Microsoft’s controversial DNT feature bundled into IE explained

Nov 17, 2012 20:21 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft has adopted a completely different strategy after the official debut of Windows 8, trying to get closer to its consumers with a more user-friendly approach.

Internet Explorer 10, the latest version of the company’s in-house browser, comes with the controversial “Do Not Track” feature turned on by default on both Windows 8 and Windows 7.

For those of you who didn’t know, the “Do Not Track” tool is a privacy system that protects users while browsing the web by blocking sites from collecting data and browsing information.

While this is indeed a great future for end users, it could really hurt advertisers, as they’re not allowed to provide relevant ads and thus improve ad performance.

Advertisers have already criticized Microsoft for keeping this option turned on by default, but the Redmond-based company claims that users have repeatedly asked for such a feature, so it has no intention to disable it for the time being.

IE10, on the other hand, comes with a special screen that shows users how to enable or disable Do Not Track the first time they launch the browser. Many IE fans, however, skip this screen, so a step-by-step guide on how to enable or disable DNT could actually come in very handy.

Assuming that you’ve already installed Internet Explorer 10, on either Windows 8 or Windows 7, here’s what you have to do to access and set up Do Not Track.

Review image

First of all, click on the “Settings” button in the top right corner of the screen and select “Safety.” Hit the “Tracking Protection” option to launch the “Do Not Track” configuration screen.

Review image

As you can see in this screenshot, Microsoft’s privacy system relies on a personalized system that can be easily configured by any user. Only basic computer knowledge is required and a few clicks should be enough to successfully set up a new list.

You can choose to automatically block content or to simply choose content to block or allow. Plenty of information is displayed in any configuration dialog, just to make sure you’re on the safe side all the time.

Review image

In case you decide to keep “Do Not Track” turned on, there are several pre-configured lists available online and the built-in system also provides a link to this gallery. Simply click on the “Add” button from Internet Explorer 10 to deploy this list.

Warning: once you enable and configure “Do Not Track” to work with a specific list, you may not be able to see advertisements at all on specific websites. This could also affect the layout of the loaded webpage, as well as the overall browsing experience.

Review image