Windows 10 Performance Message: Disabling the Notification

Turning Off the Windows 10 “Apps to Help Improve Your Device” Notification

If Windows keeps popping up suggestions along the lines of “apps to help improve your device,” or recommending extra Microsoft apps and tips, that’s Windows’ built-in “consumer experiences” feature — a set of suggestion and tip prompts baked into the Start menu, lock screen, and notifications, drawing on Windows Spotlight and related suggestion features. To turn it off:

1. Open Settings > System > Notifications (or Personalization > Start on some builds) and switch off “Show me suggestions occasionally in Start” and similar tip/suggestion toggles.
2. Under Settings > Privacy > General, turn off “Show me suggested content in the Settings app.”

If you’re managing multiple machines, Group Policy has a dedicated setting for this: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Cloud Content > Turn off Microsoft consumer experiences, which suppresses these suggestions fleet-wide without needing to touch each machine’s Settings app individually.

The Same Setting on Windows 11

The identical “consumer experiences” feature exists on Windows 11, though the toggle has moved and been relabelled a couple of times across feature updates. Today it’s generally found under Settings > Personalization > Start — look for “Show recommendations for tips, app promotions, and more” — alongside a separate Settings > Privacy & security > General toggle for suggested content in the Settings app itself, mirroring the Windows 10 layout above. The same Group Policy path (Cloud Content > Turn off Microsoft consumer experiences) still applies unchanged on Windows 11 for fleet-wide deployment. Worth factoring in if you’re still managing Windows 10 devices specifically: Windows 10 reached the end of mainstream support on 14 October 2025, with consumer Extended Security Updates (ESU) covering machines through 13 October 2026. If this notification is showing up on machines you’re planning to migrate off Windows 10 anyway, it may be more efficient to fold this setting into your Windows 11 deployment baseline rather than fixing it twice.