Microsoft has changed the way Windows 11 handles changing the default web browser, thankfully reversing an unpopular decision made when the operating system was still in pre-release testing (in August).
A new preview (test) version of Windows 11 (build 22509) now allows you to change the operating system’s default browser with a single click; which is just as it should (and the scheme of things in Windows 10).
So what’s going on in Windows 11 right now? Well, Microsoft concocted a pretty convoluted method under the pretext of giving users more precise control over which browser opens which files, which was, as we observed at the time of its creation, basically a nightmare (and it remains).
You have a chance to change your default browser away from Edge when you first install and launch an alternative browser, like Chrome or Firefox – and when you choose that alternative, you need to remember to check the “Always use” box. this application”. If you do not check the box, you will no longer see this prompt and instead will have to go to the settings yourself and manually change the default browser.
The problem is that currently with Windows 11 this involves stipulating Chrome (or whatever alternative you want to use instead of the built-in Edge browser) for multiple file types: HTML, HTM, PDF, SHTML, WEBP, HTTP, HTTPS, and more. As we have already noted, the theory put forward by Microsoft is that this allows for more granular control.
But what that really means to the overwhelming majority is a lot of clicks and changes, but luckily, as Rafael Rivera tweeted (via The Verge) to point out, in a new test version, Windows 11 now has a simple “Set as default” button. for browsers, bringing things into line with how Windows 10 works.
Windows build 22509 has a new browser [Set default] button. pic.twitter.com/kRDFPKfJMvDecember 1, 2021
Aaron Woodman, vice president of Windows marketing at Microsoft, told The Verge: “In version 22509 of Windows 11 Insider Preview released to Dev Channel on Wednesday, we made it easier for a Windows Insider to set the ‘Default Browser’. »For applications that register for HTTP :, HTTPS :, .HTM and .HTML. “
Analysis: It should never have happened in the first place
Keep in mind that this new scheme is only being tested at the moment, but hopefully the change should eventually apply to the full version of Windows 11. As we discussed below Above, Microsoft’s argument about giving more precise control over defaults based on user feedback does not hold up at all. Obviously, that was – well, it still is for now – a way to ensure that Edge continues to be brought to the fore.
With all the different ads for Edge, which as we saw earlier this week have hit new lows in terms of anti-Chrome pop-ups (including “this browser is so 2008!”).
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Microsoft, you’re not going to trick people into using your browser (or anything else), it will just annoy them and probably have the opposite effect, the optionally . No one would be too bothered by the occasional pop-up window, perhaps, but the amount of promotional activity, combined with software tweaks like all this debacle around flaws, is dangerous territory to walk through.
At least that decision to Windows 11’s default browser has now been overturned, and we’re hoping the change will happen sooner rather than later.
