An advertisement that Microsoft tried to insert into the system caused a recent Taskbar error on Windows 11

Soon after, Microsoft posted how to fix the problem for users who encountered the error. Based on that, we can see that to solve the problem, the user must apply an intervention command to the Registry Editor to delete a Windows service.

You can refer to the details of how to fix the error in the following article of TipsMake.com:

1. How to fix errors that cannot open Start Menu, hang Taskbar and Settings on Windows 11

In addition to Microsoft's solution, Microsoft users quickly found other ways to fix the problem. On Reddit and Twitter posted many different solutions, but mainly related to disabling the ability of the computer to communicate with Microsoft's servers.

An advertisement that Microsoft tried to insert into the system caused a recent Taskbar error on Windows 11 Picture 1

After digging deeper into the issue, Edgedeflector developer Daniel Aleksandersen discovered that a small file downloaded by a Windows component called IrisService was the source of the error. Iris is a component of Windows Spotlight, responsible for loading Bing wallpapers by date, lock screen suggestions.

More narrowly, Aleksandersen identified the problem with a Registry key that contained a block of JSON that was serialized to contain a Microsoft Teams advertisement. It was this ad that caused Windows 11 to crash the Taskbar, unable to open the Start Menu and Settings.

Lately, Microsoft is looking for ways to add ads to Windows as well as their other services. We've seen Edge browser ads in Windows 10's Start Menu or most recently, Windows 11 ads in Windows 10's notifications and Settings.

Microsoft is not wrong to include advertising in their products and services. However, the software giant should have calculated and tweaked so that their ads do not cause annoyance or annoying errors for users.

Kareem Winters

Update 06 September 2021