How to Disable Ads in Windows 10 File Explorer

Windows 10 has gotten a lot right, but it’s far from perfect. One of the most annoying parts of this version is that Microsoft has crammed ads into many places that were once clean. From “Recommended” junk in your Start Menu to ad-infested versions of the classic Solitaire and Minesweeper games, it seems that you can’t get away.

Recently, many users have started to see ads show in up the File Explorer. While they’re at least advertising for Office 365 and other Microsoft products instead of inappropriate content, nobody wants to see more ads shoved into their daily workflow. Thankfully, these are easy to disable.

Open your Start Menu and type File Explorer Options, then click that entry to open the File Explorer’s Settings panel. Select the View tab, then scroll through the Advanced Options box to find Show sync provider notifications. Turn this option off, and you won’t see those annoying ads anymore.

This doesn’t seem linked to the upcoming Windows 10 Creators Update, as we turned off the option on a machine that’s on the current stable build of Windows 10. Whether you’ve seen these ads yet or not, it’s a good idea to turn this item off so you aren’t bothered by them in the future.