I wonder if MSN officially stores the browsing information of web users? Google, for example, only access to this information if we install Google toolbar, how about MSN? Well, it is obvious that they can if they want but do they really do it without asking us?
The same way that spywares collect information about users' browsing. It should be fairly easy for MSN to access our browsing info considering 90% all the programs we have on our computers are from MS.
If you are asking if they keep information specific to you and your browsing then the answer would be no. If you are asking if they do it to the general population then the answer would be yes. They may not advertise it, but I am certain somewhere deep in the browsers code is something that reports back search strings, and domain visits, etc. Google tracks everything searched for in their search engine... so why not Microsoft via their browser? By default if the URL bar is set to search when you type something in, the default is the MSN search engine. You can disable that option, but that is just one way they get this information. There is bound to be something in there that does that, because I have noticed if I do searches for new houses, that the spam I get to my hotmail account tends to be specific to home loans, mortgage refinancing, etc. So whatever Microsoft is using to get this information, I am certain spyware/adware is exploiting. Also if you go to their sites they use ads that are targeted specifically for you. Using the house example above, it displays similar ads when I go to MSN.com. Does any of this really matter? No, of course not, because it isn't something tied to me specifically. It is just something tied to my browsing habits. If it still bothers you, then you can set your browser to delete cookies, temporary files, and history whenever you close the browser. Then they only get a record of what you do each session, instead of what you have been doing for the last 6 months or so.