The old hatred flares up every time Windows 10 asks me if I'm really really sure I don't want to default Edge as my browser, or "accidentally" changes it.
It's all the more infuriating when you consider how Windows 10 throws a hissy fit if you should dare to change your default browser from Edge to something else.
I refuse to use it out of spite in response to how hard Microsoft has tried to force Edge down everyone's throat:
resetting the default to Edge after a windows update, making start menu searches go to edge regardless of the default browser, etc.
I hate this, though it is a kind of poetic justice for the way Windows 10 fights tooth and nail to keep you from switching your default browser away from Edge.
For a while I was changing my browser back and forth between firefox versions. Every single time windows 10 would detect that change and 'protect' me from it by opening the default programs control panel and setting the default browser to Edge.
It makes sense if they want the default browser to require user confirmation to change. But setting it to Edge in the meantime? That's just being rude and anti-customer.
I use Windows 10/11 daily. The number of times Edge was "forced on me": 0 The number of times Edge launched when I expected or wanted my default browser (Firefox): 0 The number of times my browser default was reset to Edge: 0
I just don't understand this outrage. I spend 90% of my time in Firefox/Chrome - I've only started using Edge lately to play with Bing "AI" Chat. I had to search for it!
They fixed this with Windows 10, actually. Which of course, upset people because it defaults people to Edge, and asks people to give Edge a try when they change it.
> I use Windows 10. Been using Firefox as the default browser since the day I installed it 7 years ago. It has never nagged me about Edge.
Windows 10 definitely nags you about Edge from time to time. Some windows updates will re-trigger the "setup wizard" flow and ask you yet again to switch browsers & setup a microsoft account instead of using a local account. Or an Edge shortcut will just be quietly dropped on your desktop.
It's not super often, but it absolutely happens. That said, the real kicker is in Windows 11 where they removed the ability to change the default browser in a single spot. You're instead forced to change the app handler for every mimetype & extension, it's extremely tedious.
If you use windows it will routinely set edge back to the default browser. The web team of microsoft is absolutely disgusting in every possible way, and it has always been.
You should be pissed off that your OS doesn't give you the freedom to choose which browser you use as a default. While you may think Edge is good, I use a different browser and my OS shouldn't be allowed to override the preference.
Did you know if you force remove Edge from Windows 10 it will forever after ignore the "always use this" checkbox and prompt you to choose your default browser every time the browser is called from a link in an application?
I keep hearing "Edge actually isn't bad anymore", but as long as Microsoft continues to try and jam it down my throat at any conceivable opportunity, I will continue to refuse to even consider it.
Very few things piss me off more than the other Microsoft products that feel the need to override my default browser and open pages in Edge instead. And on top of that, last time something launched Edge instead of Firefox, I was greeted with an inescapable fullscreen page that hid away the other browser tabs (i.e. the page I was trying to view) until I clicked through their idiotic "welcome to edge" bs. Sometimes lately it really feels like Microsoft is taking classes on how to piss off their users as much as possible.
Even respecting the settings. Every time Windows gets an update it asks me if I want to change my Edge settings, the first couple of times I didn’t pay attention and it changed my default search engine and started showing the useless news thumbnails that I explicitly took the time to hide.
I’ll need to reconsider Chrome or Firefox, which is a shame since I really liked some Edge’s features.
Considering how Windows 10 until very recently pitched an absolute fit when the user tried to change the default browser away from Edge, I'm gonna go with the latter.
The amount of dark design patterns around getting edge as the default browser is sickening. Opera was flagged as PUA by many AVs for simply changing the default browser after asking users post-install if they wanted to use that browser as their default - just as edge does (and before Firefox copied that same mechanism here). Now every post-windows update screen (which takes place before you even log in...) comes with a full-page nag screen asking you to "Use Microsoft recommended browser settings" [1]... This is on the heels of a screen that says "Let's make Windows even better - this shouldn't affect what you've already set up" [2]. Even more disappointing is not that they're doing this but that nobody is taking these platforms to court over it in a meaningful way.
Last time I tested an extension of mine on Edge, I counted four or five distinct ways Windows and Edge tried to convince or coax me into setting Edge as default. (Coaxing includes but isn’t limited to full-screen one-click “finish setting up your computer” on boot which includes adopting “Microsoft-recommended” browser security settings which of course means resetting the default browser. It appeared on every reboot until someone told me about a setting to disable it.) Mind you, the four or five ways I encountered were from using Windows 11 Pro normally or opening Edge briefly; I’m not even counting additional conditional shenanigans like special banner on chrome.com, or asking you to use Microsoft everything (including on mobile devices) to bump up your position in Bing Chat waitlist.
The brazenness and shamelessness is really appalling.
Nothing has changed.
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