If you have a Windows computer, you’ve noticed that Microsoft really wants you to use Edge, a browser developed by the company itself. But this may be missing the point: an operating system update has disrupted the lives of those who use Google Chrome, its main competitor.
An investigation of Gizmodo showed that the Windows 10 update KB5025221, released in April, brought strange behavior to corporate systems. The same happened with builds KB5026039, Windows 11 22H2, and KB5025224, Windows 11 21H2.
Windows now opens the default apps page every time the user runs Chrome. This only happens, though, if Google’s browser is set to default.
Interestingly, the problem only happens with Chrome — in Firefox, for example, the default application window does not appear. Another interesting point is that, to work around the problem, just rename Chrome.
That is: it seems that the strange behavior of Windows is really directed at Google’s browser.
For home users, the issue is less severe. Chrome has a button for the user to choose it as the default browser. It stopped working with this Windows update.
Again, it’s only with Chrome — Firefox’s default browser button continues to function normally.
O Gizmodo looked to Microsoft. The company did not respond to the questions sent, it only sent a link to the post in which it explains the new policies for pinning apps to the taskbar and changing default programs.
Ironically, the ad promised to make life easier for developers, with a new scheme to direct users to the right settings page.
Google confirmed the issue to the report but declined to comment further. The company removed the button that allowed setting Chrome as the default browser, and that fixed the defect.
Also in April, a problem in Windows security tools made browsers like Chrome and Firefox have navigation difficulties and accuse DNS slowness. Edge, on the other hand, worked normally.
Microsoft has already tried to fight Chrome and push Edge in several ways
It is not the first time that Microsoft seems to force the bar for users to adopt Edge. The list of policies for promoting your own browser, by the way, is quite long.
In early previews of Windows 11, if you wanted to use another browser as your default browser, you had to change all file extensions and associated protocols.
The list was long, with HTM, HTML, PDF, SVG, WEBP, HTTP and HTTPS, among many others.
Fortunately, after much criticism, Microsoft backed down. Now you can set a program as default in Windows 11 with just one click.
But not only that. When searching for Chrome on Windows 10, the results included Edge as a recommended app. In this case, the question was not so directed at the Google product: searches such as “opera”, “firefox”, “safari” and “internet” showed the Microsoft browser.
Windows 10 also displayed a popup when the user trying to download chrome or firefoxsaying that the computer already had Edge, which was a safer and faster browser.
Finally, in a preview version of Edge, the Microsoft injected an advertisement from the browser on the Chrome download page.
With information: Gizmodo
