Microsoft Displays More Annoying Windows 10 Pop-Up Ads From The Toolbar

When it comes to Windows 10, Microsoft is that like that annoying friend that's seen a movie you haven't and keeps asking when you're going to watch it (by the way, check out Deadpool if you haven't already). The journey from Windows 8/8.1 to Windows 10 has been filled with aggressive attempts to get users to upgrade, and even after you do, you might still receive popup ads. For what, you ask? Microsoft's Edge browser.

Tech journalist Brad Chacos posted to Twitter a screen grab of a popup ad imploring him to earn free movies and games with Edge. It was basically pointing Brad in the direction of Bing Rewards, an incentive program that rewards users for searching the web with Bing.
It's understandable that Microsoft would want to draw more attention to Edge and Bing, but what makes the popup Brad received especially egregious is that he wasn't even running Edge. It hadn't been loaded and thrust into the background, it was just sitting there like several other icons in the toolbar. Oh, and he had Chrome set as his default browser, which was open and running.

I have never seen a similar popup from Edge, though I fire it up on occasion for one reason or another. It appears that Microsoft is targeting people who rarely, if ever use Edge.

In Brad's case, he says he turned off his ad settings in Windows 10 prior to the Windows 10 Anniversary Update reinstating them, after which he turned them off again. Brad claims that sometime between then and the popup appearing, Microsoft once again turned his ad settings back on.

Microsoft has a history of using popups and notifications to promote its apps and services. It might not seem like that big of a deal, and if what happened to Brad was a one-off incident, it wouldn't be. But like Chinese water torture, these repeated minor infractions over time can drive a person mad. Stop it, Microsoft, just stop.