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Microsoft Targets Chrome Users With Windows 10 Pop-up Ad (pcmag.com)

Posted by msmash on from the we-will-never-change dept.

Google Chrome users on Windows 10 are apparently being treated to a new experience: a pop-up ad. From a PCMag report: If you have Chrome installed and the icon present on the Windows Taskbar, chances are you're going to start seeing a pop-up advert appear suggesting you install Microsoft's Personal Shopping Assistant Chrome extension. Microsoft touts it as "Your smart shopping cart across the web." Opting to install the extension results in Microsoft monitoring which products you've searched for and viewed while using Chrome, and then offering to compare those products to find the best price. There's also alerts when prices change, and the ability to track products across all your devices. Of course, Microsoft will make money if you opt to purchase any products using the Assistant.

12 of 172 comments (clear)

  1. Wait who's computer is it again? by JustNiz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Just yet another reason to uninstall Windows 10.

    1. Re:Wait who's computer is it again? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Recall this old anti-Linux quote: Linux is only free if your time is worth nothing.

      The "free" Windows 10 upgrade sure seems positioned for exactly that type of criticism.

    2. Re:Wait who's computer is it again? by lgw · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Just yet another reason to uninstall Windows 10.

      While I agree, I get just as pissed at Google that I have to close a advertisement for Chrome any time I use gmail or youtube for the first time from a new browser. It would be one thing to use the normal ad space to hawk their own stuff, but no, they have to be more intrusive.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    3. Re:Wait who's computer is it again? by DickBreath · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Windows 10 having popup ads just smacks of desperation on the part of Microsoft.

      --

      I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
    4. Re:Wait who's computer is it again? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You forget something important in that Windows 10 isn't free anymore if you didn't take advantage of the 1 year window. So its more like:

      BSD: Free as in Speech
      Linux: Free as in Beer
      Windows 10: Free as in full price expired meat.

  2. Re:They're getting away with this because rump is. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    Didn't we just get done with an 8 year administration that oversaw the largest illegal domestic wiretapping scandal in history?

    Also something something Obama cracking down on journalists more than every other president combined?

    Oh wait no, HuffPo told me Trump was evil and Obama was the best president ever.

  3. More proof that win 10 is malware by melting_clock · · Score: 4, Insightful

    One of the most annoying forms of PC based malware has long been adware. It is now new to have adware being bundled with applications, only to be found and removed by the better antivirus products. Now that MS bundles adware in Win 10, those poor fools with win 10 are stuck with this malware. On the positive side, it does make it insanely easy to show people just how bad and creepy Win 10 is and show that MS cannot be trusted.

  4. Re:Been happening for weeks now by green1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The thing is Google is no better. Every time I go to one of their properties in a non-Chrome browser, I get pestered to use Chrome....

    It's just a new level of crap I have to ignore.

    Actually Google *IS* better, because at least you're choosing to go to one of their sites and they pester you to use chrome, Windows is pestering you when you use chrome to go to google. If Mircrosoft wants to pester you when you visit Bing, fine, but that's not what they're doing.

  5. Re:Been happening for weeks now by MitchDev · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Google isn't the operating system....huge difference

  6. Re:Windows 10 makes computers Great Again! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Once again, anyone who adopted Windows 10 is naive beyond belief. I hope they enjoy their further ads and spyware.

  7. Re:Been happening for weeks now by Black+LED · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yeah, seeing Google ads requires you to explicitly visit their web site each time. Windows 10 is perpetually spying and popping ads at any time. I'm not sure how anyone can't see the difference unless they have a vested interest in Microsoft or something.

  8. But it's "free" (except when it's not) by phorm · · Score: 4, Insightful

    For quite awhile, a lot of people seemed to have the "whatever, deal with it, that's the cost of a 'free' OS upgrade"

    Except it was not a free upgrade for many people. More of a "I turned my computer on one day and WTF is this sh** where did my normal windows go and how do I get it back!"

    And of course, on new PC's it comes with the cost of the PC, and some people also bought codes to install Win10 on home-built machine (which now anyone has to do if they want windows - as they've shelved Win7/8 - and the 'free' upgrade period is over).

    So yeah, people paying hundreds of bucks for software that rams ads down their throat, direct from the manufacturer.