“If you go to the search box in Windows 11 or 10 and click on it, likely with the intent of searching for an app or document on your local drive(s), you are presented with a slew of news headlines.”
Click the weather icon and Windows serves “Horror as Man Reveals Father-in-Law’s Browser History at Family Gathering.” The feed comes from Microsoft’s own MSN network, so every click on a pig or alligator story is ad revenue. You paid for the operating system. Microsoft still treats your taskbar like a supermarket checkout rack.