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Personalized Advertising from Microsoft

(Last updated February 2012)

Why are ads personalized?

Personalized ads from Microsoft help provide ads that are more relevant and useful to you. Learn more about personalized ads.

Personalized ads

Personalized advertising is sometimes referred to as “targeted” or “behavioral” online advertising. As you use online services and browse websites from Microsoft and its partners, we use the collected information (search queries, page views, links that you click, or other similar data) to help predict which ads will interest you most.

For example, if you’ve previously searched on bicycling or viewed bicycling articles on MSN, we may guess that you’re interested in bicycles. We’ll then display ads for bicycle products and services on other sites served by the Microsoft Advertising Platform.

Note
Most ads are not personalized. They might be shown because they’re related to the site you’re viewing or to your current search query, or they might be randomly placed. As a result, your chosen interests will not affect when these ads are shown. For more information about how we personalize ads, read our privacy policy.

Don’t want personalized ads from Microsoft?

If you don’t want to see personalized ads from Microsoft, you can choose not to receive these types of ads on websites that use the Microsoft Advertising Platform by selecting the opt-out choice on this page. You can also choose to opt out of receiving personalized ads from advertising companies other than Microsoft, on the Consumer Choice Page.

How can I influence personalized ads?

At Microsoft, we do our best to provide personalized ads that you might find interesting. We don’t always get it right, though. With our My Interests tool, you can help us customize your personalized ads by selecting areas that are of interest and not of interest to you.

Note

The ads you see might not always reflect your selected interests. Only a small portion of the ads that we display is personalized, and different factors influence how they’re personalized.

If I opt out, what happens?

Opting out does not mean you will stop getting ads or see fewer ads; however, if you do opt out, the ads that you receive will no longer be personalized.

In addition, opting out does not stop information from being collected. However, neither this information nor any information collected from you in the past will be used for displaying personalized ads. Microsoft will continue to deliver content that is personalized for you, such as the news articles that are displayed on MSN and the results that appear when you search for software updates.

Your opt-out choices

On this computer or device, when you use this web browser:

You are opted in

X
On this computer or device, when you use this web browser:
This option saves a cookie (that is, a simple text file) on your computer or device, such as a smartphone, and applies it whenever you use your web browser. If you don’t want to receive personalized ads for other browsers, computers, or devices you use, you’ll need to return to this page to create the cookie for each one. This cookie expires in five years, after which you’ll need to return to this page and select again the option to re-create the cookie. Note If you delete cookies, you’ll start receiving personalized ads again, and you’ll need to return to this page to re-create those cookies. Learn more about cookies

On any computer or device, after you've signed in to Windows Live™:

You must sign in before you can update the setting.

X
On any computer or device, after you've signed in to Windows Live™:
This option saves an account setting associated with your Windows Live ID, and applies it to any computer or device, such as a smartphone, on which you sign in with your Windows Live ID. This account setting will continue to apply until someone signs in with a different Windows Live ID on that same computer or device. This setting will never expire. Note If you delete cookies on your computer or device, you’ll start receiving personalized ads again, and you’ll need to sign in again with your Windows Live ID to apply your account settings.

My Interests

This list is generated based on interests that you have added or removed or that Microsoft has suggested.