Windows 10 update brings back everyone’s least favorite pop-up alert
Bing is back in your Windows 10 notification tray
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Microsofthas pushed out an update that appears to have triggered the return of an infamousWindows 10pop-up alert.
In recent days,Windows 10users have started receiving a pair of new alerts promoting MicrosoftBing, the company’s search engine. “Microsoft recommends different browser settings. Want to change them?” the pop-ups read.
The Bing alerts are thought to have been reintroduced as part of an update forweb browserMicrosoft Edge, which recently graduated to version 91, and are being served to Windows 10 users that do not search via Bing by default.
Windows 10 notifications
Microsoft has long struggled to gain a foothold in the search market with Bing, which has always played second (and sometimes even third) fiddle toGoogle.
According to thelatest data from Statcounter, just 2.29% of search queries are made via Bing worldwide, as compared with the dominant 92.26% share enjoyed by the market leader.
With Windows 10 now installed onmore than one billion devicesworldwide, Microsoft is aiming to capitalize on theoperating system’s massive install base to give Bing a boost in the rankings.
The new Bing pop-ups reportedly promote a handful of different attributes and features. The first focuses on the newsfeed and security features, while the second claims users can save money by using Bing, courtesy of an integration with the Microsoft Rewards program.
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The alerts give users the option to either temporarily dismiss the pop-up or make the switch to Bing, but do not provide a simple way of disabling future pop-ups of this kind.
To do so, users will need to launch into Microsoft Edge and enter “edge://flags” into the URL bar, which will open up a list of “experimental” features. To block future notifications, deactivate the “Show feature and workflow recommendations” flag.
ViaWindowsLatest
Joel Khalili is the News and Features Editor at TechRadar Pro, covering cybersecurity, data privacy, cloud, AI, blockchain, internet infrastructure, 5G, data storage and computing. He’s responsible for curating our news content, as well as commissioning and producing features on the technologies that are transforming the way the world does business.
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