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MSN to swat pop-ups in Europe

Time: 06:56 EST/11:56 GMT | News Source: News.com | Posted By: Jonathan Tigner

Those mosquito-like pop-up and pop-under Web advertisements could be headed for rapid extinction, now that Microsoft has decided to phase them out across its MSN Internet units around the globe by the summer.

The software giant said on Friday that internal research showed customers were growing increasingly dissatisfied with the abundant offers that appear in new windows when certain MSN Web sites are accessed.

As a result, the company will no longer sell such ad formats to advertisers. The ban goes into effect shortly for MSN's media properties in the United Kingdom, the Nordic countries and Belgium, and will be extended to all territories in the coming months, Microsoft said.

MSN in the United States began the practice at the end of 2003.