Redmond provides clarification in the new desktop ad saga

Nov 4, 2016 23:02 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft is improving Windows 10 to make it more user-friendly for everyone, but sometimes a number of the changes the company makes in this regard take users by surprise and lead to criticism that certainly doesn’t help the firm or its operating system.

This is what happened recently when users started seeing what originally seemed to be ads for Microsoft Edge, Redmond’s new browser that replaces Internet Explorer and which is exclusively available on Windows 10.

Reports pointed out that popups that showed up above the Edge taskbar icon tried to convince users of third-party browsers to switch to Microsoft apps, so it’s no surprise that many described these as ads.

Not ads, but “Windows Tips notifications”

But this isn’t accurate, Microsoft says, as they are only tips that are supposed to help users make the most of Windows 10 and the available apps.

“As we continue to improve Microsoft Edge, we want to inform our users of great new features that are available both in the browser and throughout Windows 10. Windows Tips notifications were created to provide people with quick, easy information that can help them enhance their Windows 10 experience. Windows 10 users can easily change default settings and preferences, should they wish, including turning off these Windows Tips and Tricks notifications in their system’s settings,” a company spokesperson told us.

Indeed, these tips can be disabled if you want to and all you have to do is launch Settings and go to Personalization > Start and turn features on or off depending on your preferences.

So there you go, Windows 10 is not showing any ads and, for what it’s worth, Microsoft has no plans of bringing ads in the operating system. This would be a risky move anyway, as we all know that ads could easily be a catalyst for an en-masse transition from Windows to rival operating systems such as Linux.