In the right side find the DWORD value named ShowSyncProviderNotifications.Windows File Explorer Ads
  5. Double-click on this ShowSyncProviderNotifications and change its value to 0 to disable ads.

All of these methods just let Windows know that you do not want to view notifications from Microsoft. But these notifications might contain some useful information from Microsoft such as a new update or some information about the Windows features. This is why you should not disable these notifications unless really have to.