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EW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Technology that prevents advertisers from following your online footprints has been around for a couple years, but Microsoft becamethe first browser maker to turn that feature on as the default setting.
The next version of Internet Explorer, called IE10, will force users to opt-in ifthey want to be tracked by ads.
In the current version of Microsoft's browser, as well as other Web browsers like Google's Chrome and Mozilla's Firefox, "donot track" is an option that users need to turn on themselves.
"This decision reflects our commitment to providing Windows customers an experience that is'private by default' in an era when so much user data is collected online," said Dean Hachamovitch, head of Internet Explorer, in a blog post lateThursday.
"We think it is progress and that consumers will favor products designed with their privacy in mind over products that are designed primarily to gathertheir data," Hachamovitch added.
The new feature went live along with Windows 8's release preview on Friday. IE10 will be the featured browser on Windows8, which is expected to be released to the general public this fall.
The impetus for the change was the Obama administration's February push for browsermakers to implement a simple "Do Not Track" button.
Since 2010, the largest online advertisers have allowed users to opt out of online tracking by installinga special cookie on their computer called "Tracking Protection." But administration officials called that process both confusing and overly complicated.