do you mean putting Bing on the start menu? Microsoft just made them opt-in by default and hoped that folks won't notice or care. you can disable them.
for Chinese devices, there's no way to disable them.
the difference is, for Windows, having Bing on start was a feature (although a bad one). for Chinese devices, you just get ads - you're stuck with ads while changing your brightness.
No, not just Microsoft services or features (or subscription based software), ads for games and apps on their store get jammed in the start menu as well.
And as other commenters have pointed out, lots of budget phones and hardware jam ads all over the place.
> for Chinese devices, there's no way to disable them.
Uh can you stop spreading misinformation? Try google "disable xiaomi ads" it takes you like 5 minutes to make all ads gone on MIUI or HyperOS. Sure the opt-out buttons were hidden deep behind menus for maximizing profit.
But be warned, in certain countries you are getting a modified ROM from your local re-seller, in that case some ads can't be disabled and they are not from Xiaomi. The only solution is to flash your ROM to the official releases.
Is there a way to unlock the bootloader? (The official ways give cryptic error messages on purpose to keep you distracted until your warranty runs out)
IIRC you'll need to register an account, use their official unlocker, then wait 2 weeks before your device is allowed to be unlocked. It's supposed to be done to hinder 3rd party sellers that flash custom rom with ads on phones they sell.
Yes, that's something like the official process excuse. It doesn't actually work, because their server has been configured to reject all unlocking requests.
While they do include MS services in their advertising it's way more than that. They include a bunch of other crap, including hardware offerings like trying to sell you XBox controllers in popups near the taskbar. They advertise Candy Crush, Instagram, Adobe Express, etc, as listed apps "preinstalled" in Windows. They push clickbait MSN articles (ads) for games, travel, and buying guides in the search button of the taskbar that is enabled by default. They then push those in a widget popover panel too. They make Edge the default browser out of the box (and are relentless about getting you to switch if you change it) and Edge itself then shoves ads in your face with default bookmarks like Ebay and Netflix and Walmart and featured content. IIRC even things like their Maps, Weather, and Photos apps also had web advertising placements.
There's probably more but I can't bear to use Windows more than minimally necessary so I've probably missed a bunch.
