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Windows 11’s Recommendations & offers page contains several separate privacy controls—not one master switch. The Personalized offers setting can use Windows diagnostic and device-use information alongside account and Microsoft-service data to tailor tips, ads, and recommendations. Other switches control the Windows advertising ID, website access to your preferred-language list, app-launch tracking for Start and search, and suggestions in Settings. To review them, go to Start > Settings > Privacy & security > Recommendations & offers. Turning off a control limits its stated use; it does not block every ad or recommendation across Windows and the web.
What Windows 11 Recommendations & offers can track
Microsoft says Personalized offers can combine information about your device and how you use it—including Windows diagnostic data—with account information and data from other Microsoft products and services. Depending on the information available and your settings, offers may include Windows tips and suggestions, as well as ads and recommendations for Microsoft and third-party products, services, features, apps, and hardware. Microsoft also says offers may be personalized locally on the device.
Windows diagnostic and device-use information
Required diagnostic data may include details about the device, its settings and capabilities, and whether it is working properly. If optional diagnostic data is enabled, additional information about app and feature use and device health may be used for offers. Personalized offers and diagnostic-data collection are related, but their controls are separate.
Microsoft says it does not use the content of crash dumps, speech, typing, or inking input data to personalize offers. See Microsoft’s Recommendations & offers privacy guidance for the scope of this feature.
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Account and Microsoft-service information
Microsoft lists several other possible inputs, including Edge web activity when permission has been given for personalized search, ads, and news; use of services such as Bing, Microsoft 365, and Xbox; activity on Microsoft websites; subscription and purchase history; and information from third-party websites that may be shared with Microsoft. Microsoft also says interactions with offers may be used to provide and improve similar messages in other Microsoft products.
What each Recommendations & offers switch does
| Control | What it affects | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Get personalized tips, ads, and recommendations based on my Windows activity | Personalization of offers using eligible Windows, device, account, and service information. | Privacy & security > Recommendations & offers |
| Let apps show my personalized ads by using my advertising ID | Use of the Windows advertising ID by apps and advertising networks that use that identifier to associate collected data with a user and personalize in-app ads or experiences. It does not cover every form of interest-based advertising. | Privacy & security > Recommendations & offers |
| Let websites show me locally relevant content by accessing my language list | Whether websites can access the preferred-language list to offer locally relevant content. | Privacy & security > Recommendations & offers |
| Let Windows improve Start and search results by tracking app launches | App-launch tracking used to personalize Start and search, including access to frequently used apps. | Privacy & security > Recommendations & offers |
| Show me suggested content in the Settings app | Suggested content in Settings, such as prompts to discover features, content, or apps. | Privacy & security > Recommendations & offers |
Microsoft says switching off the advertising ID does not reduce the number of ads; they may be less relevant. The control applies to Windows apps using that identifier, not website cookies or separate advertising methods and policies. Microsoft says turning the ID back on resets it. These distinctions are described in Microsoft’s privacy settings guidance.
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How to turn off personalized offers and the related controls
- Open the main privacy page: select Start > Settings > Privacy & security > Recommendations & offers.
- Turn off the uses you do not want: switch off the relevant options for personalized tips, ads, and recommendations; advertising-ID-based app ads; website access to the language list; app-launch tracking for Start and search; and suggested content in Settings. You can disable individual controls rather than treating them as one setting.
- Review optional diagnostics separately: open Settings > Privacy & security > Diagnostics & feedback and review the Diagnostic data selection. Microsoft says required diagnostic data supports Windows security, updates, troubleshooting, compatibility, reliability, performance, privacy, and energy-efficiency purposes. The diagnostics page controls diagnostic-data choices; it is not the Personalized offers switch. Details are in Microsoft’s Diagnostics, feedback, and privacy guidance.
- Review device-usage choices: if you configured device-usage selections, check them as well. Microsoft says these choices can lead to tailored tips, recommendations, and personalized ads, and can be changed or opted out of. See Microsoft’s device-usage settings guidance.
- Check app-install recommendations separately: for recommendations when installing apps outside Microsoft Store, go to Settings > Apps > Advanced app settings > Choose where to get apps. Microsoft documents this separately from Recommendations & offers; the available choices and labels can vary by Windows version. See Microsoft’s app recommendation settings guidance.
Personalized offers is not the same as diagnostic data
Turning off personalized offers limits that use of information; it is not a setting to stop all Windows diagnostic data collection. Conversely, changing the diagnostic-data selection does not replace reviewing the separate offer-personalization, advertising ID, language-list, app-launch, and Settings-suggestion controls. Required diagnostic data serves Windows functions Microsoft lists on its Diagnostics & feedback page, while optional diagnostic data may include additional usage and device-health information that can also be used for offers.
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Microsoft says newer Windows 11 versions are replacing Tailored experiences with Personalized offers. A device that has not received the relevant update may still show Tailored experiences under Diagnostics & feedback. The current Recommendations & offers guidance points users to the Personalized offers control under Privacy & security. If the setting names differ, use the page and wording shown on your installed Windows version.
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If a control is unavailable or says it is managed by your organization, organizational policy may affect diagnostic-data management. Your device administrator may control the relevant settings.
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