Microsoft using intrusive Windows pop-ups to get Chrome users to switch to Bing [Video]

Ben Schoon | Mar 15 2024 - 12:45 pm PT

Microsoft and Google have been waged in a years-long battle around Google Search, Bing, Chrome, and Edge. And it just continues, with Microsoft now pushing Bing heavily on Google Chrome users through pop-ups in Windows.

A behind-the-scenes update in Windows 10 and Windows 11 is pushing a pop-up that pushes Google Chrome users to switch their default search engine to Bing. The pop-up, which looks a whole lot like the pop-ups commonly used by malware apps, appears in the bottom right side of the screen and says:

Chat with GPT-4 for free on Chrome! Get hundreds of daily chat turns with Bing AI.

Try Bing as default search – easy to switch back

Install Bing Service to improve chat experience

The pop-up appears while using Chrome on Windows, and tapping “Yes” will automatically change your search engine to Bing and install a Bing extension for Chrome. After that, Chrome brings up another pop-up asking your to confirm you meant to change your default search provider, to which Microsoft says: “Wait – Don’t change it back!”

Tapping “No thanks” simply dismisses the pop-up.

Windows Latest caught the pop-up and extension in a video to show what it looks like.

Microsoft first confirmed to Windows Latest that the pop-up will only show up one time, somewhat hilariously saying that it “[values] providing our customers with choice” by providing the option to dismiss the notification.

This is a one-time notification giving people the choice to set Bing as their default search engine on Chrome. For those who choose to set Bing as their default search engine on Chrome, when signed in with their MSA they also get more chat turns in Copilot and chat history. We value providing our customers with choice, so there is an option to dismiss the notification

The Verge also noted that this isn’t the first time a pop-up has surfaced to target Chrome users on Windows, with a very similar pop-up appearing a few months ago similarly asking users to switch their default search engine to Bing.

This latest pop-up also comes just a few weeks after Microsoft was caught importing data from Google Chrome to Edge through a Windows Update where users were effectively tricked into giving the browser permission to do so.