Microsoft is at it again, it seems, pushing unwanted warnings to Windows users that are difficult to avoid. And while in the past we’ve seen users told to ditch Chrome for Edge for security reasons, this time clicking the ad will cost you actual money.
As spotted by Windows Latest, the new and very intrusive “let’s back up your files” popup warns users of the risks from not backing up. Fortunately Microsoft has the answer—OneDrive. The full-screen popup sells Windows 11’s option to “backup your desktop, documents and pictures folder in the cloud so you have peace of mind knowing they’re protected, even if something happens to this PC.”
The only issue is that backing up for free has its limits. As Windows Latest explains, “the Windows Backup feature is indeed good [but] it’s worth noting that OneDrive’s free storage is limited to 5GB, so you need to buy storage to use the Windows Backup feature. It isn’t practically possible to backup your complete PC to OneDrive in the long run unless you have empty folders.”
In other words, you will need to pay for that “peace of mind”. And coming in the wake of the CrowdStrike debacle with its blue screen of death imagery, these ads will likely find a receptive, worried audience.
Microsoft treads a fine line with these popup ads, leveraging its dominant desktop OS position to push other products and services. And while the browser and search push has been ongoing for some time, this OneDrive campaign is new.
As The Register says, “Microsoft is always on the lookout for new and exciting ways to annoy Windows users… imposing a full-screen pop-up that urges them to back up their files using another Microsoft product is perhaps an upsell too far, particularly considering how much of the Windows experience is devoted to ads nowadays.”
Just like those Edge versus Chrome ads, this one comes with that slight edge of menace—click here to protect yourself if something happens to this PC. And just like the battle of the browsers, the question is whether it’s appropriate for Microsoft’s dominant OS to push its less dominant ecosystem, especially in the brave new world of gatekeeper technologies. With more than 70% of the global desktop OS market, Windows certainly qualifies.
Backing up your PC is clearly good advice, and the cloud is the best place to do it. But you should think carefully about which service to use before you dive in. While OneDrive is certainly more tightly integrated with Windows that its competition, once you’re in you’re unlikely to change and copy files back and forth, so do some research and check the provider and storage level that’s right for you.
I have reached out to Microsoft for any comments on this story.
