Microsoft released a Windows update that broke a Chrome feature, making it difficult to change your default browser and annoying Chrome users with pop-ups, Gizmodo knows.
Windows Update in April introduced a new button in Chrome—the world’s most popular browser—that lets you change your default browser with a single click, but the worst was reserved for users on the enterprise version of Windows. For weeks, every time an enterprise user opened Chrome, the Windows default settings page popped up. There is no way to stop it unless you uninstall the operating system update. Google forced to disable the setting, which made Chrome more convenient.
This little chapter of the browser wars started in July 2022 when Google quietly rolled out a new button in Chrome for Windows. It will appear near the top of the screen and allow you to change your default browser with a single click without pulling up the system settings. For eight months, it worked great. Then, in April, Microsoft released Windows Update KB5025221and interesting stuff.
“Every time I open Chrome, it will open the default application settings for Windows. An IT administrator at A said Microsoft forum. a Reddit user I noticed that the Settings page also appeared every time you clicked on a link, but only if Chrome was your default browser. The user said “it does not happen if we change the default browser to Edge”. Others have made similar complaints Google support forumsSome say entire organizations were facing the problem. Users soon realized that the culprit was the operating system to update.
For people using the regular consumer version of Windows, things weren’t that bad; The one-click “Make Default” button has stopped working. Gizmodo was able to replicate the problem. In fact, we managed to circumvent the issue by simply changing the name of the Chrome app on the Windows desktop. Microsoft seems to have brought up the hurdle specifically for Chrome, the main competitor to its own Edge browser.
Microsoft didn’t answer questions about it, but shared a link that was posted before it messed up Chrome. For information on this, please see this blog post About Microsoft’s approach to application installation and application defaults in Windows. “Microsoft has nothing else to share,” said Miranda Davis, a Microsoft spokeswoman. The post describes the company’s “longstanding approach to putting people in control of the Windows PC experience.”
Mozilla’s Firefox has its own default one-click button, which has worked fine throughout the ordeal. But according to Steve Teixeira, Mozilla’s chief product officer, this isn’t Microsoft’s first anti-competitive move in recent years.
“When using Windows devices, Firefox users routinely encounter these types of barriers, such as overriding their choice of default browser, or misleading pop-ups and warnings that try to convince them that Edge is somehow more secure,” Teixeira said. “It’s time Microsoft respected people’s preferences and allowed them to use whatever browser they wanted without interfering with their choice.”
in response, Google had to disable it one-click default button; The problem stopped after it stopped. In other words, Microsoft seems to have gone out of its way to crack a Chrome feature that has made life easier for users. Google confirmed the details of this story, but declined to comment further.
This is part of a pattern of behavior for Microsoft as it wages war on non-Windows web browsers and the people who use them. Chrome is, it bears repeating, the world’s favorite internet browser, with a market share of 66%. Earlier this year, Microsoft Insert full size ads in the search results if you search for Google Chrome, and it says “There is no need to change your default browser”. Microsoft went so far as to stick Edge ads on the Chrome download site itself, stating that “Microsoft Edge uses the same technology as Chrome, with the added trust of Microsoft.” it was there other strange messages For potential Chrome users too, with some suggesting Chrome is worse for online shopping, or referring to Google’s browser as “up to 2008”.
When Microsoft shipped Windows 11 in 2021, it was included Several dark styles Ignoring users’ choices and making it more difficult to change default settings. Windows users had to change the default web browser for nearly a dozen different types of web links: HTM, HTML, PDF, SHTML, SVG, WEBP, XHT, XHTML, FTP, HTTP, HTTPS (as if anyone wanted a different browser for HTTP and HTTPS pages). There was no way to change all the default settings at once, you had to do it manually.
Windows 11 also gives you one chance to change the default settings when you open a new web browser for the first time. You’ll see a popup, but it doesn’t actually work unless you check a little box that says “Always use this app.” If you miss, you will not see the popup again.
Things seemed to be getting better. Months after the release of Windows 11, Microsoft acquiesced And add a setting that opens things up a bit, letting you change your default browser all at once instead of going through 11 annoying drop-down menus.
History buffs will note that this is a lot like the monopoly behavior that once brought Microsoft to court. In the 1990s, the US Department of Justice sued the company for its efforts to thwart competition for Internet Explorer, the web browser Microsoft finally retired it last year.
In the twenty years since, the DOJ has largely stayed out of tech competition issues. Recently, however, the Department of Justice has indicated renewed interest in digital monopolies with Antitrust case against Google. Microsoft isn’t the only game in town anymore, which could make it a less attractive target for regulators, even though it’s still worth $2.2 trillion. But here we are with more Windows browser tricks.
(tags to translation) Microsoft