Microsoft seriously wants you to reconsider Bing as your default search engine. It’s no secret that the Windows maker often prompts users with notifications to try out Windows-curated apps. For instance, opening Edge for the first time might prompt you to set the app as your default browser. It’s nothing new; Chrome, Firefox, and Opera do it too. However, of late it’s starting to get a little out of hand. That’s because users are experiencing a particularly pushy Bing pop-up ad that’s best described as ‘malware-like’.
User complaints have been cropping up on Reddit for months now. Upon investigation, the redditors uncovered something particularly interesting. This new notification behaves very differently from your regular browser pop-ups or Windows notification centre suggestions.
Instead, it’s a rather aggressive executable file that causes a pop-up to appear right on the desktop. Specifically, it seems to happen when you’re using Chrome. Although, some users have claimed it happens even when using an alternate browser, with Chrome not even installed on their machines.
What’s the big issue?
Thanks to The Verge’s Tom Warren bringing the issue to the forefront, it seems that Microsoft has addressed the problem. It claims that the pop-up was totally unintentional and has paused the executable with immediate effect.
Director of communications Caitlin Roulston issued a statement to The Verge. “We are aware of these reports and have paused this notification while we investigate and take appropriate action to address this unintended behaviour,” says Roulston.
The pop-up was intended to be a one-time notification that ends after you select ‘Don’t Switch’ or ‘Yes’. If you selected not to, it’s supposed to dismiss the alert. If ‘Yes’ was selected, then Windows would add the Bing extension to Chrome as your new primary search engine. This, of course, was not the case, and the pop-up would continuously prompt users when using Chrome.
Thankfully, the ‘BGAUpsell’ executable should be disabled or removed. You shouldn’t experience any random Bing pop-ups when browsing Chrome, at least for now.
