Microsoft offers: Why? and is there a downside?

I just got an email: Turn on your family’s mobile phone protection included in your Microsoft 365 subscription offering me, and anyone in my 'family' the ability to download the Defender app (5X!), and use it to...defend. Now I use Defender on my computers and rather like it. Is there a downside to taking Microsoft up on this offer. (There was a downside when I downloaded Microsoft 365, OneDrive!!)

In like manner, I also got an email:
and
all for just:

Search(ing) on Bing mobile app 3 times a week for your chance to be a weekly winner. A new week starts every Monday, so you can earn 5 entries each week, up to a total of 50 entries for the sweepstakes. Plus, every entry you earn also..........

I don't particularly like Bing (In fact, I don't like Bing at all! I don't like the way it sets up every website so as to appear, and act as if, it were emanating from microsoft' coffers.) so I probably won't take part in this, but I was wondering: What is it that microsoft gets out of this? Yes, it gets to find out more about each of us, but Google's doing that anyway, and other search engines must be getting something out of the deal of using them...

And as long as I'm asking these questions...

Why do so many free apps, as part of the price of appmission, switch to offers that try and entice us to download other apps?! What's that all about?

Looks to me like overtime, you’ve signed up for or created accounts on some spam sites, or your email address has been scrapped and … welcome to junk mail.

Sort out your junk mail filters where possible.

Math is easy. There's one $1M grand prize, and $1M divided up by 100 other winners. I suppose you're scratching your head at the rules for McDonald's Monopoly game.

jro11 said:

so I probably won't take part in this

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Take part in what? The prize offers? lol Why on earth would you. Don’t even click on the links to investigate.

jro11 said:

I don't particularly like Bing

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Don’t use bing. Simple. Change the browser search engine to Google or DuckDuckGo or something else. Bing sucks.

J-Man You’re an enigma.

antspants said:

enigma

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mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand

I just asked a few simple questions. I assumed the emails in question were sent to everyone involved in Microsoft 365, or using Win11.

garlin said:

There's one $1M grand prize, and $1M divided up by 100 other winners.

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Now here's an enigma. How, pray tell, does a number beginning with 1, and followed by a number of 0s divided by another number beginning with 1, and followed by a number of 0s, result in a number beginning with 2 (and its requisite number of 0s)?

jro11 said:

mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand

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Yes.

Again, if you fall for those emails, you’re asking for trouble. Learn to identify spam.

Yes, this is a legitimate marketing campaign.

MS Rewards is now managed by Bing Search as a way to encourage casual users to spend more time using online services, like Bing Search, OneDrive and Office 365. From time to time, they have some prize giveaways to get you motivated. Xbox Rewards used to be a separate program, but they killed it off.

$2M USD in total cash prizes for a marketing campaign is a relatively low investment for a company the size of MS.



For the math challenged:

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open only to legal residents of the 50 United States, D.C. & P.R., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, and Mexico. Must be a Microsoft Rewards member and at least 18 & age of majority in jurisdiction of residence. Ends 5/25/25 at 11:59:59 PM PT. Grand Prize: one (1) prize of $1,000,000.00 USD in cash (equivalent to approximately $1,433,935.00 CAD / £775,340.00 GBP / €926,381.00 EUR / ¥148,815,060.00 JPY / $20,384,035.00 MXD); Secondary Prizes (weekly entry deadlines apply): total of one hundred (100) prizes of $10,000.00 USD (equivalent to approximately $14,339.35 CAD / £7,753.40 GBP / €9,263.81 EUR / ¥1,488,150.60 JPY / $203,840.35 MXD each). All prizes will be awarded in USD dollars. Free Entries into the Grand Prize Draw with Microsoft Rewards Account: print full name, address, phone number (with area code), date of birth, and email address on a 3 x 5-inch card, and mail it to “Microsoft Rewards $2,000,000 USD Sweepstakes, Free to Enter” at the address corresponding to your country of residence in the Official Rules. Requests must be postmarked by 5/19/25 and received by 5/26/25. To enter and for Official Rules, including weekly entry deadlines, odds, and prize descriptions, visit https://aka.ms/win. Connect time charges may apply. Void where prohibited. Canadian and Mexican residents: Skill-testing question applies. Additional free entry opportunities will be available, see terms here. These additional entry methods are subject to the Official Rules for the Sweepstakes including (but not limited to) any and all eligibility and registration requirements, as well as any limitation on the total number of entries which may be earned across all entry methods.

garlin said:

Yes, this is a legitimate marketing campaign

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It’s still “SPAM”

Yes, but mysteriously you can't block "spam" from MS on Outlook....

garlin said:

Yes, but mysteriously you can't block "spam" from MS on Outlook....

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I think that might depend of what version though, yes? In Outlook (Office 2021) I can set very detailed spam rules.
And from memory, after remotely connecting to a member in England and setting up their M365 Outlook (M365 YUK), there were also options in there for spam. But he hadn’t toggled to the “New Outlook” which from what I have read in here, is taking away users choices.
However I never get spam from Microsoft n any MS account. And I have 8 MS Accounts all in Outlook 2021.

Anyway, disable Bing would be a good start.

I've used Bing ever since I upgraded to Windows 11 four years ago. I much prefer Bing to all the ads you get when using Google search. I also switched from Chrome to Edge and never looked back. For me Edge (Chromium based) has been superior to Chrome.

I've participated in the Microsoft Rewards program for several years now and the rewards points do add up. Over the years I accumulated enough Microsoft Rewards points to trade in for Amazon gift certificates which I then used to purchase a NETGEAR Orbi Mesh WiFi system with 2 satellites. I also opted for the free chance to win the 1 Million for Microsoft Rewards members. I can attest that the Microsoft Rewards Program is not a scam.

It's apparent to me that the Microsoft Rewards program was created to promote the use of Edge and Bing search.

TraderGary said:

It's apparent to me that the Microsoft Rewards program was created to promote the use of Edge and Bing search.

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Without a doubt.

All search engines are suspect. I am leaning more towards DuckDuckGo these days, no spam.

I checked my mailbox. They sent this through @emailnotify.microsoft.com, which is the domain where they send official notices of your Terms of Service agreement has been changed.

Rewards started life as MSN Rewards when all the online divisions reported under MSN. MSN became Windows Live, and now what's left is kinda attached to Search (Bing).

I tried Outlook (New) for a week

Horrible email client.

Every day I received one or more advertising (spam) emails in each account.
At the same time, Outlook in Office 2021, which had the exact same Microsoft Accounts, had received zero emails, none of the same of which arrived in my accounts in Outlook (New). Nor where they in any spam folder. I believe it’s hard coded in Outlook (New) to call on ad-mail. Just a thought.

I refuse to use Edge or Chrome, also. It’s like associating myself with a highly conspicuous voyeur. A creepy uncle .
I understand that rewards work, but I’m not wanting to contribute to Microsoft Edge. Nothing they can offer that I can’t afford myself.

garlin said:

Yes, but mysteriously you can't block "spam" from MS on Outlook....

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Well you can… would just be a ton of rules based on title content lol

Strange footnote: I know several smart, technical people who are really into MSN/Live/Bing Rewards.

They know it's a stupid marketing campaign, but it's about the hacking of simple-minded offers. They're the same people who go on for hours on how to stack credit card or airline mileage programs. What's worse is they work for MS...

antspants said:

All search engines are suspect. I am leaning more towards DuckDuckGo these days, no spam.

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Microsoft purchased DuckDuckGo in 2019 for $100 million.