“Superfish” enabled “man in the middle” type attacks on Lenovo computers, and since other OEMs have models which have been found vulnerable to similar attacks.  the software generated its own root certificate so it could intercept traffic from secure sites and overlay its own ads on the page. If hackers were to gain access to this certificate, they’d be able to spoof secure websites and steal sensitive data.

Now MS will no longer allow ad injection software that uses ““man-in-the-middle” techniques, such as injection by proxy, changing DNS settings, and network layer manipulation. Microsoft will begin enforcing the rules on March 31, 2016.” (PCWorld).

“In other words, if you want to see adware in Chrome for some reason, you’ll have to go to the Chrome Web Store and install it yourself. You’d then be able to uninstall the adware just as easily through Chrome’s extensions menu.” – ibid

This new policy tackles the underlying issue by reclassifying the criteria for adware.

So…why not sooner???

Source:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3017958/security/microsoft-is-banning-the-adware-method-that-caused-lenovo-s-superfish-scandal.html

https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/mmpc/2015/12/21/keeping-browsing-experience-in-users-hands/