Customize lets users modify the default settings before running Windows 8 for the first time. "By using the Customize approach, users will be able to independently turn on and off a number of settings, including the setting for the DNT signal," Lynch promised.

When the user allows Express to complete the Windows 8 setup, they will see what Lynch called a "prominent notice" that tells them IE10 will have DNT switched on.

"Microsoft keeps Do Not Track by default in Win[dows] 8 and IE10, but makes it a first-run option. Hard to argue with that," said Jonathan Mayer in a .

Mayer, a researcher at Stanford's Center for Internet and Society (CIS), is one of two Stanford students who devised the HTTP header concept used by browsers to signal a user's DNT decision. He is also active in discussions by the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C) standards-setting group to finalize DNT's implementation.

In the past, rivals have complained about how Microsoft structures its Express settings, and have claimed that few users select the Customize alternative.