• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, March 15, 2024

Microsoft, apparently, has become more comfortable with Google Chrome after agreeing to adopt Privacy Sandbox standards in its Edge browser. Now it is reportedly once again using pop-up ads in Google's browser to prompt users to switch their default search engine to Bing.

When users accept the prompt, Microsoft automatically sets Bing as the default search engine instead of Google Chrome.

In a string on Reddit, users shared their concerns. Users were concerned that the popups resembled malware.

"Just randomly popped up on my desktop today, I couldn't find anything unusual in the task manager and computer is running fine," one Reddit user wrote. "Is it just an ad from Microsoft? Actual popup looked pixelated so wasn't sure. The links for the T&C link directly to Microsoft and did not have redirect links."

Another Reddit user wrote: “Microsoft did put this exact Ad out, but there's nothing stopping malware from copying it. If the links were to Microsoft this was probably legit.”

Caitlin Roulston, director of communications at Microsoft, told The Verge it is a “one-time notification giving people the choice to set Bing as their default search engine on Chrome.”

Roulston suggested that the offer is a benefit of being a Windows user, since using Edge gives them “more chat turns in Copilot if they accept the notification.”

On Hacker News, one reader wrote: “So glad I don't use either [the Microsoft] or [the Google] browsers [anymore,] so I don't have to witness this childish behavior myself.”

One end user commented that they see Microsoft and Google as nothing more than adware and spyware companies.