MICROSOFT is doling out free Starbucks and Xbox gift cards as an incentive to get you using its Bing search engine. Call it desperation, call it a bonus – either way, it equates to free stuff ...

Formerly Bing Rewards, Microsoft's we'll-pay-you-to-love-us program can be turned into cold, hard store credit. Here's how to max out your monthly points.

You can expect to need 10,000 points for a $10 gift card of any type, for example. As for earning points, there are many ways you can do that. The most common way is using Bing to conduct searches .

You can even earn points by using Bing on your Windows Phone. Points earned can then be redeemed for gift cards, contest chances and other services. One of which is to buy ad-free time for Outlook ...

According to YouTuber Kevin Stratvert, he uses an ingenious way to empower the searches that can earn him points via the Microsoft Rewards, which he uses in exchange for Fortnite V-Bucks and other ...