When you purchase a new Windows 11 PC or perform a clean installation of the operating system, you will quickly notice several unwanted applications sitting in your Start Menu. Microsoft frequently bundles promotional, third-party apps—often referred to as “bloatware”—such as Candy Crush Saga, TikTok, Spotify, or various streaming services.
Even if you right-click and uninstall these apps, Windows 11 will sometimes aggressively reinstall them in the background after a major system update, assuming you accidentally removed them. To permanently stop Microsoft from pushing these sponsored applications onto your hard drive, you must disable the hidden “Consumer Experiences” feature.
How to Stop the Installation of Sponsored Apps
The most reliable way to permanently block these installations is by using the Local Group Policy Editor.
- Click the Start button, type gpedit.msc, and press Enter to launch the Local Group Policy Editor. (Note: Group Policy Editor is only available in Windows 11 Pro and Enterprise editions. It is not available in Windows 11 Home).
- In the left-hand navigation pane, follow this exact folder path by expanding the folders: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Cloud Content.
- Once you have clicked on the “Cloud Content” folder, look at the main window on the right.
- Locate the policy named Turn off Microsoft consumer experiences.
- Double-click this policy to open its settings window.
- In the top-left corner of the new window, click the radio button to change the setting from “Not Configured” to Enabled. (Yes, you must “Enable” the policy to “Turn off” the experience).
- Click Apply, and then click OK.
Once this policy is applied, Windows 11 will stop communicating with the Microsoft servers that push these third-party applications. You can now safely right-click and uninstall Candy Crush, TikTok, and any other pre-installed bloatware from your Start menu; they will never return.