<p>Users of Microsoft's popular web-based email service will start seeing ads, encouraging them to upgrade, from this week.</p><p>By Caroline Donnelly, 10 Dec 2012 at 11:56</p><p>Microsoft has assured Hotmail users that it will not force them off the email platform just yet, despite announcing plans to ramp up its Outlook.com advertising efforts in the coming weeks.</p><p>The software giant announced plans to rebrand Hotmail as Outlook.com at the end of July, and urged users to register and try out its new web-based email service.</p><p><a href="http://www.itpro.co.uk/644590/microsoft-steps-up-outlook-com-upgrade-push">Keep reading...</a></p>