Prepare for annoying, unskippable Microsoft 365 trial ads on your PC

We all like to see some ads from time to time, especially for our favorite products and gear, but we don’t like it when companies force those ads on us.

And, as we all know, Microsoft is good at shoving stuff in people’s faces when we least expect it and is gearing up to do so again.

So, in case you were missing a bit of inappropriate and annoying publicity, know that some people have been experiencing difficulty getting to their Windows desktops.

Why? Let’s just say it is due to an unskippable ad for Microsoft 365, the Redmond tech giant’s suite of productivity and collaboration software.

Unable to access desktop until you agree to Microsoft 365 trial

Aside from sparking worldwide privacy concerns among the Office user community, Microsoft is again working hard on bringing ads to the Windows OS.

Reddit users started flooding the website with photos of their Windows 10 PCs displaying a full-screen Microsoft 365 Family trial ad during the out-of-box experience (OOBE).

One unhappy user said that Windows 10 is preventing him from booting into the desktop without first non-consensually being forced to accept their free trial and $100 monthly thereafter.

Many were even joking saying that Microsoft and Blizzard would be a perfect family since both sell useless dreams for ridiculous sums.

So, it seems that Windows 10 users are being blocked from accessing their desktops by full-screen trial offers for the Microsoft 365 productivity suite, formerly Office 365.

The only options we are presented with when this trial ad pops up are Try for free and No, thanks, in case you were wondering.

Know that, after choosing No, thanks, the user gets sent to a Confirm your payment option screen where the only option left is to Start trial, buy later.

We know that, while such screens are shown after doing clean Windows installs and installing feature updates, they usually contain the Skip for now option on the bottom left side of the display.

However, this time around, Microsoft has replaced that button with a Privacy and Cookies link, to make it seem like everything is ordinary.

It appears that Microsoft is testing other layouts and pushing different offers since others have reported seeing 50% promos with Next and No, thanks displayed buttons at the bottom.

Clicking on the No, thanks button would take them to a new screen where they’re asked to enter their payment information and are only given the option to Buy now.

Rest assured that you can cancel after entering the credit card information required to enable the Microsoft 365 Family subscription trial you were forced to pay to access your Windows 10 desktops.

If you choose not to or forget to do it until the trial expires, you will be charged $109 per month while the subscription remains active.

If you want to avoid receiving this offer, you should start the installation process without an Internet connection, which will also allow you to create a local account if you don’t want to link the desktop to your Microsoft account. 

Please keep in mind that Microsoft has also stopped selling licensed Windows 10 copies, and you can only buy them from local retailers or Amazon.

Have you received this annoying Microsoft 365 ad? Let us know in the dedicated comments section below.