My personal computer is a Windows 11 desktop and I performed a clean install when I got it. So now I don’t have any pre-installed apps from the manufacturer. I did use a Microsoft account to sign in, and then just removed or customized whatever I didn’t like

Do you mean these taskbar labels?

You can hide the news button on the taskbar and I uninstalled all of those extra, pre-installed, bloat apps. My taskbar looks just as clean as it has for the past 20 years.

I am on Windows 11. The UI has been more consistent than 10 ever was and I am curious where the ads are.